Suvra Das – PTT9

Module 2D

Special Children Max Marks:25

Section A
Answer any 5 questions. Each question carries 2 marks. 10 marks

1. Define exceptional children and the types.

Answer: Children are classified as exceptional when they don’t follow a normal learning curve. The
learning curve is in terms of academic, social and mental development. An exceptional child can be
either those who perform below the curve (backward children) or those who perform above the
learning curve (gifted children).

Thus exceptional children is inclusive of all those children who have learning/behavior problems,
physical disabilities or sensory impairments, and children who are intellectually gifted or have a special
talent.

The 3 types are 1) Gifted 2) Backward 3) Delinquent

2. Mention the factors related to home that contribute towards Backwardness.

Answer: The 3 key factors that contributes to backwardness from home are 1) economic condition of
the family which results in inadequate support a child needs in form of books and reading material,
clothing and supporting fees required for education in schools 2) Distress and strained relationships
between parents at home resulting in inadequate love, care and attention for the child causing
backwardness from loneliness and distress 3) overprotection of a child from his/her parents can make a
child backward by not allowing the child to get adequate exposure to real life challenges

Other factors can be:

1) Authoritarian parents
2) Low social status
3) Presence of step-father/step-mother
4) Quarrelsome family
5) Metal abnormality of parents
6) Unhealthy sibling competition
7) Bad neighborhood
8) No appreciation from parents on success and achievements
 9) Unfavorable comparison by parents

3. What are the characteristics of Delinquent Children?

Answer:

1) Anti-social behavior
2) Law breaking nature and indiscipline nature
3) Don’t follow social norms
4) Aggressive behavior
5) Immorality is not so serious to be subjected to law
6) Anxiety is high
7) Emotional and unstable
8) Family’s economic conditions are weak to support his/her needs

4. What are the methods to identify Backward Children?

Answer:

1) Observation method: it is a formal as well as an informal method to identify backwardness for

teachers and parents – mainly by observing at home and class
2) Mental tests – it is group test of intelligence in verbal and non-verbal capabilities to assess the
mental age of students and his/her backwardness by comparing mental and physical age.
3) Achievement test: tests on subjects in school to measure the level of mental backwardness;
gross weakness in all subjects is considered as general backwardness, else specific backwardness
4) Personality inventory and case study: conducting case study of a child using school records can
be used to locate a child’s backwardness

5. What are the procedures to identify a Gifted Child?

Answer:

1) By administrating intelligence tests – verbal, non-verbal and/or performance

2) Achievement tests/scholastic tests
3) Observing academic records
4) By collecting observations and opinions of teachers, parents, friends and neighbors
5) By participation in co-curricular activities
 Section B
Answer any 3 questions. Each question carries 5 marks. 15 marks

1. What are the preventive measure of Delinquency to improve home conditions?

Answer: Following are the ways to improve home condition to prevent delinquency:

1) Calm and positive atmosphere should be maintained at home

2) No over and under protection should be given to the child at home
3) Be watchful of the friends the child mingle with
4) Parents should demonstrate honest and ideal behavior
5) Parents should be knowledgeable on child psychology and methods on providing right child
guidance so that they can understand their child’s psychology and attend to his/her needs
6) Parents should know the way their child is progressing in all areas by actively monitoring school
performance records and interacting with teachers in parents/teacher meetings

2. What are the problems of Gifted children and how to handle them?

Answer:

1) Gifted children are found to be perfectionists in many occasions and this behavior leads to
withdrawal of a child in participating exams and homework fearing failure by their own
standards.
2) Keep observation and ability to comprehend beyond the normal can make a gifted child shy way
from expressing them in a normal order of life
3) A gifted child may seek details to the minutest details before answering or responding to a
question or a situation, can make his shy when he becomes conscious of this behavior of his
4) Deeper ability to understand different crimes, wrongs and injustice around the world and
thinking deep to find an answer to these problems can cause a gifted child to withdraw and
suffer from existential crises
5) Development inferiority complex and insecurity in a gifted child can be found if he/she is not
adequately recognized.
6) A gifted child may find classes relatively easy and thus boring and end up daydreaming and
losing interest in classes
7) Lack of proper guidance can cause negativism in a gifted child
8) Inadequate love and affection can lead a gifted child to antisocial groups
9) Lack of a good friends’ circle around a gifted child blocks their mental development
10) Over attention from parents leads them to boastfulness
 11) Due to varying ability, a gifted child may find it difficult to choose the right subjects to pursue

Methods of handle gifted child

1) Support a gifted child with right praises and accolades and also through positive criticism and
challenges in school and home
2) Avoid repeating teaching and lessons because that is boring to a gifted child
3) Teacher should leave some gaps in the learning and lessons for them to creatively fill in these
gaps- this is exciting for a gifted child
4) Teacher should go a little deeper and higher in the subjects taught in class for the gifted children
to explore and excite
5) To aid exceptional learning pace of a gifted child, there should be provisions made fir his
learning like journals, library and field work
6) I classroom teaching, occasionally difficult questions should be asked to keep the gifted child
anchored in and engaged

3. Discuss Administrative and Academic Provisions.

Answer:

Following ate the 3 types of administrative provisions:

1) A backward child in regular class: Here, a backward child is subjected to take classes with regular
students. But teaching methods meant for regular students are inadequate for a backwad child
and often found unable to cope up with the pace of learning at a regular class. Thus the teacher
of the class has to be specially skilled to keep a special eye on the backward child and ensure
that all necessary support and help in academics or otherwise are provided to him – like special
tutorial classes, aid in homework completion and comprehension of difficult topics at class, etc.
2) The special class for backward children: Special classes for backward children can be arranged by
the teacher to support them in their learning. The class size of these special classes should be
max 15-20 students so that special attention can be given to the specific needs of each student.
The teacher should have the skills to deal with backward students to ensure that the students
follow the teaching imparted by the teacher.
Incase parents of a backward child objects to this special class, the teach should convince them
the needs and bring them onboard
 3) Special school for backward children: Like special schools for blind and deaf children, special
schools for backward children can be formed where a distinctive approach can be adopted to
teach the backward children- in terms of teaching method and teaching aids, teaching
curriculum and teaching objectives.

Academic provisions are as below:

1) Special psychological treatment for backward children in classes

2) Creating healthy atmosphere in school conductive for learning
3) Teaching as per the needs to children and their requirements
4) Backward children not to be overloaded with course work
5) Taking classes seriously and regularly by teachers with individual attention to each student
6) Using aids to emphasize and illustrate teaching content
7) Parents to be made aware of the capability of their child and should be kept informed on their
progress
8) Course should include practical work for better learning and understanding
9) Special classes for backward students
10) Seeking expert advise to deal with complex issues with backward children
11) Theoretical knowledge to be augmented with practical work and courseware to be split into
small modules for easy learning and understand
12) Instructional materials can be used or imparting better learning experience in classes and
assimilation of learning