DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 063 691 EC 042 084

VITLE If You Have a Handicapped Child.INSTITUTION Bureau of Education for the Handicapped (DHEW/OE),

Washington, D.C.PUB DATE 71

CONTRACT OEC-0-g-180001-4565NOTE 27p.

EDRS PRICEDESCRIPTORS

MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29*Educational Opportunities; *Exceptional ChildEducation; *Federal Legislation; *HandicappedCivkldren; *Parent Education

ABSTRACTWritten for parents who have recently learned that

their child is handicapped, the pamphlet introduces parents to thegeneral prevalence of handicaps among children, the concept ofspecial education, the importance of early diagnosis, the existenceof many facilities and programs involved in the diagnosis andeducation of handicapped children, the Handicapped Children's EarlyEducation Assistance Act passed by Congrrss in 1968, the role of

parents in special education, and the variety ot educationalopportunities. Bright, colored pictures accompany the discussion.Concluding the pamphlet are 11 addres...es of private or voluntaryorganizations to which one can write for brochures concerning aparticular handicap. (CB)

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U.& OIPARTMFNT OF HUMSSOUOATION & WILFARIOFPI011 OF IDUOATION

THIS DOCUMENT HAS SEEN REPRO.MED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED PROM

THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIG.INATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPIN.IONS SUM DO NOT NECESSARILYREPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OP IOU.CATION POSITION OR POLICY

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Nearly seven million children in this country havephysical, mental, or emotional problems that eitherhold them back in school, or keep them from theschools most youngsters attend. A few handicapsare obviousa crippling physical condition, for ex-ample but many other disabilities are subtle. Andthe earlier they are found and identified, the bettertor the child.

There was a time when children who were "dif-ferent" were shut away from their families, theirplaymates, and schooL But today, fortunately, welive in an age when most handicaps can be dramati-cally helped. The almost-blind can be helped to seeand the near-deaf aided to hear, Autistic childrencan be brought back into the everyday world. Re-tarded children can be taught to play games withother youngsters and, in most cases, to read andeven learn an occupation that will give them inde-pendence and a fuller, happier life,

Indeed, the encouraging truth indicated by cur-rent research as well as past experience, appears tobe that the majority of handicapped children in allcategories can be helped to a marked degree.

For a great many of these children, regardless ofthe problem or its severity, Special Education is theanswerif only they can be exposed to it. Andevery handicapped child is entitled to an educationnot as an act of charity, but because it is thechild's intrinsic right os a young citizen. Obviously,it is also a good investment, and in the national in-terest to help these youngsters become contribut-ing citizens.

What is Special Education? It means simply theapplication of modern and innovative techniques toenable handicapped children to learn what otherchildren are able to learn by traditional methods,

The late Helen Keller, of course, is the outstand-ing example of what can be done for and by a per-son who as a youngster was blind, deaf, and with-out speech. But there are oTher, more recent tri-umphs, and here are just a few:

A deaf Californian is named state Teacher ofthe Year. (Lawrence R. Newman, Riverside,Ceti.)

A blind orphan, abandoned at birth and housedin a home for juvenile delinquents, at age 48

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received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Colum-bia University. (Dr, William H. Butts, professorof history and religion, Norfolk State College.)

A boy born with impaired vision and totallyblind since the age of 14 has grown up to bea federal judge. (Judge Charles Simpson, U.S.Tax Court, Washington, D.C.) Another is nowpioneering in computer technology. (Dr, JamesR. Slagle, at the National Institutes of Health.)And two blind college students who graduatedat the top of their respective classes were con-gratulated by President Nixon at the WhiteHouse. (David S. Mischel, Trinity College, Hart-ford, Conn.; and James Winford Selby III,Tulane.)

A young man born without arms learned todrive a car and operate power machines forhis summer Job as a golf course grounds-keeper. Now a college student, he plans to be-come a mechanical engineer. (Raymond Sena-sack, Wheaton, Md.)

