Characteristics, Problems and Remedies of:

- Creative Children

- Mentally Retarded Children

- Children suffering from Dyslexia

- Children suffering from Dyscalculia

Abstract

Every child is special with unique combinations of abilities and needs that affect learning. All children deserve the opportunity to learn in ways that make the most of their strengths and help them overcome their weaknesses.

Children are unique. They are individuals and no two children are alike: physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually. Every child is a unique individual. Because children are unique, even if there are common needs and characteristics that children of a particular age or stage of development share, they must be understood by their parents and teachers in their uniqueness and their individuality must be respected.

The teacher must be able to get to know and understand each of the children and prepare teaching/learning activities that will respond to and reflect these individual needs of children. As children work individually or independently, in small-groups or as a whole group, they will each benefit in their own way from these activities. What is most important is that the teacher, who is primarily responsible for planning the daily activities through which the children will learn, should know every child and keep track of how well each child is able to learn.

Introduction

There is famous quote by John Wilmot,

“BEFORE I GOT MARRIED I HAD SIX THEORIES ABOUT BRINGING UP CHILDREN,

NOW I HAVE SIX CHILDREN AND NO THEORIES”

So, there is no single set of abilities running throughout human nature. Each child is special and unique. Each child has different strengths and weaknesses.

We as teachers should know and understand each and every child in the class. We should prepare activities that fulfil the individual needs of the child because no two children are alike: physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually.

Some are good at sport, others in music. Some are very academic and others not. Some are creative, gifted, and special and some are with learning disabilities.

So my dear friends that our topic of the day, we will make you aware about the characteristics, problems and ways to solve the problems of creative, gifted, special children and children with learning disabilities.

 Dyslexia

Meaning: Dyslexia is difficulty with language. People with dyslexia typically have average to above average intelligence. They may have difficulty with reading, spelling, understanding language they hear, or expressing themselves clearly in speaking or in writing. An unexpected gap exists between their potential for learning and their school achievement.

Symptoms: students with dyslexia may have other receptive or expressive language or auditory processing difficulties.

ü Dyslexia symptoms may also include difficulty with receptive language. Dyslexic people may not correctly perceive sounds or words. Whether reading aloud or silently or listening to spoken language, dyslexic students often cannot recall important details of what has been said or read. People with dyslexia may be unable to process material that is read to them and have difficulty explaining main ideas of material.

ü Symptoms of dyslexia may include expressive language problems or disabilities. When reading aloud, for example, people with dyslexia may reverse words or parts of words. A dyslexic child may read the word bad as if it were dab. Word order and sounds may also be confused, by dyslexics, and words are often omitted or slurred over. The dog chased the cat down the street could become the gob chaled on the treats. Dyslexics may also reverse letters and words in written language. Mirror writing, a complete reversal of words, is sometimes present.

ü In speaking and listening, students with Dyslexia have difficulty pronouncing words, especially those with more than one syllable. Frequently they cannot repeat phrases that are spoken to them. They have difficulty gleaning the meaning from spoken phrases. Difficulty following instructions is also a symptom of dyslexia. Homonyms, synonyms, rhymes, and idioms are difficult for dyslexics. Dyslexics may also have problems with metaphors, similes, and other symbolic speech.

Learning Difficulties

Ø Difficulty decoding single words in isolation

Ø Difficulty with letter/sound relationships

Ø Spelling is usually difficult, frequently spells the same word differently in a single piece of writing

Ø Difficulty in telling or retelling a story

Ø Difficulty with rhyming words

How is Dyslexia Treated?

Dyslexia is lifelong condition. With proper help, many people with dyslexia can learn to read and write well. Early identification and treatment is the key to helping dyslexia achieve in school and in life. Most people with dyslexia need help from teacher, tutor, or therapist specially trained in using a multisensory, structured language approach. It is important for these individuals to be taught by a systematic and explicit method that involves several senses (hearing, seeing, touching) at the same time.

Dyscalculia

 









Meaning of Dyscalculia

ü Dyscalculia is a specific learning disability involving maths skills.

ü It refers to a wide range of math difficulties that can affect a person differently throughout life.

ü Dyscalculia means disabilities in arithmetic and mathematics.

