ABSTRACT
There is no unchanging body of children whom we can identify as having a condition, special needs, which we then proceed to set about curing. All children need certain things in order to be able to learn. Sometimes they will need something additional or different, and it is at these times that we say that their needs are special. Their needs are special not because of some defect within themselves, but usually because some external factor has caused difficulties. Maybe they missed an important explanation; maybe they are perpetually tired; maybe they have been unlucky enough to have been in receipt of poor teaching for the last two years. The list of possible factors is endless.