And a severely disturbed boy who went on toa doctorate at Harvard is now associate direc-

tor of the insttution in which he was a patientfor eight years. (Dr. Bert Cohler, Sonia Shank-man Orthogenic School, Chicago.)

For many handicapped children seemingly littlethings can amount to a vertiable triumph too. Listento this proud father:

"When our boy was one year old, we knew hehad a hearing deficiency, and as soon as we couldwe started to teach him to speak. First the sound ofthe letter 0. And the difference between B and P,that P has more air than B. We showed him thatwith a Kleenex held to the mouth. Tho B movedthe air very little, the P a lot .

"Now he is a regular 13-year-old boy. He'll stillsay, 'Put on the light, I can't hear you.' He meanshe's got to do lip-reading to understand what yousay to him. But he scuba-dives and skis and travels,and knows how to behave in company. What agreat clay it was when he learned to tell a joke onhimself. And when he first began to tease hIsi sister,at 11, Before, he had been too unsure of himself todo that."

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Importance of Early Diagnosis

Consider Susie who is 21/2 and grunts but doesn'tspeak. The pediatrician says she's immature for herage, she'll grow out of it. Her father says she'llStraighten out in time. Deep down, her motherknows that something fundamental is amiss, butshe doesn't know where to turn.

She doesn't know that 11/2 to 3 or 4 are the devel-opmental years for language, and therefore criticalfor a child with impaired hearing. The child withpoor hearing and without language is cut off fromlearning during a crucial time of growth for themind, and the sooner therapy is prescribed the bet-ter. Even 12 months is not too early an age for ahearing aid, and for training from a special teacheror at least from the family at home, Yet a county-sponsored diagnostic center reports: "Most of ourreferrals don't come from doctors, but from clergy-men."

Consider Joey who is always in motion, kickingover chairs and lamps at home, breaking things, Hechases around the dining table on his toes, yells,never runs out of energy, doesn't react when toldto stop. His grandfather says, "They didn't raisethem like that when I was young, This boy needsdiscipline," The neighbors think his mother is too

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hard on him. Joey's second-grade teacher says he'ssmart but she can't get through to him when heacts up in class, he's unmanageable; couldn't hisparents send him to a private school?

This teacher doesn't understand what Joey's prob-lem is, and even if she did sh r. couldn't help himmuch, she must look after 30 others in the class. Aprivate school for such a child, or one with a visualor orthopedic problem, would cost upward of$4,000 a year, and for most families that's out ofthe question, But a thorough examination at a diag-nostic center by a neurologist, a psychologist, andpossibly a psychiatrist, could point Joey in the rightdirection, (Should theft joint findings point to braindarnage in some slight degree, as the symptoms sug-gest, then Joey would indeed need dkciphnebutnot Grandfather's kind, That would only add to hisemotional problems. He needs firmness and cMmin an atmosphere of understandings)

Unfortunately, many diagnostic centers have wait-ing lists. But many others, maintained by universitiesand private institutions, have services readily avail-able and yet these are not called on, in maq cases,because parents do not know about them,

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A Look at Special Education

In a grade school class for students with speciallearning disabilities the approach involves cubicles,calm surroundings, and tasks the children can dosuccessfully. Then praise, to build self-confidence.

Reading difficulties predominate, the teacher says,but each child is a different case. "That girl hasperfect hearing but if I tell her something she can'ttell me what I said." An auditory-perception prob-lem. "Or ask this boy to pick up a pencil and drawa circle and he can't do it, the words don't add upto him," An auditory-motor problem.

A visitor asks 8-year-old Tony what he did forChristmas. les only mid-January but Tony says hecan't remember.

The teacher says that's a brain-damage patterntoo. "He does remember, but it's hard for him toexpress himself. He can't organize his thoughts andget the words together. So he says he can't remem-ber, it's the easiest way out,"

Much of this so-called minimal brain damage,causing minimal brain dysfunction (MBD), occursat birth if the baby is deprived of oxygen, evenbriefly. The damaged part of the brain cannot be

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repaired. But the brain has much tissue which cansubstitute for that which was lost, provided it is

trained to do so.

