Special needs come into picture when the child is facing conditions that include developmental delays, psychiatric conditions, medical conditions as well as congenital conditions where-in additional support is needed for a child to unleash his/her own potential.
Well, parenting a child with special needs is an uphill task. But, with school and community support can be managed in a better way in urban areas. The task becomes really steep when you are in rural or remote areas and it’s not easy for the parents or children. There are a lot more problems that hinder the quality of life and development of children with special needs in rural areas. Here’s a look through some of the main challenges that children with special needs in a rural setting have to face –
Lack of Individual attention – This is one of the most common challenges faced by children with special needs. Obviously, schools with a larger setup have more resources including special education aids that help teachers and special educators work around with special children. While working in rural setups with lack of infrastructure and resources, it is not possible to work with every special child on an individual basis.
Lack of Staff – As rural setups of schools are in remote areas, bringing in professional staff isn’t easy. Staying in such places is rarely a preferred choice. In cities professionals have their own social life at the end of the day or week where they hang out with friends, watch movies together, feel rejuvenated get ready for the next day. But, that’s not the case in rural areas leading to teachers and staff feeling isolated or lonely. Hence, there is scarcity of staff and the existing ones have to shuffle across multiple locations making it exhaustive for them as well.
Lack of Training – A special education needs to be dealt with multiple disabilities at a time. At remote locations, it becomes tougher to deal with it and hence, training the teachers for managing this task properly individual training programs need to be implemented.
Parental Support – Some parents, particularly in rural areas are ignorant about special needs and at times not interested as well in providing the needed support to them. On the flip side, even overtly caring parents can make it difficult for the teachers and educators to work around these children. But, adequate parental support can help make the life of a child with special needs much better and help the kids bloom to their fullest.
Low Packages – While teachers are given good packages in many good schools, specials educators are not paid the same comparatively, while their task is much tougher because they are already dealing with kids who need additional support with learning. This also is a factor that is resulting in scarcity of special educator jobs.
*Sourced from the Internet
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