Characteristics of children with special needs
This term covers children with physical, mental, or sensory impairments such as cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, speech, hearing, or vision deficits, learning problems, autism, and similar conditions. Without the tireless efforts of these selfless, loving souls, their children would never reach their full potential. Here, we will discuss in detail “Characteristics of children with special needs”, “Causes of children with disabilities”, “Challenges for parents”, “Strategies for special needs children”.
Parenting of special needs children is a highly skilled and specialized job. On the surface, it is tiring, frustrating, and unrewarding. But believe, when it comes to special needs children, I have only seen parents who give every ounce of their love, affection, and energy to help their children improve and to prepare them to take on the world. They keep doing it, day after day, year after year, in some cases even knowing fully well that even minor improvement may be impossible, let alone full recovery. These parents’ positive attitudes, uncomplaining acceptance, untiring efforts centered on their specially needs child, and priceless smiles have never ceased to amaze me.
For me, the parents are special ones. They are the parents who really teach us what parenting is all about. It is about giving unconditional love and lifelong care to children.
Children with disabilities
The term ‘special needs children’ is used for children who have any physical, sensory, or mental (intellectual or psychological) impairments significant enough to hamper them from achieving their full individual potential.
Terms like disabled or handicapped are often used to describe such children or adults. Because they are discriminatory and excluding in nature, such persons are now referred to as children with special challenges or differently abled.
Some common causes of disabilities are:
- Cerebral palsy
- Mental retardation
- Congenital deformities of bones or organs
- Down’s syndrome and other conditions with chromosomal or genetic abnormalities
- Problems of speech, hearing, or vision
- Any major chronic illness requiring prolonged care
- Learning problems such as dyslexia
- Social problems such as parental neglect, child abuse, or extreme poverty
- Autism
- Psychological or behavioral problems such as anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Challenges for parents with special need children
Parents of special needs children experience emotional and psychological burdens. They experience feelings such as: Why me? How will I manage? I can’t cope with it! I can’t accept my child!
There are financial burdens due to the cost of medicines, hospitalizations, special therapies, and special education.
Sibling rivalry can become complicated because the child who is not handicapped may feel jealous of the extra attention showered on the special needs child.
The family may experience social alienation if they stay away from friends, relatives, and other people out of embarrassment or the bitter realization that no one cares!
A child’s difficulties put a strain on the relationship between parents. There may be marital discord due to the constant stress, lack of personal space and time, and different perspectives on how to deal with the child’s problem.
Strategies
Here are a few strategies to improve the current situation of special needs children and their parents:
- Making specialized care easily available and affordable.
- Support groups that bring together parents of various special needs children.
- Correcting the underlying social, environmental, or economic factors.
- Compassionate involvement of government and society in general.
- Co-operation among international bodies tackling these issues.
In the above article, you got to know that who are the special needs children, their characteristics, the strategies to improve the situation of special needs children, the parent’s role on special need children.