Special Needs And Play: The Benefits Of Play

Research suggests that through play, children develop who they are. Play provides valuable benefits, including the development of physical, emotional, social, and cognitive skills. There are different variations of play that will likely produce positive results. Typically developing children reap the benefits of play much faster and easier than children with special needs do. Impairments or problems such as physical, social, visual, hearing, behavioral and health greatly influence play skills. Children with these problems face many challenges through life and have difficulty overcoming them. Special services are advised in order for a child to get the specialized care they need. Some disabilities are worse than others which is why consulting with a certified individual who focuses on disabilities and play skills can help. There are possible solutions that can be adjusted for every child and doing so may give each child the opportunity

Some special needs children share certain physical characteristics and/or patterns of learning and behavior. There are four major types of special needs in children: physical, developmental, behavioral/emotional, and sensory impaired. Physical disabilities include Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Asthma, Epilepsy, etc., developmental disorders include Down Syndrome, Autism, Dyslexia, etc., behavioral/emotional disorders include ADD, Bipolar, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, etc., and sensory impaired includes Blind, Visually impaired, Deaf, and Limited hearing. Symptoms of these conditions vary in severity and all of them require an individualized program of special education and related services to fully benefit from education. Knowing the limitations of every individual is essential and caregivers should be more aware of it, especially with special needs children (Heward,