1. Physically handicapped or disadvantaged children:
(i) Blind and partially blind children (ii) Deaf and partially deaf children
(iii) Crippled children
(iv) Orthopaedic disability
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(a) Dental defects
(b) Webbed fingers
(v)Stuttering and stammering (Language defects)
(vi) Muscular dystrophy like weakening and wasting of muscles, gout, etc. (vii) Neurological disability: Diseases related to nervous system like cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
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2. Mentally disadvantaged children.
3. Socially handicapped children:
(i) Juvenile delinquent. Children indulging in stealing, drugs, pick-pocketing, sexual abuse and crime, truancy, etc. (ii) Vagrant children.
1. Physically handicapped children
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(i) Blind and partially blind. Some children are born blind; some become blind due to nutritional deficiency or some by accident. Partially blind children can see very little. Both blind and partially blind children cannot grow like children of normal eyesight. They develop inferiority complex and think that they are burden on the society. Such children suffer from a feeling of guilt.
Partially blind children
Their needs:
1. Teachers should be well-trained so that they recognise the symptoms of partially blind child and take the action immediately. They should look for following signs: the child rubs his eyes, cannot note down his homework from the blackboard, find difficulty in reading the book, has crossed eyes, etc.
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2. Parents and other people should have sympathetic attitude towards such children in order to help them to shed their feeling of inferiority.
3. Parents should try to consult the expert as soon as they know about their child’s disability, so that from the beginning they can be subjected to specialised training which can help them to adjust with their environment.
4. If the child is partially blind due to lack of nutrition, then the child should be given balanced diet and extra amount of vitamin ‘A’.
5. Teachers should make these children sit in the front row in the class and provides them books with bold letters.
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6. School should provide opportunities to these children so that they can participate and explore their potentials.
7. They should be trained in skills in such a manner so that they can become self- reliant when they grow up. Completely blind except that they cannot see, they are just like other normal children in every other capability.
1. From the very beginning they should be made to realise that they are equal to other children of their age except a slight disability of not being able to see. For this, parents should treat them equal with their other children and help them to overcome the feeling of inadequacy.
2. These children should be made comfortable with their bodies and the orientation of the home.
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3. Constant love and encouragement should be given to make them secure.
4. Children should start their education at the same age as other normal children.
Educational needs:
1. For partially blind, books with bold print and colours should be recommended.
2. Green board, unglazed paper and black pencils help them in studying.
3. They should be educated with BRAILLE system. It is a system of reading and writing the letters, numbers and words. It is a typewriter type device and has six keys. Braille dots are punched out one at a time from right to left. Children when trained can easily use it.
4. Children should be educated through audio tapes to sharpen their listening skills for the better learning.
(ii) Deaf and partially deaf. This disability is caused by many reasons.
1. The child may be born deaf.
2. The child may get deaf due to some accident.
3. Due to some serious and chronic disease, the child may become deaf.
4. Hurt in ear leads to tearing of eardrum.
Their needs:
1. Partially deaf children should sit in front row in the class.
2. Such children should be taught sign language through visual methods.
3. Hearing aids should be provided to the partially deaf children.
4. Sign language and visual teaching methods should also be used for completely deaf children.
5. They should be trained to become self- reliant.
6. They should be provided opportunities to explore their capabilities.
7. Parents and other people should have positive and sympathetic attitude towards such children.
(iii) Crippled children. Children who unfortunately lose their body part due to accident are called crippled children. There can be number of causes for this disability.
1. Born defect.
2. Accident.
3. Some disease.
These children are just like normal children. So their bringing up should be like other children.
Their needs:
1. Such children need love sympathy and security which should be provided to them by parents and society.
2. Such children find difficulty in adjusting with other children. So the atmosphere of the society should be such that these children are treated equal with the normal children. Parents and teachers can play an important role in making the atmosphere congenial for such children.
3. Crippled children should be trained in the skills in which they can attain perfection. So that they should not be dependent on any other person, otherwise they will develop feeling of inferiority.
4. From the beginning, the child should be encouraged to be self sufficient and his self-confidence should be boosted.
5. If necessary, children should be provided physiotherapy treatment.
(iv) Language defect. It has been seen that children sometimes suffer from language defects. Normally it is from birth. If they are not attended early then they can create environmental maladjustment. Sometimes due to environmental disturbance these defects occur later in life. Following disorders are found in children.
Speech disorder
(i) Stammering, (ii) Stuttering
Pronunciation defect
Defect in sentence structure
Their needs:
Mostly these defects are hereditically transmitted. If recognised early and efforts are made to improve, this problem can be solved to a large extent.
1. New words should be pronounced and before that their meaning should be told.
2. Children should be encouraged to speak good language.
3. There should be more interaction with the children of their age.
4. Children should not be criticised for speaking defective language but they should be trained with love to speak good language.
5. Correct language can also be learned through radio and television.
6. Sometimes people out of affection use childlike language and children imitate it and learn defective language.
2. Mentally retarded children
Children who are not mentally developed due to any reason like normal children are mentally retarded children. These children grow physically but their mental growth is checked. This is a permanent problem. It cannot be cured. Such children cannot perform properly. They need other’s help in doing work.
Their needs:
1. Such children should be educated and trained from the beginning.
2. Let the children do their personal work providing them help wherever necessary.
3. They should be sent to school made specially for such children.
4. Specially trained teachers should be employed in such school.
5. Education to such children should be given according to their mental capability.
6. Sympathetic and encouraging environment should be given to mentally retarded children.
3. Socially handicapped children
There are many children in our society who gets separated from their parents due to some or other reason. Poverty, natural calamity like earthquake, epidemic are some of the reasons which leave many children orphan.
Such children don’t have a family to turn to, so they are called socially disadvantaged. Children born in backward and tribal societies are also called socially disadvantaged children. These children become antisocial due to lack of educational and other facilities and proper guidance. To make them a responsible member of society, it is necessary to help them develop properly.
Their needs:
1. First of all, basic needs of such children like destitute, vagrant and juvenile delinquents should be fulfilled. They should be provided with proper food, clothing and shelter.
2. Proper arrangements for their education should be done. Government should take care of their school fees, books, etc.
3. One important problem with such children is that they cut off themselves emotionally from the society. They develop negative attitude towards society as they get rejected by people.
They become antisocial and seek revenge from the society. In order to eliminate such feelings we should provide them security, compassion, and congenial atmosphere for their physical and mental growth. They should feel they are the part of the society.
4. Children should be trained in such vocations so that they can become self-dependent.
5. Government should provide them some help in the form of money as well as guidance to help them start their own enterprise.
6. Voluntary organisations should provide healthy recreation, library facilities, night schools and vocational training to such children.
7. For juvenile delinquents, reformatory houses and psychological guidance should be arranged.
8. Good environment in home and society should be provided for their character, cultural and moral development.