Successful Ministry to the Retarded[ETowns] - Elmer Towns

6Who Shall Teach theMentally Retarded?Sunday, 9:30 A.M. Mrs. Bracken, special education teacher for the Sunday school class forthe trainable mentally retarded of the Midtown Community Church, stands greeting her sevenprimary-age pupils. She extends her sincere greeting and reinforces her words with some type ofpersonal, individualized attention to each child.Seven-year-old John bubbles with the news that his favorite baseball team won their gameyesterday. Mrs. Bracken replies that she hopes his team will win again today. "Yes, they'replaying a home game," says John, "and I'm going to watch it." Mrs. Bracken knows howimportant this sports interest is to the mentally retarded youngster, and she is careful to indicateoften that baseball is a good thing for John to follow and enjoy."Help me, help me!" Anne yells as she stands waiting for someone to remove her coat. Athome someone always does every task for Anne, so she expects Mrs. Bracken to jump to her callin just the way her family responds. Instead, the teacher stands nearby with encouraging wordsand gestures to help the child remove her own coat which, in fact, she can do. Although some ofthe others cannot, Mrs. Bracken encourages them to learn. She puts Billy's fingers around abutton and helps him push it through the hole and then guides him to the spot where he can hanghis coat on a hook and shows him how. She supports each child in the learning experiences whichshe has planned for him.The teacher sets the tone, pace, and mood of everything that takes place in the classroom.Retarded pupils will respond to teaching efforts after she encourages each one, thus she mustappeal to each in the way which is most meaningful to him. She sets the stage through warmthand friendliness for the moment when she will call the class to order. They respond to herauthority because she has proved to be their friend, and they experience in her authority a securityand comfort. Mrs. Bracken has the ability to make her class feel like worthwhile individuals and,as a result, the retarded want to behave to please her.The success of a church school program for the mentally retarded comes in direct proportionto the ability of its teacher. Certain competencies--spiritual, emotional and academic--arenecessary if his work with the trainable retarded proves effective. As a priority, the specialeducation teacher must be a Christian if he is to accomplish spiritual results in the lives of hispupils. He must have genuine Christian character, whose facets include patience, respect for andsensibility to the human need, "and an appreciation of the inherent worth of every human being." 1Christ Himself set the example of dealing with human weakness--never turning away from theneedy, always helping with a word, a touch, or a transformation, and preserving human dignity.These same qualities must not be lacking in the teacher of the retarded.Christian character and professional background should go band in hand in the choice ofleadership for the church's special education classes, and the Christian education board must placethe spiritual welfare of the mentally handicapped at the top of its list of goals for the class. Thatwelfare demands that a teacher have a clear picture of his task, with a good working knowledgeof mental deficiency, or at least a familiarity with learning disorders. No one will ever be effective