Special children is a broad term that encompass children under a wide variety of medical or non medical conditions. These can be the result of psychological issues or disorders that originated at the time of birth. Many a times, special children may show only subtle indications of their disability. Their condition is masked by other factors. However, every parent wants that his child should be independent and be able to take care of his life. The first step to this, post identifying the weak areas of your child, is education.
Before Deciding On A School:
In any major city/town, there is a good chance that there would be several special schools imparting education However, before deciding to enroll your child into one of these, it may be fruitful to consider the factors below.
- Whether the school is equipped enough to take care of your child’s needs.
- The teaching aids available in the school.
- The student teacher ratio of the school. The lower the ratio the better it is. In any case, it should be below 10.
- Whether the school has experience of dealing with children of that particular condition.
- The syllabus of the school and whether your child would be able to grasp it.
- The qualification of the staff.
- The overall ambience of the school. A visit or recommendation would be good in this regard.
The above criterion should give you a comprehensive idea regarding the quality of the school. Your child is precious and a little care before finalizing on a school would go a long way in helping him/her develop a keep interest.
The Curriculum of Special Schools
There are certain approaches that schools for special children normally take. These have evolved as conventional education does not seem well equipped to handle children with special demands.
- Accommodation – This approach strives to make the education for special children more inclusive. Certain changes are carried out in the curriculum that makes it more inclusive. These allow the special children to learn at par normal students under ‘tweaked’ circumstances.
- Modification – This approach alters the existing setup of the curriculum and omits features that are out of bounds for children with special needs.
Special schools are equipped to handle the niche requirements of the children. They have a low student ratio to enable more attention and have a solid infrastructure to aid the learning environment.
The Future of Special Schools
Schools for special children are no longer the preferred way of educating your child. There has been a paradigm shift that has resulted in more and more special children being admitted to normal schools. The trend has been replaced by making separate sections in normal schools to take care of the special children. However, for children whose conditions require extensive care, there can be no substitute to special schools.
