Child with special needs or

child with different skills?

Prof. Nicoleta – Valentina Florean
Colegiul Național Pedagogic ”Ștefan cel Mare” din Bacău
 My presentation starts from the revelation that I myself had in one moment
of my life, because in the contemporary society’s window I am considered a person
with special needs. But the practice has shown me that each of us, even those who,
according to the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and
Handicaps conducted by the World Health Organization, are capable of carrying on
an activity in a manner considered normal for a human being, even those have
special needs.
And I give you a concrete example: in the current society, it is a routine activity to
work on the PC and to have the ability to type. A well, middle-aged gentleman
who is considered with above-average skills of PC usage, seeing how quickly
typing a lady considered disabled, has exclaimed that the lady type with a hand
faster than he can key with both. And then the question arises: which one had
special needs?
According to the same International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps,
the disability consists of any restriction or lack (as a result of the deficiency) of the ability to
conduct an activity in a way considered commonplace for a human being.

To sum up, we all have disabilities. Not all of us can do the gathering with more passes over the
order in thought. The’re fewer... Not all of us can prepare pancakes, for example... or skate. The
string of examples is a long one... What do I mean by that? It is meaning, unfortunately, for the '
guilt ' not to correspond to the standards laid down by subjective criteria, the community calls
these persons "handicapped" members

But the handicap refers to the disadvantages that the individual has in the social environment in
which he lives, as a consequence of deficiency and/or disability. The International Classification
of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps defines handicap as the disadvantage resulting from
a deficiency or disability and which limits or prevents the conduct of a normal role (in relation to
age, gender, social and cultural factors).
A resizing of the vision on this problem has been observed in recent years. But the company still
creates disabilities for people with special requirements, especially for children with different
skills.

I will introduce you to the case of a child who has the autistic spectrum disorders.

Daniel (he like be named Dani) is 12 years old. He's part of a single parent family. It is cared for by the
mother and a grandmother (the maternal one), who accompanies him permanently (shadow). They strive to
create a normal family climate, giving it the affective support it needs. It is diagnosed with autistic spectrum
disorders, with limited access to the environment due to a poor feed-back due to reduced interactions. He has
an above-average intelligence, but focused only on forigner language learning being recommended addapted
curriculum.
Since the first week, we have noted behavioral deviations, like: refusing to answer at questions, self-
isolation, repetitive questions and the ever-higher voice addressed to the teacher, lack of patience, obsessive
preference for Cars, etc.
After talking to Grandma, I learned that it was recommended to Dany to study at home and only from time to
time to be brought to school for socialization. The Dany’s refuse to communicate whith his classmates derives
from fear of being ridiculed by them.
The mother is aware of the child's problems and acts in order to improve the situation of the boy, who follows
weekly sessions to the psychologist, takes treatment, etc.

Dany says:

-he does not feel well at school, is often bored;

-some classmates annoy him very much;

Problems faced by the child (results of complex evaluation):

-When tired, the child manifests Dyslalia;

-Exhibit Echolalia
-Manifest restricted interests and syncopated focus on a particular subject
- his game is marked by a stereotype character
-Fear of the unknown
In intervention, the aim is to reduce the child's behavioral disorders by means of
approaches that include self-education methods, game interventions, and behavior
management approaches and operative curing methods. Thus, given the child's
preference for cars, the elements of the surrounding universe will be redefined by
resizing the machines. They are customized, are the space of activities, are
didactic material, etc.

The central objective of self-education training is to improve self-regulatory

capacities and reflexive problem solving strategies. Therapy must help the child
keep his attention focused, better control his impulses and develop action plans to
better resolve the tasks.
Last but not least, game training is used. It starts with simple games and activities,
insisting on the rules of the game and its purpose, ensuring that the chosen game
can be carried out by Dani. After that, it gradually increases its complexity,
involving Dani more in exchange for replicas and ideas, extending the duration of
the child's attention to the task. As activities we remember: role-playing,
dramatization, word games, audition, movie viewing, crosswords, etc. We do not
forget the methods of strengthening: the social strengthening of each game activity
and the reinforcement by offering points.
In conclusion, working with children with different skills is just as difficult as the
one with the ordinary skills. The purpose of the teacher ist o achieve the
performance of being able to find out what interests the child very much and to
transform the information into teaching material and didactic strategy. Because
every child has special needs into a greater or lesser measure.