Should Children Be Exposed to People with Special Needs

In high school, I watched as some of the other students would shy away from the special needs students. Usually those that had a specific disorder that made them look different or required them to be in a wheel chair. I was a bit different in my approach to these children. I wanted to know more about them. I was fascinated with what made them tick and how they seemed so different than we were yet they were clearly functioning in our society. I set out to learn more about them. In this day and age we often shy away from others that are different. I have worked closely with special needs children and adults over the years and I have learned a lot about them and their habits.

My family has had a lot of serious health issues that have at times kept us in the hospital for lengthly stays. While we are there we visit the play rooms in the children's wards as often as possible. My children have learned a great deal from these visits.

Children with special needs are no different than normal children. They want to run and play and laugh and have fun just like the healthy children.

My children know that just because a child is in a wheel chair that doesn't make them stupid or weird. Its just another means of getting around and for some that is their only means. My children learned early on to play with all sorts of medically needy children and that it doesn't make any difference what is wrong with the child, they are still a child that deserves to have fun.

In our church there is a group of people that a family brings in from a group home. These people have various medical conditions that do not allow for them to live safely on their own. Some suffer from seizures, some cannot speak and others are just simply different with no definitive diagnosis.

My children love these people. The assist them in church and frequently sit near them or by them. One gentleman cannot speak but he has the broadest smile you ever saw. He hums along to the music and claps and really gets into the service.

Another gentleman will hand you every scrap of paper he can find. When he is finished and has no more, he will often leave his seat to find more to hand to you. Even my 5 year old smiles and thanks him for each and every scrap of paper he hands to her.

We have a neighbor that was in a wreck when he was about 9 years old. He will always have a part of him that is 9 years old. Yet this neighbor has made the best of it. Realizing his differences he has a great gardening hobby. He has a nice riding lawn mower and for the exchange of homemade cookies or a few jars of jam and an occasional dinner, he will mow the lawn for our family. He has even invited us to his home for dinner and he is a great cook in spite of his disability.

By sharing this way my children have learned to respect and appreciate how everyone is different. They realize that for some reason these people are not able to lead a normal life like we are. Yet many of these people are still doing all that they can and they do make a difference in our world.

In teaching our children to respect these differences I hope that my children will go on in life with a respect and attitude to help others that are not as fortunate as we are. To appreciate what skills we do have and put these skills to good use, rather than to waste them on something that really doesn't matter in life.

Exposing my children to people that have special needs and are different has made a great difference in our lives. I am glad for this opportunity to expand my children's world and to teach them that life can be good no matter what it gives you.