Chapter
21
THE
PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED CHILD
The
Chapter at a Glance
Adverse effect of disability.
The crippled child.
The visually handicapped child.
The auditory defective child.
The speech defective child.
Need for adequate educational facilities.
The physically handicapped children may manifest the
symptoms of withdrawal from the realities of life and the neurotic manifestations
....... the personality may be modified along definitely anti-social lines.
Incorrigibility, delinquency, and even criminality may be the end-results of
interference with the normal development of the ego instinct of the
personality."
A
successful handling of the physically handicapped child necessitates knowledge
of the defect, the dynamics of its effect on the child, the consequent
maladjustment, if any, and the child's reaction to it.
Scientific
interest in the physically handicapped child is of very recent origin. It is
only a few years back that the psychologists and educationists embarked upon
the task of a systematic understanding and regular treatment of physically
handicapped children.
Scheme
of the Chapter
The
present chapter has been devoted to a discussion of the various categories of
physically handicapped children. It has been divided into the following four sections, each dealing with one
type of physically handicapped child:--
Section
One : deals with the crippled child.
Section
Two : discusses the visually
handicapped child.
Section
Three: studies the auditory handicapped child.
Section Four:
focuses on the speech defective child.
Section One: The Crippled Child
A crippled
child is one who suffers from a physical defect or deformity. This may be
congenital or acquired. The defect involves a condition in the muscles, bones
or joints which seriously impairs their normal functioning.
Causes
and Prevention
A child
may be crippled by birth injuries and accidents. Diseases like infantile
paralysis, osteomylitis, cerebral palsy or rickets are also responsible for
this defect.
The
prevention and treatment of this defect is rather a difficult and complicated
affair. It involves co-operation between many persons. General preventive
measures are: the propagation amongst the affected families and the general
public of the principles of hygienic living, a campaign for better, clearer and
purer food and a drive against dirt and filth. Greater care of maternity cases
is another important preventive measure. When the defect is discovered,
adequate medical and surgical treatment should never be delayed.
Orthopedic
surgery and physiotherapy have contributed immensely towards the prevention and
treatment of crippled conditions.
Education of the Crippled Child
It is
needless to point out that a crippled child needs to be placed in a special institution
exclusively meant for the education and welfare of such children.
Aim of
Education
It must be
remembered that a crippled child usually differs from others in one respect
only, i.e. the physical. He is otherwise normal. It is impossible for him to be as active
physically as normally healthy children. But we must understand that he, too,
has the same desires and ambitions as those of the normal child. He must,
therefore, be provided with all the necessary educational opportunities which
are suited to his capacity.
An
educational program for crippled children must recognize their exceptional
physical condition. It must realize that they need special attention, care and
guidance. A crippled child is usually retarded educationally mainly because of
his physical handicap. It is, therefore, highly desirable that such curriculum
is chalked out for him as does not cause any strain on his limited physical
capacity.
A
Comprehensive Program
An ideal
program for the education of crippled children should be comprehensive and
all-inclusive. Such an educational program should emphasize the following
aspects:—
(1) The usual academic work appropriate for and
adapted to their handicapped physical condition.
(2) Emotional adjustment concentrating on development of initiative and self-reliance, and the removal of
feelings of inferiority.
(3) Physical reconstruction aiming at the development of an attitude
of determination
to overcome the defect and increase physical efficiency.
(4) Medical and surgical care either at the
school or at a specialized wing of the hospital.
Some
Educational Problems
The problems
encountered in the education of the crippled child are mostly the same as those
met within any other field of special education; that is, the need for better
accommodation for the school, adequate educational apparatus, specially trained
staff, etc.
An institution for
crippled children must also arrange for expert medical and physical treatment
of the children.
Not to be Abandoned
A crippled child is
not to be abandoned nor cast aside in indifference, careless or negligence. If
suitably educated and properly looked after he becomes a self-sufficient adult
and hence no more burden on his family or the state.
Section Two: The Visually
Handicapped Child
Another type of
exceptionally handicapped individual needing special care and guidance is the
visually defective child.
Broadly speaking such
children could be divided into the following two groups:—
(1) Totally blind children, and
(2) Partially blind or partially seeing
children.