Tony is in his cubicle now, writing. He has justlearned that at the beginning of a sentence theremust be a capital letter, and at the end of a ques-tion, a question mark. That's good progress. Some-day he may do well in high school, and perhapseven college.

In an elementary school dass for the crippled,boys and girls with muscular dystrophy and cerebralpalsy learn to cope with problems of daily livinghow to put on their jackets, how to eat with aspoon. Some have advanced to muscle-strengthen-ing carpentry at work benches that are ingenicusly.adjustable: the occupational therapist took thebases from a couple of old dental chairs,

Conrad, II, went sledding 2 years ago, was hit bya car, and suffered a head injury. He has pour re-call and walks stiffly on his toes. His moutl., is openmuch of the time because he cannot keep 1?is lipstogether. Every day the therapist touches his lipswith ice, with a camel's hair brush, wkh a sharp

stick, "We bombard the area with sensory input,"she says, "so that some undamaged cells wilt per-haps help lip closure." It works, When Conrad firstcame, year and a half ago, he couldn't put his lipstogether at all,

Eventually Conrad and his classmates will learnmuch more. Some who are too shaky to hold, apencil, for instance, can learn to write on specialtypewriters fitted with arm rests so that they cansteady tkmselves. Vocational programs for thephysically handicapped nowadays cover not onlythe work involvod in a specific jobin a machineshop, say, or in carpentrybut include the whole"world of work": how to get a driver's license, forexample, and how to write and cash a check, tobuy a stamp and mall a letter, to shop in a super-market; and how to behave during an interview inorder to get a job.

For those who cannot quite come to terms withthe bustling world of work, there are the havens

called sheltered workshops, which also accommo-date many of the crippled, mentally retarded Andemotionally disturbed. They stuff catalogs into en-velopes, operate machines to make toys or bowsfor gift packaging, or wire up components for TVsets. These workshops, .frequently sponsored bylocal service cliAls and feclerAl grants, are shelteredfrom the usual commercial pressures. Here thaie isdiscipline, competition, companionship and hardwork at a level the child or youth is capable ofhandling, But Most of all there is pay and selfrespect,.

Even amcng the minority of the retarded that arenot trainable, many can learn useful things.

Take a little girl with an IQ of 20, contorted andpartly paralyzed because she had encephalitis as ababy. She could be taught to feed herself. And thatalone has value, by making such a youngster feelshe can do something right,

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Early Education Assistance

In 1968, Congress enacted the Handicapped Chil-dren's Early Education Assistance Act which the Of-fice of Education's Bureau of Education for theHandicapped feels has tremendous potential forinfluencing the preschool education of handicappedchildren and, possibly, the nature of the kindergar-ten and primary classes they will attend,

Early Education for handicapped children is notjust an extension of elementary education down-ward to children in their earlier years. It is a field initself, with its own values.' and goals and reason forbeing, outside of preparation for education pro-grams that will come later. These programs are al-ready making major contributions that will lead to anew outlook for the education of all handicappedchildren.

Examples of failure, to intervene are familiar toexperts and families, The results of not talking tothe child who cannot hear well, or of reducingvisual stimulation for the child who cannot see wellcan be devastating to the child's potential for learn-ing. Studies suggest that deprivation of sensory ex-periences in the early period of life may leave thesensory sysf ens with irreparable physical inade-

qu,cies, multiplying the severity of the original im-pairment which led to the reaction of reducingstimulation, Simi lady, language learning in deaf chil-dren which has been left to chance until school age.seems never to recover its normal characteristics.

Early intervention through education of the par-ents, through the use of hearing aids or glasses, andthrough sensory training can prevent or reduce anyincrease of sensory and language handicappingconditions.

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The Role of Parentsin Special Education

The early education of handicapped children alsoincreases the role of parents in the process of edu-cation. Formerly, parents were kept from participat-ing in the critical activities of education throughdetours into the backroads of bake sales and parent-teacher association meetings. In the inner cities wehave seen increasing evidence of misunderstandingsand demands for greater involvement by parents.Early education programs are leading to more recog-nition of the advantages and the necessity of havingparents and other family members take part in in-structión, because very young children spend moretime at home than they do at school.

