Meeting the needs of special children

A frail section of the society, ‘children with special needs’ need to be raised with tenderness and love and to live as normal people. Only few get the chance to ‘live’, as many are confined to their homes and are not exposed to the outside world.
To create awareness among parents, schools, society on dealing with special children, a one day workshop on ‘meeting the needs of Special Children at home and in schools’ was conducted Tuesday at Red Cross Conference hall, organized by Enable. Margaret Waterworth, a retired Educational Consultant and Head of Special Education from UK, and Delma Dharni, executive board member of special school-“Shelter” at Kolkata were the resource persons at the workshop.
Delma Dharni said that mothers had leading role in the development of a child and urged all mothers of Special Children to nurture their children with love to bring out the ‘spark’ in them. She encouraged them to continuously build an emotional bond with their children without giving up. Stating that there is social stigma and hesitation while dealing with special children, she said that as mothers, it was their duty to fight against it and involve their children socially. Delma also pointed out that parents needed to have a positive attitude before dealing with the child.
Highlighting some points on handling children with special needs, Delma Dharni said that parents should allow Special Children to get involved in daily chores; home based trainings and other self-awareness activities etc to boost their confidence and might. “Ignore their negative behaviors and always praise them.” she added. To break bondages and barriers, she stated that one should not shy away from taking her Special Children out to play.
Delma expressed the need to create awareness in the society. She said that the country often forgets to focus on the have-nots or children with special needs. “Special hospitals are needed for Special Children”, she said. Urging parents to be informed and equipped to face the challenges ahead, Delma asked them to find out from the government important documentations required for Special Children to better their life.
Earlier, Margaret Waterworth dealt on early intervention of developing Special children through early education, toy library, play centers, programme for children at home. She also spoke on assessment of disability.
Scores of parents with Special Children, representative of schools dealing with Special Children and other social workers attended the workshop.