The names
of these two groups are quite self-explanatory. The technical definition of a
blind person according to Snellen chart is: “one who is with vision of less
than 20/200 in better eye after correction.” In ordinary language this means
total inability to see. Partial blindness is half way between blindness and
normal vision.
Causes
and Prevention of Visual Defects
An adequate knowledge of the causes of visual
defects, and the main preventive measures against them, can be extremely
helpful for a teacher of the visually handicapped children.
Some of
the main causes and prominent preventive measures are as follow.
Main
Causative Factor
The chief
cause of blindness is disease. Common diseases causing defective vision are
small- pox, tumors, measles, meningitis, trachoma, scarlet fever, typhoid, etc.
Hereditary
conditions and accidents are also significant causative factors of blindness
and defective vision. Some of the accidental causes of blindness among children
are as follows:-
(1) Automobile and traffic accidents.
(2) Explosion.
(3) Burns.
(4) Eye injuries received from pointed toys,
sharp stick, barbed wires, pencils,
etc
(5) Toxic matters, lye solution and other
irritants and injurious chemicals.
Some
Preventive Measures
Some
effective measures to be adopted for the prevention of partial or total
blindness amongst children are:--
(1) Widespread publicity especially among the
parents and teachers regarding the health of the eye.
(2) Better care of infants in general and in
particular withholding them from situations causing damage to the vision.
(3) Provision of improved lighting conditions
at home and especially in school.
(4) Regular physical examination at school with
special emphasis on a thorough
exami- nation of the vision.
Psychology of the Visually Defective Child
A blind
child lives in perpetual darkness. Such a mode of living must be highly
unpleasant, taxing, irritating and frustrating for him. It is liable to drive
the blind child into a world of unreality and phantasm. In retreating into a
make-believe world of his own, the blind child might find some compensation for
his real or imaginary failures.
Mental
Structure of the Blind Child
The main
characteristics of a blind child are as follows:—
(1) Diminished
Vigor: Lack of proper vision tends to make him less mobile and less vigorous than the seeing child.
(2) Lack
of Initiative: It is commonly due to emotional blocking and inferiority
feelings usually associated with his defective vision than directly to his
physical disability.
(3) Feeling
of Inferiority: This results in compensatory behavior, introversion, etc.
(4) Excessive
Worry: A blind child worries a lot about his present and future.
(5) Retreat
into Phantasm: He is more prone to seek in phantasm what he finds difficult
to achieve in reality.
Effect
of Blindness on Personality
Blindness
affects the personality of the child in the following specific ways:—
(1) Inhibition of Motor Activity: It
inhibits his normal physical activities. His motor behavior is restricted very
considerably.
(2) Thwarting of Desires: It thwarts the
fulfillment of most of his natural urges, wishes and desires.
(3) Increased Nervous and Physical Strain:
Restricted movement, greater exertion and diminished results, thwarting of
desires, etc. may cause increased nervous and physical strain.
(4) Social
Inadequacy: The blind child feels that he is a different and an exceptional
member of the group. This causes an acute sense of social inadequacy.
Such
adverse factors lead to the origination of serious maladjustments in the
personality of the blind child. Consequently, he needs to be trained to accept
his disability. He requires such specialized training and education as is
appropriate to his physical capacity. Such an education is bound to decrease
his frustration and add to his happiness. It is, thus, most likely to turn him into
a cheerful and adjusted member of society.
Pre-School
Care of Blind Children
Most of
the personality maladjustments of the blind child are due to defective training
at home. Some of the defective parental attitudes are: ignorance, indifference,
rejection, etc. on one extreme and pampering, over-solicitude, etc. on the
other. Brock*, for instance, found that, most of the personality maladjustments
in blind children could be avoided if the parents used more insight into the
problems of rearing them.
Education of the Blind Child
The only
difference between the blind child and the seeing child is that the former is
deprived of visual ability which results in considerable educational
retardation for him. Owing to their visual handicap and educational
backwardness, blind children should be sent to special institutions exclusively
meant for their training, education and guidance.
At such
institutions they should be helped to build up a conception of the world, by
use of the remaining unimpaired senses e.g., touch, hearing, speech, etc. Hayes*
found that blind children and adults do surprising things with the help of
hearing, smell and touch.
