Exceptional Children

      The term "Exceptional Children" is generally misunderstood. Majority of people feel that an exceptional child means a mentally challenged(retardation/cerebral palsy/Down's syndrome etc) or a handicapped child (deaf/dumb/blind/ physically handicapped etc.). In reality, all children who are born are born exceptional. The term "Exceptional" also includes Gifted children, children with Learning Difficulties, Twice Exceptional or 2e children, Autistic children and those suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD).

     Presently in India, all major schools have a School Psychologist/ Counsellor whose main job is to identify and train these children. Besides them, there are Child Psychologists who can evaluate a child's exceptionality (be it an anomaly or a giftedness) and suggest measures to encourage the same.

      There is a theory which states that all infants and toddlers are aware of what is being said to them. When parents babble and speak in baby language to the child, the baby smiles or laughs. According to the theory, the child smiles not because of the way the parent speaks but because he/she feels why cant my dad/mom speak properly!!! It is also said that if people could understand an infant's language, they would get answers to all their questions because the baby has answers to all queries till he/she starts speaking in his mother tongue after which he forgets. The debate regarding this is still going on and lot of research work is in progress. Another aspect of this theory is that it is because of this forgetting that we adults can generally never recall any incident from birth till five years of age. The only ones we do recall are those which have probably had a lasting impact on our brain or which our parents/ relatives would have told us.

      To come back to the topic of exceptional children, if a child is detected with an abnormality like cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, autism, ADD, ADHD, retardation learning difficulty etc.,within the first two years of life and if the remedial measures are initiated within the first five years, the abnormality reduces to a minimum so much so that the child becomes capable of not only looking after his/ her needs but also becomes financially independent. In case of gifted children also, if the talent of the child is spotted within the first two years and encouragement in that area is given within the first five years, the child does turn out to be a prodigy, the child loses his/her talent in the years to come. It is, therefore, up to the parents to decide how they want their child to grow up. 

      It is sad but true, in today's stressful world, majority of parents want their child to excel in academics even at the cost of neglecting the child's talents. There are some parents who enroll their child for anything and everything like tennis, painting, dance, music, jazz, martial arts, etc., not realizing that their child's real talent is being sidelined and not much effort is being made in that direction. The final outcome in both cases are frustrated unhappy children who become rebellious under stress and pressures put on them. These are few of the factors which have made even children of kindergarten attempt suicide.