Resources for Children with Exceptionalities

Resources for Children with Exceptionalities

Introduction

The term exceptionality refers to any situation or condition that significantly interferes with children's ability to learn in society and school. There are many conditions of exceptionality for example mental or physical condition or social condition. Children with exceptionalities have special and unique needs and wants in relation to school and societal norms. It is quite certain to say that a child with exceptionality has some features and areas of functioning that differentiates him/her significantly from the established and universal norms. This term includes both children with special talents or gifts and disabilities (Eriksson­Sluti, 2001). If a child does not comply with the universal norms he/she is either termed as gifted or talented or developmentally disabled or mentally retarded. The attitude and behavior of a teacher dealing with or of a parent having an exceptional child is not same, as the attitude and behavior they have towards a normal child.

Discussion

In earlier days children with exceptionalities were treated differently due t the lack of resources available for example there were sent to separate schools for exceptional children , however now a days this discrimination has been stopped by including exceptional children with the mainstream and normal children.

Developmental Disabilities

According to the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act, developmental disability is considered to be a severe chronic disability. It has been concluded that the chronic disability originates during childhood or at birth and continue indefinitely substantially restricting the individuals to function in various major life activities.

There are several resources available for parents to deal with their child who is suffering from developmental disability (Lindsay, 2003). Many parents, teachers and students have suggested that tests that identify disabilities and then refer programs has been very helpful, as these programs improve the ability to have a meaningful and positive life.

Another useful resource for parents, students and teachers are the treatments introduced by the medical researchers and professionals. These treatments cater to the developmental issues in the early stage and increase the chances for children to have a normal and better life. Some policies have also been outlined by the government in the Developmental Disability Services and Facilities Construction Act.

Learning Disabilities

Learning disorder refers to a condition when an individual faces difficulty in learning a specific manner generally caused by unknown factors or factor. Learning disorder and disability is usually identified in academic area as students often find it difficult to learn. There are many resources available to deal with learning disorders, for example special equipment such as spell checkers, dictionaries, and word processors, speech to text and text to speech programs, books on tape, talking calculators and several computer based activities etc. (Pullen .et.al, 2008).

Another resource easily accessible for children suffering from learning disorders is special education. Students and their parent often face a lot of problems enrolling their children in normal schools, as it's hard the child with learning disorder to cope up with the rest of the ...