Role competences of professionals engaged in child-with-special-needs-raising-family follow-up activities

The article is devoted to the issues of personnel training for the sphere of social and pedagogical follow- up of families raising children with special needs, especially the issues of role competences (those of an adviser providing metholodological recommendations to parents in relation to child up-bringing; a consultant on family law and arranging for the support of experts in other fields; a defender responsible for the protection of children's rights in cases of careless discharge of duties by the parents) ofprofessionals providing assistance and support to children with special needs and their families. Each role requires a complex of professional knowledge and competences acquired in the course of professional training. The author puts forward practical suggestions concerning improvements ofprofessional education and training of personnel for this field. As the major responsibility of social counselors is currently the provision of pedagogical, social, psychological, diagnostic and medical assistance, the article elaborates the types of activities to be carried out in the framework of each of the above-mentioned branches of activity. Drawing on personal experience in the field of personnel training, the author emphasizes the fact that none of these lines of activity are followed in isolation, thus, it seems possible to identify a certain pattern of interdependence, with pedagogy underpinning each pattern. The article takes into account the democratic reforms providing for the prerequisites for social adaptation of children with special needs