Special needs of Children with Missing / Affected Limbs

Special needs of Children with Missing / Affected Limbs

These children like the blind and deaf ones, have special physical, social, emotional and educational needs.

Physical Needs consist of being able to cope with one's daily routine. The parents attitude should be to help the child to his/her best rather than 'do things for them.' Parents often feel responsible for their child's handicap and become over indulgent. As the time passes the child starts demanding and accepting help and stops making efforts to be independent and self-reliant. Science and technological advancement has led to the discovery of artificial limbs. These help one to overcome the physical defects. Hence they can look and perform quite like normal individuals. Physiotherapy is a paramedical science that helps the handicapped child to exploit his physical potentials to the maximum. Use of special equipment like calipers, shoes and artificial limbs alongwith proper training has yielded very good results.

Social and Emotional Needs. Playing is an important socialising tool. Children with affected limbs are very often left out of such group activities. This discrimination adversely affects the ongoing socialising processes. The child may feel frustrated, dejected and neglected. The social stigma attached to the handicap, interferes with the parents and friends lowers child's self-esteem. The social attitude like the belief that a 'crippled body has a crippled mind' gives rise to wrong self-image.

Extreme aggression and temper tantrums are quite common among such children. Loving care and proper training to be independent and self-reliant are the basic needs of all handicapped children.

Education Needs involve and include activities that require 'doing'. writing, playing, drawing, painting, knitting and even dancing are some such activities. How can a child with weak/missing limb move from one place to another? Use of stretchers and wheel chair improves the mobility beside boosting the confidence. Have you ever seen a child with a missing hand? Such children have been known to make beautiful paintings by foot/mouth. The environment of these children can be specially designed to promote education and learning among them.