How Many Children have "Special Needs:

"Special Needs" is the term today for identifying children with various disabilities; the former word was "Handicapped."  The general estimate is that 13% of our children have special needs, that is, needs requiring some adjustment to their life situation for them and to the relearning situation for the classroom teacher.

Do other children have "Special needs," even of a diverse kind?  Consider:

• Children who live below the poverty level, often with a single mom working two jobs and without an involved caring father in their lives; In Kentucky this is 27%, but 17% nationally. Double this figure (47%) for Black families. This is one in four of our children but almost one in two for Black families.
•  An estimated 20% of children have an undiagnosed mental illness, not only according to Jon Akers (Kentucky Commission on School Safety) but the U.S. Surgeon General; also says 20% (total of 15 million) for the nation. Anecdotal evidence puts the figure at 30
• Children who are obese, about one out of five, who must deal with their sell-image problems. Obesity is regarded as epidemic today.
•  Research shows the amount of "screen time" in mobile devices and TV, affects thed engagement of many today both in the classroom and homework.
•  Many children come from families where feelings are never discussed, never sorted so they have no way of understanding their own emotions and moods.  My experience as a family therapist over 40 years puts this figure at least one half, but likely the majority of families.
•  Children who, for one reason or another, feel painfully different from other children, who know they aa regarded as "outsiders" and more likely to be teased, ignored or bullied.
•  One study showed  that nearly 30 percent of students are either bullies or victims of bullying, and 160,000 kids stay home from school every day because of fear of bullying.
• Girls are three times as likely to engage in bulling as boys, according to Jon Akers and to use the internet and social networking to do this.
• Depression and a sense of hopelessness are more common. As many as 14 % high school students admit to making actual plans to commit suicide. About four thousands succeed yearly. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teens. Boys are four times as likely to commit suicide as girls.

Much overlap of these groups occurs. But can we not say, given this overview of the emotional challenges children encounter, that ALL children, without exception, need to find hope, courage and resilience in their life situation and in their learning environment?

Pressures for student achievement on schools and teachers are substantial. Yet students must find emotional engagement and encouragement in order to learn. Do we who are involved in the education of children need to better understand  the emotional readiness and urgency to find hope among many children?

All children need to find hope, courage and resilience in their diverse situations.This is not an overstatement.  They need encouragement. They need learning situations which can inspire.

Footnote: Figures used here can be found verified at Paschal's Blog: Celtic
Spirituality in Kentucky link: www.celtispirituality.blogspot.com

­­­ without exception. kers,same source.ed or bullied.maybe__