Successful Ministry to the Retarded[ETowns] - Elmer Towns

need the emotional stimulation and secure feeling of being with their own age group.Thus it is a healthy thing for the educable retardate if his church makes a place forhim in its regular classes, and everyone in the church stands to gain from thisendeavor to meet the need of its weakest member.Teachers expecting to have educable pupils in their classes should be prepared inthese ways:1. They must love and accept these pupils for what they are, realizing that theyare incapable of attaining the intellectual levels of normal students but that they dowant and need a chance to display their limited ability. Teachers must never beupset or angered with the retardate's lack of knowledge, for he already keenly feelshis insufficiencies. 62. The teacher should be prepared to accept the retardate's human shortcoming,and try to understand his deficiencies by reading or enrolling in introductory(college) courses on exceptional children. 7During class sessions, the teacher can help his student in these ways:1. Never ask him to do anything which he knows is beyond his ability, such asreading, writing on paper or the board, singing songs alone. Some feel that even theplacing of a Bible in front of a retardate is probably the wrong thing to do, for hecan become upset simply by thinking that fellow students expect him to be able toread.2. Do have him perform tasks which you know he will be able to accomplishwith complete success, and in which he can “show off” to his classmates. He canpass out hymnals and other material, usher and take the collection, hold up andhandle visual aids for the teacher, post material on bulletin boards, and perhaps evenbe a greeter in his own department.3. A teacher should encourage this student to participate by answering questionsfor which he volunteers. In the instance where a teacher gets an inexact answer, beshould try to make it fit in some way so that be does not completely deflate thepupil's ego. This is especially important for the student who is rarely verbal.Conversely, the annoyingly loud and verbal retardate may need the teacher's stronghand of discipline, for be must not be allowed to disturb the smooth flow of classinteraction.Some churches begin ministering to retardates because these children belong tofamilies within the congregation. Jimmy was one such student. His parents hadjoined the small, suburban church long before be was born, and they enrolled him inthe preschool department as a matter of course. If people noticed that be seemed tobe in constant motion, ( Hyperactivity: More than the normal amount of action;frequent display of change of moods, with the accompanying inability to concentrateon a given task. The hyperactive retardate is dangerous to other persons only it he