ü Dyscalculia refers to a wide range of lifelong learning disabilities involving maths. There is no single type of math disability. Dyscalculia can vary from person to person. And, it can affect people differently at different stages of life.

Two major areas of weakness can contribute to math learning disabilities:

•          Visual-spatial difficulties.

•          Language processing difficulties.

Etymological Definition

‘Dys’ comes from Greek and means ‘badly’.  ‘Calculia’ comes from the Latin word‘ calculare’ that means ‘to count’.so it refers to  counting badly , inability to calculate.

Medical Definition

Difficulty in performing simple mathematical problems, commonly seen in parietal lobe lesions.

It’s a condition that affects the ability to acquire arithmetical skills, number concepts, lack and intuitive grasp of numbers and have problems learning number facts and procedures .Dyscalculia is a specific learning disability (SpLD) that affects a person’s ability to acquire arithmetical skills. It can manifest itself as a person’s inability to understand basic number concepts and number relationships, recognise symbols, and comprehend quantitative and spatial information.

Characteristics of children affected with dyscalculia

1. Good in other fields/subjects.

May do fairly well in subjects such as science and geometry, which require logic rather than formulas, until a higher level calculation is needed. They are good in creative arts and language as well.

2. Poor sense of time.

People affected from dyscalculia face difficulty with conceptualizing time and judging the passing of time.

3. Poor mathematical skills.

Adults and children affected with dyscalculia face frequent difficulties with arithmetic, confusing the signs: +, −, ÷ and ×. They are unable  to tell which of two numbers is the larger.

4. Poor sense of direction.

Children face problems differentiating between left and right.They have a poor sense of direction (i.e., north, south, east, and west), potentially even with a compass.

5. Face problems in everyday task.

Children face difficulty with everyday tasks like checking change and reading clocks. They are unable to estimate the cost of the items in a shopping basket. Children may have poor athletic coordination, difficulty keeping up with rapidly changing physical directions like in aerobic, dance, and exercise classes. They face difficulty in remembering dance step sequences and rules for playing sports.

6. Lack of strategic skills.

Difficulty keeping score during games or difficulty remembering how to keep score in games, like bowling, etc. Often looses track of whose turn it is during games, like cards and board games. Limited strategic planning ability for games, like chess.

Learning Difficulties

Ø Difficulty in doing mental arithmetic:-  When writing, reading and recalling numbers, these common mistakes are made: number additions, substitutions, transpositions, omissions, and reversals.  They face problems in basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. They may be able to perform mathematics operations one day, but draw a blank the next. May be able to do book work but can fail all tests and quizzes.

Ø Inability to grasp math concepts, rules, formula’s, symbols:-Children affected with dyscalculia face difficulties with arithmetic, confusing the signs: +, −, ÷ and ×. They are not able to tell which of two numbers is the larger.

Ø Learning abstract concepts of time and direction:-People affected from dyscalculia may experience problems with the concepts of time and direction, including keeping a diary, telling and keeping track of time and the sequence of past and future events.

Ø Difficulty in learning musical concepts:-Children affected from dyscalculia may have difficulty grasping concepts of formal music education. They face difficulty in sight-reading music, learning fingering to play an instrument, etc.

Ø Difficulty in operating calculator:-They may face problem in using calculator as it requires feeding of numbers. They may get confused.

Ø Difficulty in dealing with money and finance:- People affected from dyscalculia face difficulties in dealing with money – both with cash and with handling a bank account

Remedy for Dyscalculia

Luckily there are some strategies that parents and teachers can use to help students with dyscalculia:

Teacher’s Role

1. Teaching through Drawings and Images.

As we teach all the other children, teaching strategies for students with dyscalculia should be made as interesting as possible. Make learning interactive, lively creates a friendly atmosphere.

Teachers can use:

(a)       Imagery:  Children have a very active imagination. So in general, they remember better when they can picturize or imagine something. For this, teachers can make use of:

(b)       Drawings and Diagrams:  Representing a math problem in the form of a drawing and Color Coding (e.g., use one color for a digit in units place and another for the one in tens place).Using pictures instead of text for concept clarity (e.g., a colorful image of circles will make it easier and interesting to remember)

(c)       Actions and Games: Including activities and games in teaching strategy will not only make it fun, but also interactive. It will open up the child and he/she will increase self-effort. Use of actions (for example: using fingers for multiplication) is another effective way to teach. A floor game in which a child has to locate numbers or representations that are being read out will help the child to recollect them. There are many card games available on the Internet that can be useful.

