PSYCH 4418: The Importance of Integration of Children with Mental Disabilities

 The Importance of Integration of Children with Mental Disabilities

Everyone needs more than just food, water and shelter. Everyone needs love, care, affection and attention. Even though some people feel they don’t end up needing it as they get older. However as young children everyone needs every one of those things. They are essential parts to a person’s life and development. With out food and water we will not blossom, and with out love, care or attention, people will certainly not mature or live their life to the fullest. Professionals say that sports and recreational activities are very important parts to developing and moving on through life. Participation in recreational sports and active games is especially healthy for children who suffer from mental disabilities because they are more prone to obesity. But not only is it good health wise it is also extremely good for children who have mental disabilities to feel included in their surroundings with other children who do not have mental disabilities.

Obesity is a fair seriously issue for both children who do and do not have mental disabilities. It is extremely visible in people or children who have mental disabilities. The inactivity and sometimes depression will lead to obesity because either the child eats too much due to personal concern or bodily functions that make people want to eat when they are nervous (comfort food). The participation in sports and recreational activity not only has benefits towards weight loss but even slows down the developmental block by a noticeable amount.

Sports and recreation does not only help promote active living but it also gives students who suffer from mental disabilities a chance to feel apart of a community. This community of touched and non-touched children is a powerful community that seems to be greatly underestimated by the education system and most parents (through my own experience). The participation of children who do have mental disabilities in games that incorporate children who do not, gives the special students confidence and has actually found to slow down the disease or disorder in the special child. Parents seem to think that if they put their child who is special with other children, they will get made fun of or basically forgotten about because of all the other students are “higher priority” (which is not the case). The education system does incorporate special children with regular students more in elementary school and less in high school (again, this is from my experience).

 

In my elementary school we had a few students who had a mental disability; they spent a fair chunk of time in the classroom however they were usually assisted by an EA. This seems understandable to me because they obviously need guidance and support. The students however were like regular children in the classroom and we were taught to look out for them, be fair and everything else. Going into high school though, I found this much, much different. Special needs students have their own sort of class room and rendezvous to do homework and eat their lunch. This is also some what understandable because some special needs students are to shy to go eat lunch with the other students or just don’t like all the noise in the cafeteria. However even in the classroom they were treated as a regular student who you would usually not meet unless you made the effort to meet them or was put in a group with them. But usually the special needs students were just not put into groups and were exempted form the project. The high school did one thing that I don’t know if it was right or wrong. It almost seemed like they were objectifying special needs students and hiring EA’s who were not qualified and basically seeing special needs students as easy marks. Our high school had a peer helping class which I thought was awesome and great because it was extremely easy marks, especially if you know how to care for someone already. Also, it allowed special needs students to meet people and feel integrated into the school community more. For the most part those two outcomes were all there was but I think that people failed to see the downfall (the downfall was not as strong as the positive outcome though, so it’s understandable). The downfall I saw was that some students almost never met a new face; they always seemed to be confined to their special needs room and the few EA’s that help them out.

Source:

    http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;121/5/1057