Children with special needs too have emotions and majority of them understand most of what you say. The difference is that they may find it difficult to express their emotions appropriately, ending up in us assuming that the child doesn't' understand anything that we say. But they express themselves in different ways which most of us address as socially unacceptable behaviors.
Most people sympathize at the first glance of a special needs child. No, you dont have to. They do not require your sympathy. They simply need to be empathized, accepted and genuinely cared for. Majority of people do not know that there are children with special needs who are gifted learners. Especially, when it comes to autism, there are many kids who are way beyond other children when it comes to IQ and creativity. They need to be accepted for whoever they are and loved and cared just like for any other child.
I have met people who understand nothing about the nature of special needs children no matter how much awareness has been spread. I have seen people shouting and venting their anger on autistic and ADHD kids, forgetting that they are special. Some special needs kids would grab your things, run around making noises and display various behaviours. As civilized human beings, who can understand the difference between normal and special needs children, we need to accept that they have a problem. A person shouting or physically hurting a a special needs child would not simply be hurting the child that they are aiming at, but their own self image . And if its a teacher who does this, keep in mind that you are setting an example to the other children around you as to how to treat someone who needs some extra care.
I recently met a person who very disturbingly spoke to me about how useless it is to teach or accommodate kids with special needs in sports, which any other kid of their age would enjoy learning. Adding to that she told me that, “it is more important to teach special needs kids to do things like origami, so that they would grow up and make a living out of it, rather than being an extra burden to their parents. I understood with her tone and attitude how unaware she was about kids with special needs. There was no point arguing, but to keep quiet.
To anybody with this mindset, knowingly or unknowingly, I would say that “ you have no right to invade their rights”. Yes, if you thought this way too, you have already breached their basic human rights. They too, like any other kid, love to play sports. They may not be able to grip a bat the proper way or dribble a ball the expected way, but still they have the right to play. And trust me when I say this, they love to play sports like cricket, basketball . Majority of the kids with special needs are aware about sports than you think and some of them even have a favorite player.
Secondly, special needs kids need to be engaged in various advanced sports activities and should always be encouraged to be included in every sport/event/classroom. However, the goal is not to make them cricketers, doctors or champions. Let me explain it more clearly. Suppose, a teacher teaches cricket to a special needs group of children. There would be enough people out there laughing and making fun out of the teacher saying its useless. Do not misunderstand. The teacher is not attempting to make a cricket team out of them. But, there's a lot more a teacher can achieve by doing this sport with the children. For instance, it improves the child's attention skills, namely, joint attention, divided attention. It improves a child's communication and gross motor abilities. It improves their turn taking abilities, choices, compliance, functionality ect and the list goes on. Therefore, the next time you see a special needs child engaging in sports, attempt to help them out or play with them. They'll love it.
Let's accept, love and most importantly respect children/people with special needs.
Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment