Children with Special Needs Physical and Mental Disabilities and Gifted Children

AJ Starr

Children with Special Needs Children who have physical or mental disabilities or those who need assistance or treatment are considered children with special needs Gifted children are also in this category, although they do not need the same type of assistance The most important thing to remember is that children with special needs should be treated as much as possible like every other child

Physical Disabilities A disability is a functional limitation that interferes with a person’s ability Physical disabilities affect the person’s actual body Deafness Blindness Paralysis Amputees armless-surfer-video armless-surfer-video

Support For children with physical disabilities, there are many ways they need additional support Special tools to aid in mobility, such as a wheelchair A guide dog for children who are blind Braille for children who are blind The use of sign language for deaf children With this added support, many children with physical disabilities can help themselves as much as other children their age

Physical Disabilities Not every child who has a physical disability will have a mental disability Children with physical disabilities are especially prone to low self concept It is important to recognize the signs of low self concept and praise children with physical disabilities in areas that they excel Praise should always be appropriate and genuine

Mental Disabilities Children with mental disabilities cannot learn as well as other children their age or may not learn in traditional ways Mental disabilities may affect intellectual, social, and emotional development The extent of a mental disability may be seen in some areas more than others A child with a mental disability may be very social, but may struggle with reading or math

Mental Disabilities

Mental Disabilities The extent to which a child may retain information and learn new ideas depends on the specific mental disability All children can be taught to care for themselves in some manner All children need to have a positive self concept Some children with mental disabilities may appear to act younger than their physical age

Gifted Children Gifted children are those who develop much more quickly than other children They may reach a level of skill or intelligence that surpasses even adults Signs of giftedness: Early development in language, expression, or memory Intense curiosity and longer attention span They may stay with one task 3-4 times longer than a peer

Gifted Children The most important thing to remember when interacting with gifted children is that even though they are very bright, they are still children Gifted children may be on the same level as some adults in intellect, but they do not have the maturity to make adult decisions, and react appropriately to adult emotions There may be intense pressure to succeed in everything, which can build a low self concept if the child does fail or make a mistake

Little Angels

Autism Carly

Autism Facts Autism is a neurological (brain) disorder that affects 1 in every 68 children Boys are 4 times more likely to have autism than girls About 40% of children with Autism do not speak Autism is the fastest growing developmental disorder

Autism There are three types of Autism Asperbergers Syndrome Classic Autism PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder- Not otherwise Specified) Autism affects intellectual development, may cause speech difficulties, social impairments, and repetitive actions

Asperbergers Syndrome Asperbergers Syndrome affects children socially Children with asperbergers often lack empathy and seem as if they say anything that is on their mind Children with asperbergers may fixate on one particular interest One cartoon, animals, one activity

Classic Autism Classic Autism is what most people are familiar with when they hear the word Autistic Classic autism affects communication, social skills, and intellectual development Many classic Autistic children are repetitive and enjoy a great amount of structure and routine They may also obsess about certain interests

Classic Autism Each autistic child is completely individual and most likely will learn in a completely different way Many autistic kids will learn well in an environment where you reward good behavior Because of the difficulties in speaking, may autistic kids are much more brilliant than originally thought Ex. Temple Grandin

Signs of Autism No big smiles or other signs of joy by 6 months Doesn’t make eye contact Doesn’t respond to his or her name Doesn’t initiate or respond to cuddling Doesn’t reach to be picked up Doesn’t play with other people or children Doesn’t ask for help

Activity Special Needs Research Please research in groups of 3 Each student must turn in research pages individually