Hi all,

New article - Labelling children with Special Needs

Would love your views on this topic. It's one that's always up for debate!

Take care,

Vicki

Vicki -

There is a hearing processing 'problem' that runs very strongly in my father's family. (I don't see it as a problem and believe that it is responsible for much of my success in life.) My sister and brother were officially diagnosed, I was not. I learned coping skills from older relatives. My sister was regularly told that her "problem" was to blame for things and taught some not particularly useful coping skills in school. My brother was told that the way his mind works would make some things harder and other things easier and not to get discouraged by the fact that the hard things would mostly be earlier in life but once he got through those things, things like graduate school would be very easy for him and he could achieve a lot.

I view the hearing processing thing positively (although they now have a cure - not just coping skills - that works for some people and I'm looking into it because it won't take away the positive things I've gained from my 'problem' but will make me more efficient.) My sister feels so negatively about it that she won't even talk about it. My brother is neutral (but went to grad school.)

It is true that you need the label to get services, this is an issue I'm dealing with myself right now. I think how the label is dealt with is very important. If a label is a reason for failure, that's not positive for anyone. Reasons are good, but every "label" has a positive side and we need to remember those.

Julie

Being a Deaf-Blind Intervenor I find using labels for people with special needs can get pretty tricky, i personally use labels only to explain for example how one's deafblindness can affect their abillity to learn language or cope with their environment, but i can see how certain labelling can possibly negatively impact how one sees persons with special needs or how the person or persons see themselves. i try to be sensitive to others feelings and circumstances without pitying them, but when treating each other individually and equally in my line of work; sometimes you can't always anticipate how one would react to using labels or being labelled. So i try to be as politically correct as possible unless someone with more experience in my profession corrects me. don't know if this is the correct way to approach it, but it's the best way i know how at the moment.