Principles
and Methods of Education
The past
emphasis in the education of blind children was exclusively vocational. Undue
importance was attached to training them in cabinet-making, rug-weaving, basket-making,
etc. The modern age has, however, realized that no discrimination should be
maintained between the educational facilities extended to blind and seeing
children. Equal educational opportunities, academic as well as vocational, need
to be extended to blind children too.
With the
help of special apparatus invented by Louis Braille and known as the Braille Material,
blind children can be taught reading and writing, elementary arithmetic,
geography and a number of other school subjects. Contemporary research suggests
that there is a considerable similarity between the psychology of Braille
reading and normal reading.
Type-writing
and a number of other special skills can also be taught to the blind through
the same method.
The
Role of Physical Education
Physical
education should also be properly organized for blind children, in order to
counteract the sedentary tendencies which are incidental to blindness. To some
extent the sedentary habits of blind children are due to over solicitous parents
who prevent their children from normal physical activities fearing lest they
should hurt themselves.
An
educational institution for blind children should endeavor to counteract these
tendencies by providing regular, ample and properly supervised recreational,
sporting and gymnastic activities at the institution.
Education of the Partially Blind Child
From the
educational point of view, partially blind children are those who "after
everything possible has been done for them, have too little vision to make use
of the ordinary school equipment but too much to benefit by the education for
blind children."*
Most of
the partially blind children need not be sent to the special institutions for
the blind. They can be educated at the schools for the average children. All
that a teacher has to do is to keep the following constantly in mind when there
are some partially blind children in his class:—
(1)
Recognition of the sightedness.
(2)
Prevention of blindness.
(3)
Avoidance of frustration.
(4) Return
to regular classes.
(1) Recognition of the Sightedness: The
teacher must recognize that the partially seeing child is not blind. Unlike the
blind he possesses vision which is only somewhat defective.
(2) Prevention of Blindness: The child must
not be pushed too much to keep pace with the class work, especially the
standard of reading. He should rather be treated leniently and helped to
overcome his visual handicap, instead of allowing it develop into blindness by
carelessness or visual over work. He should also be trained to develop healthy
habits and get the best use of his eyes.
(3) Avoidance of Frustration: Many a
weak-sighted child fails to keep abreast with the class of normal sighted
children. Failures might cause embarrassment …………(to be completed)
The
Auditory Defective Child
Causes
of Auditory Defects
Deafness
is either congenital or acquired. Congenital deafness exists from birth and is
more common. A congenitally deaf child never acquires speech and language in
the normal manner, i.e., through learning by hearing and imitating the heard
speech.
Acquired
deafness is easier to diagnose. Accidents cause it. Diseases like meningitis,
measles, scarlet fever, small-pox, influenza, etc., are prominent causes of
congenital deafness.
Some Preventive
Measures
Some of
the preventive measures that have been commonly suggested are:—
(1)
Parental education.
(2)
Medical examination.
(3) Early
treatment.
(4) Birth
control of the congenitally deaf.
(1) Parental
Education: Parents should be equipped with the necessary information
regarding the after effects of children's diseases and proper care of their
ears especially during early infancy.
(2) Medical
Examinations: Frequent medical check-ups should be arranged at the school.
Such examinations will spot out children with deafness or semi-deafness.
(3) Early Treatment:
It has been found that timely treatment of deafness cures the disability
considerably. Thus, for instance, Newhart* thinks that 80% of all cases of
impaired hearing can be prevented or arrested if medical attention is given
early enough.
(4) Birth Control of
the Congenital Deaf: About 70% of all deafness is congenital. If a family
history abounds in congenitally deaf persons, adequate measures should be adopted
to enforce birth control. Such steps will prevent further propagation of the
auditory handicapped.
Psychology
of the Auditory Defective Child
Deaf or
hard of hearing children are handicapped in several ways. They are debarred
from several pleasures of life for which the normal functioning of the ear is a
prerequisite. Thus they are deprived from the full enjoyment of movies, the
theatre, music lectures and the pleasures of every-day free vocal interconnection.