2. Simplification of Concepts.

 Breakdown complex mathematical concepts into smaller and easier parts. This will enable the child to understand faster and much better. For this, teachers can use:

(a)       Flashcards: Write down one or two parts or steps of a complex concept or problem on one flash card. Have the child read them, and once they are learned, shuffle all the cards and ask him/her to arrange them in a sequence much like a game.

(b)       Correlate: Relating a mathematical concept or problem to a real life situation and experience a child has had, will create a sense of familiarity with it thus, helping in understanding it.

For example, explaining a math problem in terms of the number of chocolates that a child had yesterday will make problem solving interesting and easier.

(c)       One-on-one Sessions:  In the early stages of teaching children with dyscalculia, one-on-one sessions with a special tutor are essential. Basic concepts need to be taught at the pace of the child and in ways that are easier for him/her to understand. As the needs of each child are different, they will have to be given exclusive attention. Once the basics are clear, there is not much need for such sessions. In fact, group interactions will then be more beneficial. Peer help and group learning will boost the confidence of the child.

3. Teaching Audio/Video Mode

 (a)      Computer Time: Make use of the various math learning resources for children with dyscalculia, available on the Internet. A lot of teaching resources are also available in the form of software and CDs. It makes learning enjoyable and very effective. You will find children eagerly waiting for the next ‘computer time’.

(b)       Music and Rhythm: Giving a rhythm or setting music to concepts that have to be memorized will be more useful than plain oral drills.

             For example, you could make a child ‘sing’ the times table to a popular tune.

Parent’s Role

Having dyscalculia does not make a child dumb. Most of the children with dyscalculia have an average or above average IQ. They just need a little more help in mathematics than the regular kids. Certain things that parents can do are given below.

1. Support & Encouragement: Parents should boost the morale of the child and show genuine confidence. The child is more likely to believe in himself/herself if PARENT’S do. Be careful not to go overboard and set impossible goals which will backfire if not achieved. Parents should always support their child. Let the child know that you are there. Don’t brush aside his/her concerns or worries. Pay attention to what he/she says and together address the issue

2.  Flexibility and Attentiveness: Teach the child at his/her pace, not yours. It is okay to disrupt an already set schedule, if it is beneficial to your child’s learning. It’s understandable that you will not want to waste all the time, resources and energy you have already spent. But in the long run, it will be more satisfying to see your child learn than to see your plan in action.

3. Be Innovative: They should set creative wheels at work, and make learning exciting and fun instead of burdensome and mundane. Not to use the same teaching strategies again and again. There are many resources available in the market. Look out for them but use only if it’s recommended by an expert or someone who is knowledgeable on the subject. Should visit the official website of Learning Disabilities Association for America to learn more.

4. Exchange strategies: The progress made by the child and to see if there is any scope for improvement. This will reduce the stress and also encourage them. Parents facing the common problem should interact with each other which provide motivation and the power to fight for their child. By exchanging views parents learn how to be more patient with this type of child. As patience is the key to teach the child.. .  It is important to have honest conversations not just with the child, but also with teachers, tutors and if possible, with parents of other children struggling with dyscalculia.

 Creative Child

गिलफोर्ड के अनुसार सृजनात्मक बालक की परिभाषा :-

सृजनात्मक बालको मे अधिकतर सामान्य विशेषक होते है । जो न केवल मौलिकता के गुणो को शामिल करता है। अपितु उनमे नम्यता , प्रवाहता और प्रेरणात्मक एंव स्वभाव विशेषक भी शामिल होते है ।

सृजनात्मक बालको कि विशेषताएँ : -
मेकीनन के अनुसार सृजनशील व्यक्तियो की रुचि , अर्थो , प्रतीको , और उनमे निहित अर्थो मे अधिक होती है ।

