Until some years ago, the existence of special children with differential learning needs went unnoticed or disregarded. While physical and developmental disorders were recognized medically and tended to in hospitals or care centres, learning difficulties were looked upon as temporary problems that faded with time. Then, as a result of the burgeoning interest in child development and the detection of more and more of these different children, people began to sit up and take notice.
Many of these children were precocious and intelligent, but had difficulty with reading, writing, comprehension and schoolwork in general. In the West, such children were diagnosed with dyslexia, ADD/ADHD and were either given remedial sessions or treated with drugs. In India, most mainstream schools chose not to retain them and send them off to special schools.
While it is true that these children have learning difficulties, it is also true that most are very intelligent, only differently so. With greater inquiry and observation came the realization of how gifted and capable these children really are. They are now being called Indigo Children, who have the following characteristics:
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They are highly sensitive and/or intuitive.
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They learn through experience and practical methods.
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They often have difficulty with authority and are misunderstood by adults.
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They are easily bored and frustrated with systems that don’t require creative thought (rote learning, for example).
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They may be anti-social and are seen as nonconformists.
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They often find ‘system busters’ i.e. they see better ways of doing things than others.
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They are visual learners and think faster than most people.
In short, their view of the world is vastly different from the norm! Thus, the key to helping these children realize their full potential is to educate them in a manner that is both engaging and effective.
