Introduction
All parents feel blessed by having a child as the part of their family. But, some of them who are physically and mentally challenged, deserve special care with love, respect, and patience in the upbringing of such disadvantaged children. Therefore, those children have some special needs from family, society, and country. By special needs of a child, we mean that the child is not like the normal children of the society. We use the term special-needed child, because such children need a little more attention and care in their upbringing rather than a normal one. In this context, it is matter of great privilege for having an opportunity of interviewing one such child on this weekend. And, what I analyzed from that child, is for deeper interpretation and analysis for meeting the needs, challenges, and objectives of such children in future.
On this weekend, I visited one of my neighbors in Los Angeles at 12:51p.m. on 5th May 2013, and personally interacted with a five-year-old child, Sharon who is suffering from autism. Being quite young, I had to interact with her as a part of interview. She goes to a normal elementary school of the city, and is a Nursery student. She studies in a class comprising 30 young children of different backgrounds. I analyzed her curriculum and found that it was quite challenging for the children of her age. Moreover, it was difficult to impart quality training, keeping her autism into consideration. Some of the things that I learnt from this girl were that she takes time to grasp things, thereby affecting her grades in the class tests to suffer. I observed that her notebooks were not properly maintained. And, she alleged that it is difficult for her to understand the presentation of teacher in the classroom. Further, it was found that she had almost finished the half of the curriculum designed for the year. As per her understanding and grasping power, she was only a mid-way of what was taught to her. She was a victim of psychological embarrassment and circumstances when she was questioned in the class. Although, the teacher had tried a different technique towards her, but it was a failure rather. Sharon is otherwise a very smart kid who could analyze, understand, and portray different things. She emphasizes that whatever she learns, she understands it thoroughly.
In the process of analysis, I saw her scrap book which was a clear depiction of her knowledge and artistic caliber. When enquired about her friends, I learnt that she was in good terms with anyone in the class. It was revealed from her expression that she only found a good friend in her mother, not in anyone else. Such deprivation of companionship from the class has bothered her. Though she is quite young to understand such challenges of life, the worriedness was clearly observed when she muttered about her friends.
Conclusion
Believe it or not, based on the aforesaid analysis of the child’s interview, it gives me ample reasons to get emotionally and psychologically connected with her as a friend. However, the other side of the coin is that it has bombarded me with tons of questions about the various challenges that this small girl faces now in life, and also she would face in the future. Therefore, it makes good sense to conclude that teaching and schooling for the disadvantaged group of people are daunting task. And the implementation of the process should be such that the needs of every individual in the class are met. When we say a child with special needs, it means that some special technique has to be devised for such children to uplift their mental and physical state of mind through love, respect, and care. Further, the schools must try to teach such students through the method that they take interest into. Such a job is a great challenge for all the stakeholders such as teachers, parents, and policy makers. In this backdrop of challenges of limitations, all of them ought to solemnly endeavor to take up this amelioration measure which could ultimately bring solace to the life of such children.
Reference
Cincinnati Children's.(1999). Patients & Families: Special Needs Resource Director. Retrieved from http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/patients/child/special-needs/home/residential/
