Write an essay on the education system of retarded children. OR What should be the course of education of the retarded children?
(1) Encourage the child to perform tasks of responsibility independently
(2) To develop in him a sense of security.
(3) To praise him for his achievements.
(4) To practice reading, reading and writing continuously and to develop other educational qualifications according to the level of retardation.
(5) To point to the experience of practice.
(6) To train the child to do his daily work efficiently.
(7) Participation in various activities with children of higher mental age than their mental age is encouraging for their social, physical and emotional progress.
(8) To orient towards vocational attitude.
(9) To conduct remedial exercises and exercises on the basis of regular medical check-ups and psychological tests.
(10) To make arrangements for special education for them in schools.
(11) To prepare a record of their developmental history.
(12) After getting the knowledge of the maximum possible level of development from the experts of this field by the parents and teachers, setting goals of achievement in different areas accordingly.
(13) To arrange for proper protective care when the level of abnormality is high.
(14) To develop in them the ability to adapt with the environment through behavior therapy. By the above measures, although the mentally retarded children cannot be made children of normal mental ability, yet according to their mental retardation, they can be helped to make some useful contribution in the society and become self-reliant.
Educational Provision for Mentally Retarded Children Mental retardation definitely affects the development of the child in all areas like physical, educational, social, vocational and emotional etc. to some extent. After the identification and diagnosis of retardation, special education can be arranged in the following forms for the purpose of providing education and training to the child according to the level and nature of his retardation.
- 1. Residential Schools It is completely impossible to provide education and training to mentally retarded people at home or in normal schools. Therefore, they should be kept only in well equipped hospital-cum-schools, where qualified nurses and doctors are appointed to take care of them, because these children are not able to do even their own daily tasks, They have to spend their whole life in such institutions only. Some scholars consider the arrangement of separate schools to be appropriate even for testable and educable children. This type of arrangement is good from the point of view of adjustment of children, but blocks the development and progress of children in other areas. The child loses contact with normal children and cannot learn many activities which he can learn by imitation. Therefore, the arrangement of residential schools is suitable only for children with extreme retardation.
2. Special Schools The system of special schools is considered more practical and useful than the residential school system for children with excessive retardation and training ability. In this, the child goes to school only for a fixed period, the rest of the time he spends only in contact with his family members and peers. In this way he progresses socially along with getting special education and training. In these schools, there is a different type of class division according to the need, ability level and age of the children concerned. There is relaxation in the school age of the children. Apart from this, the services of specially trained teachers, nurses and social workers are available to these schools.
3. Special Classes Special education can be arranged in the form of special classes separately for low retarded children in normal schools. In such schools, where the number of mentally retarded children is not high, the children get education and training according to their ability in a particular class only for some period of time. The rest of the time they live in normal classes along with average students. This system remains faulty from the point of view of discipline. When the number of mentally retarded children is high, the arrangement of completely separate homogenous class for them in normal schools is considered to be the best education system. In this, children of the same age-age and mental age group stay in the same class for the entire period. In this way, it becomes easy to set the same program through education and to organize the teaching material and curriculum to achieve the same goals at the same speed and the development of the student takes place at a good pace according to his ability. Education of Mentally Retarded Children: Mentally retarded children of all levels and nature are not eligible for education. Only those with low retardation (IQ score of 50 to 75) are able to pass some of the primary classes. Those with limited retardation (IQ is 25 to 50) are able to learn to read and write only after hard work, otherwise it is possible to train them in some non-skilled tasks. The intellect (IQ less than 25) is completely dependent and is unable to do even its own work. Therefore, education can be provided only to the children of the first two groups - (I) Educable Mentally Retarded Children. For this, the determination of the aims and curriculum of education is the first and most important stage of their education.
1. Objectives and Goals - There is no difference between mentally retarded and normal children in terms of aim and goal of education. The main and broad objectives of education of both are in the child.
(i) social skills,
(ii) personal adequacy and
(iii) To develop vocational skills.
Here social skill refers to the adjustment of a particular person/child with his peers, family, school and neighbours. Personal ability means the ability of a child to lead a life independently in a balanced state. Vocational skill refers to the ability of a person to support himself in whole or in part by productive activity. Apart from this, Kirk and Johnson have given 8 main objectives of education for the mentally retarded people to get education.
(1) Development of social skills.
(2) To develop vocational skills in the child.
(3) To develop independent behavior and emotional security in the child through good mental health programs.
(4) To develop habits of health and wellness through good health education programs.
(5) To develop the lowest educational qualifications (reading, writing and simple mathematics).
(6) Development of the ability to engage oneself in entertainment and other activities in free time.
(7) To develop in them the ability to carry out their responsibilities in the family through the curriculum.
(8) To make them an active member of the community through community activities.
