CHILD-to-child 429
ACTIVITY
UNDERSTANDING CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL PROBLEMS
Group discussion
Encourage a class or group of children to talk about children who have some special
problem or ‘handicap’. Ask questions like:
• Do you know any child who cannot walk or run or talk or
play like other children?
• Why can’t this child do everything the same as you can?
• Is the child to blame?
• How do other children treat this child? Are they kind
to him? Are they mean? Do they make fun of him? Do
they include him in their games?
• How would you feel if you had a similar problem? How
would you want other children to treat you? Would
you like them to laugh at you? To pay no attention to
you? To feel sorry for you? To do things with you and
become your friend?
Games and role playing
Children will better
understand the child with a
special problem if they can
‘put themselves in his
shoes’. They can
play a game
in which
one child
pretends
to have a
handicap.
For example,
tie a stick to
a child’s leg.
Then have
him run
in a
game
or play
tag.
The other children act out
different ways of behaving toward
the child. Some are friendly. Some
ignore him. Some make fun of him.
Some help him.
Some include
him in their
games. Let
the children
think up their
own ideas and
act them out.
After several minutes, another child can pretend to have a handicap. Let several
children have a turn with a handicap. Try to make the pretend handicap seem real.
Also ask the children what they might be able to do to make things better or fairer for
the disabled child. Try or ‘act out’ their different suggestions. For example:
disabled village children