Mental
Ability
An
auditory defect is liable to cause strain to the handicapped child. It also
causes universal mental and muscular fatigue. The deaf child learns to master
language later than the hearing child. Besides, he has to learn it in a very
laborious manner. In this and in several other ways an obstacle is put in the
way of his intellectual development.
Several
studies have been conducted on the intelligence and the learning ability of
deaf and hard of hearing children. Most of the intelligence test results reveal
that if the element of language is eliminated, the auditory handicapped child
fairs almost as well as the hearing child.
A clinical
study gives the following percentages of hearing and deaf children with various
levels of mental development
Mental
Development of the Deaf and Hearing Children
|
|
Stage of Mental Development
|
Percentage of Deaf Children
|
Percentage of Hearing children
|
|
1
|
Near Genius
|
2.7
|
5.4
|
|
2
|
Very Superior
|
13.0
|
15.2
|
|
3
|
Superior
|
11.5
|
12.4
|
|
4
|
Normal or Average
|
32.2
|
35.8
|
|
5
|
Dull
|
13.0
|
13.0
|
|
6
|
Borderline
|
15.2
|
11.2
|
|
7
|
Feeble minded
|
12.4
|
7.0
|
It is evident
from the foregoing table that the differences between the two groups are not
striking.
Social
Maladjustment of Auditory Handicapped Children
The deaf
child has to face huge social adjustment problems. His social experiences are
less rich than those of the hearing child. He understands others less and is
usually less understood. His relations with other people are liable to be
affected very adversely on account of this factor. He is, therefore, more
liable to social maladjustment than the child with normal hearing. Most
studies have pictured the deaf as slightly more introvert than the hearing
child, less dominant, less self-assertive and less well-adjusted on the whole.
Corey*
discovered a correlation between deafness and juvenile delinquency.
"Defective hearing in children has an important bearing on juvenile
delinquency", he tells us.* "This is especially true if the
disability has existed from early age and if it is unrecognized by parents and
teachers.
The Education of Auditory Defective Children
The
education of deaf children should aim at eliminating or minimizing their
defect, besides imparting them practical and academic instruction. This could
be done by giving them regular hearing exercises through electric apparatus,
keeping them in association with hearing children and encouraging them to
understand spoken words.
Some
significant problems and aspects of their education will now be briefly
discussed.
(1) Methods of
Teaching: The following three principal methods have been employed for the
teaching of deaf children:—
(a) The Manual Method: According to this
method symbolic hand gestures and finger
spelling are used for communication. This method
thus utilizes natural signs or gestures
and
gross bodily movements to express ideas.
(b) The Oral Method: It teaches the deaf to speak and read by means of lip
movement.
It bases communication upon the ability to read speech.
(c) The Combined Method: Most of the institutions
for the education of deaf children use
this method
which combines both the methods, the manual and the oral.
(2) The Specialized
Apparatus: Modern educational technology has invented several amplifying
instruments for the education of deaf and hard of hearing children. These instruments
have surprisingly facilitated hearing
and learning processes of deaf children. It has been found that the speaking
vocabularies of deaf children improve considerably with
the use of
amplifiers and other electrical hearing aids.
(3) Speech Training:
The most difficult task that faces a teacher or an institution for such
children is obviously that of teaching speech and speech reading. The progress
is usually very slow. Only teachers
with specialized training and experience in this art can accomplish this
difficult task with auditory defective children.
(4) Vocational
Training: Besides other formal education, suitable vocational training is
also helpful for such children. Groht* believes that auditory handicapped
children would prove better and more successful workers in industry if they
were given appropriate vocational education coupled with language training at
their educational institutions.
(5) Education of the
Hard of Hearing Child: The hard of hearing children need not necessarily be
sent to special institutions for the deaf children. Nevertheless, they need specialized training
and guidance.
An
educational and remedial program for such children should emphasize the
following:—
(a) Early detection of the defect.
(b) Careful medical
examination and diagnosis by an expert Otologist and proper treatment of the
defect.
(c) Carefully planned
teaching of speech reading and speech education along with other necessary
instruction at the school.
These measures are
likely to improve the hearing efficiency of hard of hearing children. Many such
children can thus be saved from developing full-fledged deafness.