·        सृजनशील व्यक्ति अधिक स्वतंञ होते है ।

·        सृजनशील बालको मे मौलिकता होती है ।

·        सृजनशील व्यक्ति प्रभुत्वपूर्ण होते है ।

·        सृजनशील व्यक्तियो मे विचारो के प्रति निग्रह कम होते है ।

·        सृजनशील व्यक्ति आमूल परिर्वतनवादी अंतर्मुखी एंव आत्मनिर्भर होते है ।

·        सृजनशील व्यक्ति मे प्रवाहता होती है । वे अपने विचारो को प्रवाहता के साथ व्यवहार कर सकते है ।

·        ऐसे विचार जो अनैतिक होते है । जिन्हे अन्य व्यक्ति अपने मन से तुरंत निकाल देना चाहते है । उन्हे ये सहन कर सकते है ।

·        इनमे उच्च सैद्धांतिक एंव कलात्मक मूल्य होते है।

·        सृजनशील व्यक्तियो मे अधिक तीव्र इच्छाशक्ति, आत्मनियंञण, लगनशीलता ,दूरदर्शिता, विवेकशीलता और दूसरो का ख्याल रखने के गुण होते है । ये व्यक्ति सभा मे अपनी प्रतिष्ठा की ओर विशेष ध्यान देते है ।

Problems

ü Creative children can intellectually understand abstract concepts but may be unable to deal with those concepts emotionally, leading to intense concerns about death, the future, and other such issues.

ü Creative children's physical development may lead to an inability to complete a task they are capable of intellectually envisioning. (Perfectionism may play a role in this frustration as well.)

ü A creative child may be able to participate in adult conversations about issues such as global warming or world hunger one minute and the next minute cry and whine because a sibling took a favourite toy.

ü Creative children can be argumentative and/or manipulative.

ü Perfectionism can lead to fear of failure, in turn causing a gifted child to avoid failure by refusing to even try something.

ü A gifted child may require full details before answering questions or offering help, making him or her appear socially shy.

ü Intense sensitivity can cause gifted children to take criticism, or even general anger, very personally. Childhood slights do not roll off their backs.

Solutions

Follow Your Child's Desire

Expand Your Child's Interests

Be Creative

Look for Outside Activities

Keep a Variety of Resources at Home

Mentally retarded children

Definition: According to Tredgold," It is a state of arrested or incomplete development of mind so severe that the patient is incapable of leading an independent life."

General characteristics of mentally retarded children:

1) Limited functioning:

Their level of functioning is very limited. They have difficulty not only in learning but also doing routine life job due to significant loss of conceptual, practical and social intelligence.

2) Sub Average Intellectual functioning:

Their intellectual functioning is less than average (below 80 IQ. On an intelligence test) this is the fundamental criterion of diagnosing a mentally retarded child.

3) Poor performance level:

If someone falls short in his performance of certain tasks from the performance of the majority of children of his own age, he is said to have low mental age or sub- normal intellectual functioning.

4) Acquisition of skill slow:

Academic (content related) and non-academic (action related) both types of skills are acquired by them at a very slow rate.

5) Low level of adaptive skills:

They are not only slow in acquiring skills but they are always poor in adaptive skills also.

6) Early Manifestations:

Mental retardation manifests itself before the age of 18. From this perspective, mental retardation is viewed as a disorder of the life period characterized by the slow rate of development.

Learning Difficulties:

1) Social adjustment criterion : If a person is functioning adequately in all socio-economic conditions as compared to his peers or age mates, there is no need of sending the person to child guidance canters (CGC ) for proper screening. Mentally retarded person will surely exhibit adjustment problem in social situations.

2) Learning ability criterion: Failure in educational endeavours is another criterion of mental retardation but effects of socio economic and physical factors should also be taken into account because poor academic achievement is caused due to these factors also.

3) Developmental criterion: The developmental history of the suspected child should also be taken into account eg, when the child began to sit, crawl, stand, walk and talk.

4) Academic achievement criterion: These children are generally very slow in academic achievement due to low level of retention power and understanding ability. When they constantly perform poorly in context related skills due to repeated remedial measures adopted by the teachers, they are suspected to be mentally retarded

Remedies for Mentally Retarded

Mental retardation is generally a life-long condition and it cannot be 'cured' with medical treatment. Given this fact, what can be done and what should be the aims and objectives in providing care for these individuals? The following considerations should be kept in mind to guide actions.