2. Curriculum - Due to the subnormal mental development, the mentally retarded children, who can get education, cannot take any benefit in any way from the curriculum prescribed for normal children. Therefore, keeping in mind the level of their retardation, needs and objectives of education, the curriculum should be decided for them. In this way, not only academic subjects should be included in this, but various co-curricular and extra-curricular activities and vocational subjects should also be given proper place. Apart from this, their syllabus should be very simple and arranged in the order of their ability level. These levels can be as follows
(i) Primary Level Curriculum - From 3 to 8 years of age, the main objective of this level course is for the students.
(a) to take care of himself,
(b) coordination,
(c) Manipulation of objects,
(d) giving respect and cooperation to others, and
(e) To develop speech power etc. To achieve these objectives, these children are trained in wearing clothes, cleanliness, toilet habits etc., development of speech power and good habits through group singing and clear pronunciation practice.
(ii) Middle Level Curriculum – From 6 to 18 years of age, under this level course, subjects from reading, writing, mathematics to class 8 or 9 of general classes can be placed in order of difficulty. Is . Apart from this, training for semi-skilled and non-skilled tasks can also be given at this level. In order to teach how to make good use of free time, training is given in various sports, drama, art, handicraft, singing and activities involving social membership.
(iii) Adult Level Curriculum - From the age of 15, the level is very low, more this level of education is given only to those children / persons, in which there is a problem of retardation such as in their curriculum in the people of low intelligence and low intelligence. Subjects related to vocational skills and citizenship are also included.
3. Teacher and method of teaching- Trainable and skilled teachers are needed to give education to the mentally retarded children, because these children have their own special needs and the pace of development is very slow. Therefore, it is necessary for their teacher to have knowledge of wall psychology and various teaching methods and techniques. Along with this, qualities like tolerance and patience should be included in his personality, so that he can easily solve any kind of problem arising in the class. Apart from this, different teaching methods should be used according to the level of the curriculum and while choosing the method, care should be taken of the child's difficulties, other disabilities, needs etc. i.e. teaching should be child centered. The subject should be taught in an interesting manner through examples, colorful pictures, stories, poems etc. Teaching collectively and individually by dividing the subject matter into micro units can make teaching more effective.
(II) Trainable Mentally Retarded Children: Those with trainable mental retardation are more intellectually inferior than the educated mentally retarded children. So they are not able to get the same education as them. For them, education has to be arranged in separate classes or schools and after tireless hard work, they are able to learn only reading and simple mathematics. Their education mainly focuses on the training of various habits and skills.
While making provision for their education, the following things are particularly worth keeping in mind:
(1) Correct identification of these children, diagnosis is the most important reason for their education. For this it is best to use experts and scientific methods.
(2) The size of the class of these children should be kept small (from six to fifteen children).
(3) Appropriate means of transport should be made available to them to take them to school and to bring them home from school.
(4) As far as possible, children of about the same age group should be kept in a class. Equal age and same mental maturity should be taken care of in classroom teaching.
(5) Separate educational objectives should be set for them which are according to their needs and abilities.
(6) A specially modified curriculum may be followed.
(7) Specially trained teachers should be appointed in their class or schools.
(8) The parents of these children should be made acquainted with the truth about their various abilities and needs so that they can have full cooperation in training them.
Objective of education - The curriculum designed to educate trainable mentally retarded children should have three general objectives.
( 1 ) Development of ability of self - help ,
(2) Development of the ability to adjust to home and society and
(3) Development of economic usefulness.
Curriculum - Due to low mental level, it is impossible to develop any kind of academic and vocational skills in these children. Developing self-help ability is the main part of their education and training. For this sensory training is given first, so that it can estimate the difference in situations and objects by touching, seeing, smelling, tasting and hearing. They can take care of themselves. For this, they are taught to wear clothes, take off, eat properly, gulp, go to the toilet, stay clean and complete various daily tasks with regular routine. In the name of social skills, they learn to greet, laugh, speak, demand something at the right time. Apart from this, through constant practice and tireless hard work, they can also be taught to adjust with their peers, family members and classmates. With the aim of developing economic-usefulness in these children, it is impossible to impart any kind of vocational skills training. But if trained in household tasks, he can use his time and energy in a useful way. For this, they have to do various unskilled tasks in classes, such as organizing things, washing clothes and utensils, cleaning, watering plants, choosing vegetables and flowers, doing simple cutting tasks and some easy shopping from the market. Training to do etc. can be given. Due to mental deficiency, the ability to write, read and maths is developed only marginally and very late. Therefore, at the highest level of the curriculum, they are required to read various signs such as stop, danger, road is closed, move back, words, names of various objects etc. and very simple level addition, subtraction and . Counting can be practiced. Teachers include the education of these children only in the training of various abilities, so it is not necessary for the teacher to have special abilities, but he should be fully skilled in the methods of educating and training the mentally retarded children. Apart from this, he should have detailed knowledge of psychology of these people, general medical knowledge and the ability to work hard and patience should be the main characteristics of the teacher.