The Teachers' Training Problems
Training the teachers
for the education of auditory handicapped children is a very laborious affair.
Such a program must be comprehensive enough to
include various aspects of training which are indispensable for the education
of children with hearing disabilities.
The Training
Program
The White House
Conference* suggests the inclusion of the following courses in a teachers'
training program:—
(1) Principles of the formation and
development of speech and rhythm for the deaf and training of residual hearing.
(2) Observation, participation and practice
teaching of deaf children.
(3) Methods of teaching language and reading
to the deaf.
(4) Study of the principles of teaching hard
of hearing children, together with study
of the anatomy and hygiene of the ear.
(5) Industrial arts for handicapped children.
(6) Speech improvement and correction.
(7) Mental
hygiene.
Other
Qualities of the Teacher
Experience
of teaching normal children is sufficiently helpful for this purpose too. The
more essential equipment of such a teacher, however, is the specialized training
for the teaching of auditory handicapped children.
Natural
aptitude for this type of special education is another very appreciable quality
in such a teacher.
Special Education of Auditory Defectives
Incidence
of auditory defects is considerable in our population. Every school gets a
fairly considerable number of children who are either deaf or hard of hearing.
Ignoring
or neglecting such children is replete with dangerous consequences. The doors
to unhappiness, maladjustment, truancy, delinquency and immorality are
naturally flung open to a child who feels utterly incapable of making out what
is going on around him.
Proper
training and education of such children is obviously needed in the interests of
the individual child as well as of the larger interests of the state.
Section Four: The
Speech Defective Child
Speech
ability is one of the prominent social standards of judging a person. Any
irregularity or defect in speech is liable to affect the entire life of the
individual. A child with speech defects is usually ridiculed by his play-mates.
Adults, too, are more often amused rather than sympathetic and understanding
towards the speech defective. It is needless to emphasize that such undesirable
attitudes are extremely embarrassing and frustrating for the handicapped child.
Speech
defectives should be attended to during early infancy. A resolute attempt at
treatment should be made as soon as a child shows any symptoms of developing a
speech defect.
A Lay
Standard of Diagnosis
Generally speaking a child is said to have normal or good
speech when he speaks without drawing ridicule or adverse attention of others.
Conversely, a child is defective in speech if he is abnormally conspicuous
owing to some wide deviation from the accustomed mode of utterance. Though not
a very scientific criterion, such a lay standard is extremely helpful in
spotting out a speech defective child.
Types,
Causes and Cures
Some of
the common forms of speech defect, their causes and methods of treatment are
now briefly examined.
(1) Mutism: This
is a very severe speech disorder. One of the common causes of mutism is
deafness. A deaf child does not hear speech, therefore he does not speak. Deaf
mute children can be cured by teaching them articulated speech through touch
and sight.
(2) Hardness of
Hearing: Children who are hard of hearing show considerable improvement by
acoustic training. Lip reading and hearing aids also help them considerably.
(3) Audimutism: This
type of speech defect consists in lack of speech in those children who are normal
in hearing. Jellinek*mentions the following causes any one of which might be
responsible for audimutism:—
(a) Sub-normal intelligence.
(b) Malformation of the mouth and of the
articulating organs
(palatoschisis, etc.).
(c) Extreme motor awkwardness.
(d) Extenuating diseases.
(e) Retardation in general development.
(f) Psychical factors.
The
general treatment of audimutism consists in phonetic instruction with
controlled play and educational guidance.
(4) Aphasia: This
is loss of speech after injury to the brain. Aphasia is not common among children.
(5) Retarded or Delayed Speech Development: The
same causative factors as are operative in audimutism are more or less
responsible for this speech defect.
Several
abnormal phenomena are associated with retarded speech, e.g.: —
(a) Dyslexia, which is defective articulation.
(b) Paragrammatism, which is defective use of grammar and
syntax.
Children suffer
from speech guidance. Such troubles need early speech guidance.
(6) Abnormal Nasalization:
An excess of nasal color (hyperrhinolalia) or insufficient nasal resonance
(hyporhinolalia) causes a disagreeable timbre in the voice. In excessive cases,
such a defect might even affect the intelligibility of speech.