1. LOVE AND CARE : Research has shown that the best place for children with mental retardation to grow in is their own families, where they can be nurtured with appropriate stimulation. Therefore, services should be organized so that the families are supported, strengthened and empowered to look after their affected member. Families have different needs at different stages in the life cycle of its members (such as childhood, adolescence, and adulthood); this should be recognized and attempts made to fulfil these needs. It should also be recognized that families are not just recipients of services but care-providers as well. In other words, they are partners in care.

Paying attention, praising the child and giving some material reward such as sweets, candies or toys whenever the child shows desirable behaviour or makes an attempt to learn, increases the child's motivation to learn appropriate and new behaviour.

2. SPECIAL TEACHER ‘S: Special education teachers must be organized, patient, able to motivate students, understanding of their students' special needs, and accepting of differences in others. All States require teachers to be licensed; traditional licensing requires the completion of a special education teacher training program and at least a bachelor's degree, although some States require a master's degree. Many States offer alternative licensure programs to attract college graduates who do not have training in education. Excellent job prospects are expected due to rising enrollments of special education students and reported shortages of qualified teachers.

3.GOVT. POLICIES: In the 1970s, the government launched the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC). The scheme aimed at providing educational opportunities to learners with disabilities in regular schools, and to facilitate their achievement and retention. The objective was to integrate children with disabilities in the general community at all levels as equal partners to   for normal development and to enable them to face life with courage and confidence.  National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) joined hands with UNICEF and launched Project Integrated Education for Disabled Children (PIED) in the year 1987, to strengthen the integration of learners with disabilities into regular schools. An external evaluation of this project in 1994 showed that not only did the enrollment of learners with disabilities increase considerably, but the retention rate among disabled children was also much higher than the other children in the same blocks.

 For example, the National Institute of Open Schooling offers courses that have the advantage of being specially adapted to the needs of every child as well as giving the child every opportunity to progress at his/her own pace.

4. HEALTH :  The first requirement is for appropriate facilities for a good medical/health evaluation and accurate diagnosis.  Associated problems  can be corrected or controlled with proper medical attention. It is desirable to have facilities for psychological assessment of strengths and weaknesses in the child which can form the basis for future training

5. SPECIAL EDUCATION: The mentally retarded can be gainfully placed in the work in three situations i.e. selfemployment, sheltered employment and opene employment depending upon his level of retardation, aptitude, resources in the family and community. The vocational guidance counsellor should make a proper analysis of the job as well as suitability of the retarded person to fit in before placing the person. Satisfactory job placement will be possible only if the job requirement and the concerned retarded person's ability are matched.

6. REHABILITATION CENTER’S: The rehabilitation management aims for social and occupational adjustment in adulthood. Proper and need based guidance is essential for appropriate vocational training and work placement. It is necessary to see his willingness for the work, before he is given a job. The various types of work are available according to the resources in the community and the ability of the mentally retarded person. In rural areas, he can be involved in farming, bees keeping, poultry, and dairy and other simple service jobs. In the urban areas, he can be involved as attendant, helpers for semiskilled or unskilled jobs.

Some Prominent Personalities …...

Dyscalculia  - Bill Gates Bill Gates got numbers coming out of his ears. Working in a college computer lab in the late ’70′s, Bill learned to write simple computer programs – and then harder and harder ones until he built the worlds largest computer company.

Sir Isaac Newton   -   Creative Child Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion, which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe. He was the person who brought  Scientific Revolution though he was removed from school, but after wards he completed his studies.

References

§  T. Madhavan, Manjula Kalyan, J. Narayan & Reeta Reshawarie "Mental Retardation : A Mannual for esvidence Counsellors". Published by NIMH, Secunderabad, 1988.

§  Madhumitra Puri and A.K. Sen, "Mentally Retarded Children in India", Published by Mittal Publication, New Delhi, 1989.

§  www.unicef.org

§  http://www.kidscount.com.au/english/chapter22.asp

§  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyscalculia

§  www.ncld.org/ld-basics/ld-aamp-language/ld.../what-is-dyscalculia

§  www.dozenlilacs.com/.../Dyscalculia.html

§  www.ldinfo.com/dyscalculia.htm

§  www.dyscalculiaforum.com

§  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristics_of_dyslexia

§  http://www.hsutx.edu/academics/specialprograms/literacylearning/charDyslexia.aspx