ABSTRACT
Physically handicapped children are prone to resist changes in established responses owing to the sheer difficulty of reorganizing patterns of movements. Each handicap can impose special conditions which prevent existing responses from changing. Mentally handicapped children resist change when they cannot foresee its effects. Habits are ipso facto the characteristic modes of behaviour of a particular child; they are repeated whenever the same situation presents; they are predictable. The obvious case of a child who cannot concentrate is that of the hyperkinetic, or extremely overreactive child. An important obstacle to learning which is nearly the sum total of all the other problems can be recognized when children are confused about the outcome of their actions. In many cases, however, such failure is due to lack of experience and adaptation, and this calls for special practice. Awareness of demand requires awareness of self, of others as individuals and of objects as specific entities.
