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Facing a Developmental Disorder Together

YOSHINARI, Minari (Sendai National College of Technology)

If you had a child with a developmental disorder, would you send him/her to regular class or special support class? Parents with such a child are certainly worried about this problem. If they choose regular class, their child may have many friends, but may have a lot of troubles. If they choose special support class, their child may be warmly supported by teachers who have special knowledge, but may not have many friends. I think of education for children with a developmental disorder this way: First, all of them should be supported in special support class individually. And then they should get to be understood by the people around them through exchanges in regular class. Today, I will talk about two experiences and a piece of news as the reasons why I think this way.

My brother has a slight form of autism. He is not good at communication through words. So, he sometimes expresses his feelings by violence. One day, I had a quarrel with him. The cause is that we scrambled for ice cream. It's so trifling, isn't it? But it became the biggest fight between us because I didn't understand his disorder well enough. When I was going to eat the ice cream in the refrigerator, he suddenly scratched me on the nose. He said, “That's mine!” I was furious with it and shouted at him, “I didn't know that!” Of course, he cried. Then I realized it was my fault. It was difficult for him to express his feelings only through words. It's not easy for the family having a child with developmental disorder to understand them. And it's all the more difficult for other people. But, like this example, lack of understanding causes a big trouble.

Next, I'll tell you my experience in elementary school. When I was a sixth-grade student, we often used to go to the first-grade students' classroom to help them. One of them had ADHD. She belonged to the special support class but was usually in regular class. She was not good at listening to her teacher quietly. During the class, she often stood up and occasionally left her classroom. We didn't know how we should make friends with her at first. Then, our teacher told us about her ADHD. We could understand it. We decided to continue talking to her and treating her kindly. As a result, her symptom of ADHD was greatly reduced by the second term. Improvement of the ADHD symptom needs understanding by the people around him/her and I think all developmental disorders do.

However, we should not simply let him/her only go to regular class. Some students in regular class may bully students with a developmental disorder. For instance, there was bullying of two special support class students in Nagasaki this May. Nine junior high school students had lunch with them in classroom, but after that, they held them and tried to take off their trousers and underwear. This news is only the tip of the iceberg. Many children with developmental disorder have trouble communicating with their classmates. It's because neither they nor their classmates know how to communicate with each other. So, I think not only children with a developmental disorder but also their classmates need special education.

In conclusion, both regular class and special support class should educate children with a developmental disorder. They'll learn how to connect with the society in regular class and how to face their own disorder in special support class. Besides, there are two things we can do to support them. The first is to try to understand what the child with a developmental disorder is not good at. They have weaknesses as we do. If we have that in mind, it will become easier to understand them, won't it? The second is to appreciate what he/she is good at. We have not only weaknesses but also strengths. They also have their own strengths. In addition, they often have a great talent. It would be good for us to rely on them.

I hope for a good, kind society, in which all children can live with a smile.