Physically Handicapped Children

Hi everyone! I am Alisson Viana, with a new Dicas de Inglês. Just before you start reading the text I would like to say that I am really happy to be here sharing a bit of knowledge that I’ve got about English. I hope that all my posts can be useful for you so that you can improve your English in terms of grammar and pronunciation. As I am still learning English you’ll notice that I am not perfect in English, but I will try the best that I can so that you can understand me. And today we’re going to read a text that I wrote last month. It is about physically handicapped children. I hope you like it.

People who have got some physically handicap face many bias, from childhood going through adolescence (where the problem gets worse) until adulthood. Perhaps the main reason for the bias is the misunderstanding about the issue.

As a child, particularly at school, kids suffer a lot from being different from the other classmates, some of them tend to make fun of the situation and others make name calling. Since they’re children and do not understand well about the issue, because they are too young to do so, the problem can be minimized, nevertheless if the child is not taught early that it is important to respect the differences among others this one will become a biased adult.

Within the school the teacher must not make the child feel excluded from the others for being different. It is needed that the teacher develops a positive picture of the child in order to avoid future frustrations. A child can’t alone build her own ideals. They need a senior person to guide them to a reasonable focus.

[...] A child is a little bit like a blank slate. If you write the wrong things on it, it will say the wrong things. But unlike a slate, a child can begin to do the writing: the child tends to write what has been written already.

© 1996–2010 The Way to Happiness Foundation International

Another very important thing that can be performed in order to protect the child from feeling different, it is treating the referred one like anyone else who is considered to be normal. Never pity the physically handicapped child, because it will not solve any problem, or else, you can let the child down. What the parents or whoever who looks after the child must do is trying to find out what the child’s talents are and improve them so that in the future new abilities can be discovered.

Vocabulary

Physically handicap: deficiência física

Bias: preconceitos

Childhood: infância

Adulthood: idade adulta

Misunderstanding: mal-entendimento

Make fun: zombar

Make name calling: fazer xingamentos

In order: a fim de

Senior person: pessoa idosa e sábia

Find out: descobrir