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The Treatment of Special Needs Children
Abstract
Special needs children are still on the receiving end of abuse despite the increased clamor against their mistreatment. Also, they are likely to face discrimination and abuse in their homes and their social spheres; they have limited opportunities for quality education and can find trouble getting adequate medical assistance. The management of the constellation of symptoms can be an enormous task for parents; social institutions also fail to protect the interests of special needs children, the failure of teachers and education administrators to recognize the needs of their students are some of the sources of the problem. While there are improvements in healthcare research, funding problems are limiting the access of disabled children to quality services. Therefore, we conclude that stakeholders should develop policies that improve the skills of teachers, reform the financing system for care of childhood disability, and provide infrastructures that promote social integration as measures for dealing with the issues.
Introduction
Parenting is not an easy task for most people because of several factors that are beyond their control and lack of support to overcome some of the issues influenced by the socioeconomic and ethnicity of the parents. Caring for special needs children is five times more difficult because of the same factors in addition to the lack of understanding of how to accomplish this goal. While some parents could care too much to the extent that their kids lack the freedom to integrate into society, others might be unable to handle the pressures of the demands from their children with disability and resort to maltreatment and discrimination against. We agree that the parents, relatives, teachers, and others that care for special need children have their work cut out, but it is unfair to maltreat these young people because of their inability to communicate and vulnerability due to their physical and mental impairment. Unfortunately, most societies and communities do not recognize or appreciate the significance of the needs of disabled children despite the existence of policies and legislation for the physically and mentally challenged. We argue that special needs children are still on the receiving end of abuse despite the increased clamor against their mistreatment. Also, they are likely to face discrimination and abuse in their homes and in their social spheres; they have limited opportunities for quality education and can find trouble getting adequate medical assistance.
Discrimination and Abuse in the Home
Clayton (2017) explained that the abuse of special needs children commences from their homes where their parents are overwhelmed with the situation presented by their condition. She noted that the management of the constellation of symptoms could be an enormous task for parents, especially when they are extremely busy and overly scheduled with the responsibilities of their employment. Therefore, when their disabled children communicate or verbalize their needs in similar ways as normal children, the demand of engaging activities such as reading and snuggling with them can result in the expression of anger and violence. According to the outcome of several empirical studies that the incidents of abuse of children with disabilities start in the home and with a family member thereby making them untrusting and develop harmful physical and sexual behaviors.
An additional aspect of the issues surrounding the abuse and discrimination of the disabled children in their homes is the exacerbation of the condition. First, the failure to care for their needs when they are required increase the likely occurrence of the symptoms of conditions, which can hinder their progress towards different stages of human development. Secondly, the consequence of abuse by relatives and parents can result in the sense of insecurity that would affect their social integration capacities as adults. Therefore, parents and family members of children with disabilities must change their attitudes and assumptions towards them by giving them the same treatment as their non-disabled children, especially the abused cannot communicate their feelings of resentments. Clayton (2017) described one of the ways to stop the discrimination and abuse of children with disabilities as the need for parents to develop a relationship with the children. Although it is important to seek employment opportunities that would alleviate the financial burden of their children’s condition, the time to spent to read and play with them is more rewarding them a cost of hiring a caregiver? Also, the natural bond that exists between mother and children is a major tool used by them to overcome the limitations of their disabilities.
Discrimination and Abuse by Society
Societal abuse against special needs children manifests through several methods depending on the level of education, civilization, and knowledge of the complexities of the situation that these children and their parents encounter. However, the discriminatory practices against disabled children commence from infancy when they display their inability to perform the activities that non-disabled find convenient. It is common to hear typical parents complain about why a six-month-old child is not walking while their children are doing so. The derogatory remark is a form of bully that emanates from their lack of understanding of the context of the world and experiences that these children are living. According to Long (2014), a majority of societies including the United States have social institutions that fail to protect the interests of special needs children because of the perceived lack of benefit of doing so. While some might argue that agency for child protection are empowered by law to achieve the goal of ensuring that the interests and needs of disabled children are met within the context of their responsibility, there are major weaknesses in the system that require prompt attention.
A further analysis of the role of society in the occurrence of the abuse of special needs children that is additional to the failure of institutions to fulfill their legal and social obligations towards these kids is the lack of infrastructure. For example, most of the recreation and leisure parks in the country do have facilities that are designed for the needs of disabled children. Statistical data on these facilities showed that an estimated 90% of the parks and playground do not have amenities for children with disabilities, especially those from low-income communities and ethnic minority groups (Long, 2014). When one considers the important role that outdoor play and activities play in the physical, cognitive, and social development of children, the magnitude of the consequences of this problem becomes obvious. A further consequence of the neglect of the needs of disabled children regarding infrastructure for their development is the increasing rate of obesity and diabetes among them group despite the potential of their physical and mental conditions to exacerbate their symptoms.
Limited Education Opportunities
Gavin (2016) described special needs children as those diagnosed with multiple disabilities that impair the proper physiological and mental functioning. The goal of the education of disabled children is the improvement of their opportunities for learning in ways that would complement the intellectual and moral paradigm of the system. However, these disabilities that are caused by medical conditions such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are creating concerns for education administrators and other stakeholders in the system. One of the behavioral tendencies of these children that creates a problem in the school setting is the difficulty to control themselves, lack of focus and attention, disregard for instruction, and constant movement in the classroom. The consequence of the display of this disruptive behavior and attitude in the classroom forces the teachers to implement intervention methods according to the rules of the school, which irritates them because of its frequency and impact of the delivery of their job and the learning experience of the non-disabled children in the class. Although one might contend that there is no form of discrimination or abuse in this circumstance, the issue is that need to include special needs children with average children in the same classroom is counterproductive to the inclusion and diversity narratives of government.