The
treatment consists in demonstrating correct sound formation, breathing exercise
and in prosthesis (obturator).
(7) Dysarthrias: Often
called "spastic speech" is caused by central motor disturbances of
the speech muscles. Treatment aims at giving gymnastic exercises to the articulating
organs and the respiratory apparatus.
(8) Vocal Disorders:
Hoarseness is the usual form in which vocal disorders frequently appear
during childhood. Shouting, screaming and other abusive use of voice may cause
hoarseness. Breathing exercises and measures aiming at the relaxation of vocal
tension have been found to be useful in restoring normal vocal functioning.
Parents
and teachers must remember that early detection and treatment of such minor
vocal disorder is far better than letting them go unnoticed and develop into
serious defects in later years.
(9) Stuttering: Stuttering
is one of the most common and serious speech disorders of childhood. It is
often more due to psychological than to physiological factors. Stutterers
"suffer from a definite and specific emotional difficulty," says Blanton.
This difficulty prevents them from making a satisfactory adjustment to playmates,
school work and the world in general. The usual pattern of trouble with a
stuttering child is that his thoughts run more quickly than his tongue. The
words he needs to express his ideas come too slowly.
If
neglected or adversely criticized or ridiculed the stutterer may become abnormally
speech conscious. It may open up doors to serious maladjustment and even
neurosis.
Treatment
of Stuttering
Adequate
educational and psychological measures are needed to treat the stutterer. The
proper treatment of the stutterer is the task of a psycho-analyst specializing
in speech psycho-pathology. A sympathetic teacher, however, can also do a
tremendous lot in this matter by helping the stuttering child to reduce his
speech obstacles.
The
following measures have been suggested by English as a help for school teachers
in taking appropriate action in this direction:—
(a) Specialist
advice.
(b) Congenial
social atmosphere.
(c) Removal of emotional strain.
(d) Training
in adjustment.
(a) Specialist Advice:
Parents should be persuaded to consult specialists on speech disorders for the
treatment of their stuttering children.
(b) Congenial Social
Atmosphere: The class-mates of the stutterer are apt to approach him with
amazement, disgust, ridicule, etc. The stutterer, therefore, is liable to
become more speech conscious and all the more embarrassed. Such a situation
aggravates stuttering.
The stuttering child needs a congenial social atmosphere
characterized by sympathy and understanding. The teacher must endeavor to
create pleasant and healthy social situations in the class-room, using all the
persuasive techniques at his disposal.
(c) Removal of
Emotional Strain: The stutterer often suffers from emotional strain, stress
and tensions. A teacher can lessen and even eliminate this emotional strain and
tension by sympathy, understanding, and a pleasant and cheerful attitude
towards the child, etc. By the successful removal of emotional strain,
stuttering to a great extent can be cured in most of the cases.
(d) Training in
Adjustment: Improved social adjustment also decreases the intensity of
stuttering. A teacher should give the necessary training to the stutterer with
a view to bettering his social adjustments in and out of the class.
Education
of the Speech Defectives
If
properly handled the speech defective child can be made to respond to
educational and remedial measures. Such a child needs regular attendance at
specialized speech correction classes or separate institutions for speech
defectives. If need be, he may be referred to an expert psycho-analyst or a
speech pathologist.
Principles
of Education and Guidance
Some of
the helpful principles mentioned by Heck* which may guide the teacher of the speech
defective, are as follows:—
(1) Adequate motivation.
(2) Avoidance of over-emphasis on handicap.
(3) Careful diagnosis.
(4) Suitable speech exercises.
(5) Elimination of worry.
(6) Avoidance of embarrassment.
(1) Adequate
Motivation: The teacher should provide adequate motivation for improving
speech. Motivation is significantly helpful for a speech defective child. The
child must be moved to realize the urgency and necessity of correcting his
speech. The more he realizes this, the more effort will he put in the
instructional exercises prescribed for him. Without adequate motivation, speech
exercises are liable to become mere routine drill.
(2) Avoidance of
Over-Emphasis on Handicap: The teacher should avoid over-emphasizing the
magnitude of the defect. Once the child feels discouraged or loses confidence
in his ability to overcome his handicap the task of speech correction becomes
doubly difficult, for the teacher as well as the taught.