Under the Handicapped Children's Early Educa.tion Assistance Act, projects have been designed tohelp plan and make policy, evaluate, develop mate-rials, and disseminate information about school pro-grams. After they receive training, parents in a

project in the Kennedy Child Study Center atGeorge Peabody College in Nashville, Tenn., helptrain their emotionally disturbed thildren, guide visi-tors, encourage and help train other parents whoare new to the program.

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Expanding the Educational Setting

In addition to increasing the Jnvolvement of par-ents, early education leads to the involvement ofeducators in an expanded education environment.The home and the neighborhood become part ofthe instruction arena as well as the clinic or class-,room. Teachers may go into the real home or pro-vide a substitute home for the primary educationalsetting. Educational procedures and technology maybecome part of the "at home" program. The child'shealth, nutrition, and the emotional climate of hisenvironment are all important ingredients of theexpanded setting necessary for comprehensive earlyeducation.

A new spirit of urgency pervades early educationfor handicapped children. Concern for cost, for pre.vention of secondary handicaps, and for early reddc-tion of handicapping conditions requires that thesechildren not only be identified and started on edu-cation as early as possible, but that they receiveeffective education before reaching a certain age,

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What Can A Parent Do?

In preceding pages, you have learned:

The importance of properly diagnosing a handi-cap early in the child's life;

That Special Education exists, and what it cando to remedy handicapping conditions;

That the U.S. government is significantly inter-

And Finally

ested in assuring appropriate education andcare for our young, handicapped citizens;.

That there are many facilities, schools, clinicsand programs across the country dedicated tothe diagnosis and education of handicappedchildren.

Remember that your own attitude toward your child and his handicappedcondition is of great importance. Shame and embarrassment have no placein your and your child's world. Don't keep him in the shadows; bring himinto the suushine by helping him develop his full potential.

Here, too, let the sky be the limit.

at

Edwin W. Martin, Ph.D,Associate Commissioner

Bureau of Education for the Handicapped

For More Information

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You can write the following private or voluntary organizationsfor brochures concerning a particular handicap:

AUTISTIC

BIRTH DEFECTS

11111E11111111111111M1111111,

National Society for Autistic Children621 Central AvenueAlbany, New York 12206

National Foundation March of Dimes800 Second AvenueNew York, New York 10017

BLIND OR PARTIALLY SIGHTED

DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING

American Foundation for the Blind16 West 16th StreetNew York, New York 10011

The Alexander Graham Bell Associationfor the Deaf

1637 36th Street, N.W..Washington, 13104 20007

EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED National Association for Mental Healtt*. Inc.10 Columbus CircleNew York, New York 10019

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EPILEPTIC

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LEARNING DISABLED

National Epilepsy League, Inc.203 N. Wabash AvenueRoom 2200Chicago, Illinois 60601

Association for Children with LearningDisabilities

2200 Brownsville RoadPittsburgh, Pennsylvania 16210

MENTAL .Y RETARDED

MULTIHANDICAPPED

National Association for Retarded Children420 Lexington AvenueNew York, New York 10011

National Committee for Multi-Handl.capped Children

339 14th StreetNiagara Falls, New York 14303

ORTHOPEDIC HANDICAPS National Easter Seal Society for CrippledChildren and Adults

2023 W. Ogden AvenueChicago, Illinois 60612

SPEECH DEFECTS American Speech & Hearing Association9030 Old Georgetown RoadBethesda, Maryland 20014

as*U.S. GOVORNMENT PRINTING OPPIC111071 0-448126

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This publication was prepared by an independent companyunder contract OE0-04-180001-416B with the Office ofEducation, U,S Department of Health, Education, and Wol.fare, Points of view or opinions stated do not, therefore,necessarily represent official opinion, position or policy.