According to Gavin (2016), the myriad of policies including No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) are sources of discriminatory practices of the failure to increase funding for alternative and special schools. He argued that the current approach is failing to protect disabled children because teachers not only lacked the skills and competencies to help their students but discipline to the point that most sustain severe injuries that could lead to death. For example, a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) showed that the increasing rate of frustration regarding the behavior of disabled children is making teachers in various parts of the country to punish them through handcuff, physical restraints, verbal abuse, and exile to time out rooms. It is surprising that there is no law in the United States for governing the behavior and practices of special education teachers despite the intricacies of the performance of their duties. It is this failure point in the educational system that has contributed to the increasing rate of abuse and discrimination against special needs children in schools thereby causing them to the drop out before they reach high school.
Due to the importance of education in human development, it is imperative that the abuse and discrimination of disabled children in schools by their teachers and classmates are addressed through effective solutions that derived from evidence-based practices. One of the methods that have been found appropriate for meeting the educational needs of children with disabilities is the adoption of teaching methods that are created from the outcome of psychological research on the issue. Gavin (2016) explained that this is the fundamental paradigm for changing the current practice of neglecting important areas of special education. Secondly, the government should increase the funds dedicated to the training of special education teachers to increase their understanding of the needs of their students and cultural competence regarding classroom management. For example, the perception of teachers that their students with disabilities are disruptive and problematic can be changed through these programs, especially the creation of curriculum and instructional materials from the general education system for the students.
Limited Access to Quality Treatment
The discrimination and abuse against children with the disabilities commence with the lack of information on the kind of health care services they need because of their exclusion from the various research studies that accomplish the purpose. As bad the exclusion is, the reason for the decision is even worse because it is not based on the peculiarities of the problems faced by this group of the population. A further source of the discrimination against disabled children is the classification of their health needs as the same as the adults with disabilities despite the obvious differences. However, experts including Chaushu, Shapira, & Becker (2012) have argued that the epidemiology, the nature of development and the care needs of these children distinguishes their health conditions from the adult. Therefore, the creation of the health policies of nations with these inputs is only discriminatory but an abuse of the power of the federal, state, and local institution to protect children with disabilities.
Chaushu et al. (2012) described the implications of the limited access to quality healthcare services for their conditions as severe for the children and their parents since they result in their death and permanent disability. An example is the lack of coverage of some of the genetic diseases of these children by health insurance providers due to the lack of information on the occurrence before birth. The high cost of treatment of these conditions and rate of hospitalization worsens the socioeconomic problems that the parents of these children are experiencing in meeting their needs thereby increasing the psychological pressures. Meanwhile, the aspect of the problem can be fixed through a review of the health policies of government at all levels in ways that include consideration for the epidemiology of childhood disability, the context of their stage of development, and differences in the funding system for care services for special needs children (Palsy, 2017). In this regard, the argument that Medicaid provides substantial benefits for children with disabilities through the health insurance of their parents is untenable when consideration is given to the fact that assistance for devices such as wheelchair as they grow older are non-existent. As a matter of fact, it is easier for the non-disabled child to get long-term care under the program than the disabled ones that it is designed to help.
Why Discrimination against Special Needs Children Must Stop
It is imperative that the discrimination against special needs children is addressed immediately to prevent the continued loss of the benefits that are derivable from their inclusion and integration to society. As noted in the previous sections of this paper, there is a need for social support for parents to help them deal with the challenges of raising and caring for children whose needs are greater than normal children. Therefore, a reduction of the abuse by members of their families and friends would contribute to better protection for these children, as well as their ability to develop trust relationships with people in their environment. Also, the lack of infrastructures that can afford them a chance to participate in social integration is an area that should be addressed as part of the agenda to end the rate of discriminatory practices against these children. By doing so, the potential for the display of the disruptive behavior by these children would be eliminated as soon as possible.
The need to end discrimination against special need children in the school environment cannot be overemphasized because of its critical role in the removal of the barriers to their intellectual and moral development. First, the policy that school district is only accountable for the provision of minimum and not good or best education should be reviewed to address the contexts of the demands of children with disabilities. This approach would encourage the provision of funds to train special education teachers, create an inclusive environment for these students in the school settings and promote understanding and respect among their peers. An advantage of this strategy is that these people would not blame the special kids for their increased workload and the failure to enjoy the best learning experience in school.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we must admit that as we do not expect to see mistreatment towards children with disabilities in today’s society, the problem exists because of the occurrence of abuse in the home, discrimination in the school and limited access to healthcare services. Therefore, the efforts to end the inhumane practices and disregard for the rights and inclusion of disabled children in our society should be a collective and holistic one because of its significance in the development of the intellectual and moral capabilities of these children. Also, policymakers for the education and healthcare systems should consider some of the recommendations made in this paper and others by scholars on the subject to develop initiatives that would focus on the specific needs of this category of the population, their support systems, and the institutions that are established