(3) Careful Diagnosis: Remedial and educational measures
based on hasty diagnosis should be avoided. Often the teacher forms a wrong
impression of the exact nature and cause of the speech trouble. Consequently,
he adopts the correspondingly wrong and inadequate measures. Being inaccurate,
such measures are liable to aggravate rather than alleviate the defect of the
child.
Careful
diagnosis, therefore, is an indispensable step towards adopting a suitable
treatment program for the speech defective.
(4) Suitable Speech
Exercises: Sufficient speech exercises should be given to the handicapped
child. Only such speech exercises should be prescribed for a child as are
appropriate for the elimination of the particular type of speech defect he
suffers from. The teacher must also demonstrate both right and wrong sounds and
point out the difference between them.
(5) Elimination of Worry:
Speech defects, especially stuttering and stammering, are mostly caused and
aggravated by emotional factors like worry, embarrassment, anxiety, etc. The
teacher should, therefore, endeavor to provide such an emotional environment
for the child in the class-room as is cheerful, congenial and healthy. It
should be free from all possible elements causing worry, anxiety, tension,
frustration, etc.
(6) Avoidance of
Embarrassment: The speech defective child should be kept away from all
sorts of situations in the class-room which lead to embarrassment. A class of
normal and correctly speaking children is most liable to make a stuttering or
stammering child a butt of their jokes. Such an embarrassing situation is
liable to intensify his handicap. A teacher should, therefore, persuade the
class to be specially humane, understanding and sympathetic towards their
speech defective class-mates.
Placement
of the Speech Defectives
Opinions
differ as to the suitability of placing speech defectives. He can be placed (i)
in a class for normal children, (ii) in a special class for speech defectives
in a regular school or (iii)
in an entirely separate institution exclusively meant for
speech defectives.
This matter
cannot be decided in isolation from a number of other significant factors. The
nature of the defect, for example, determines the type of placement required by
a speech defective. Children with very mild speech difficulties may be sent to
regular schools where occasional special speech correction lessons could be
arranged for them while keeping them in the same class along with other
children. Should the defects be somewhat serious in nature, regular special
classes for speech correction should be organized. More seriously handicapped
speech defective children, however, need to be sent to separate institutions
exclusively specializing in their treatment and education.
If
specialized institutions for serious speech defectives are not available,
arrangements for special classes in regular schools would do. In any case, care
should be taken that normal children don't develop a habit of looking at speech
defectives as "abnormal," "queer," "funny,"
"odd men out," etc., type of children.
Qualification
and Training of Teachers
In
addition to the normal academic requirements, a teacher of speech defective
children must have some additional qualifications. Undergoing specialized
practical training for teaching of this type is indispensable.
Rogers*
considers the following as desirable fields of training for a teacher of the
speech defectives:—
(1)
Correction of speech disorders.
(2) Speech
pathology.
(3)
Advanced correction of speech disorders.
(4)
Introduction to phonetics.
(5)
Psychology of speech.
A teacher
of speech defectives should obviously have a working knowledge of the mechanism
and use of the modern apparatuses employed for the education of such children.
Some Desirable Traits: Certain
desirable traits in the personality of the teacher also prove immensely
helpful for the speech defective pupils. Some of the traits are: patience, calmness
and poise, sense of humor, originality, cheerfulness and emotional adjustment.
In order to meet the growing demand of adequately trained
personnel, teachers' training institutions, exclusively meant for the training
of such teachers, should be opened in important towns.
Need for Adequate Educational Facilities
Speech
defective children need careful and special attention. If ignored or ridiculed they
are liable to feel miserable. They might then develop into serious problems.
As the
speech defects are mostly psychogenic (rather emotiogenic) their prevention and
treatment should, therefore, be predominantly psychological and educational.
Adequate
attention and suitable education in early years enable many a speech defective
child to overcome his handicap and to improve is personal and social
efficiency. The development of a methodical, a systematic programmer of speech
correction and liberal provision of adequate educational facilities for such an
important category of exceptional children should, therefore figure as an
integral part of any democratic system of education anywhere.
