Talk:Special needs

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 27 August 2018 and 13 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Eheri1.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 09:58, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 7 January 2020 and 13 March 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Savula98.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 09:58, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Derogatory
I think there should be an entry on how this is a derogatory term - at least it is were I am from, as people with these problems hate the term. I just don't know where to fit it in. Any help would be apreciated.

And this is true as in my line of work I deal with them very closly. MJN SEIFER 21:21, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Maybe there should be a mentioned on how the term is abused by ablest. There are books where kids have to go to a Special Ed class and face discrimination by their peers; there is also a Touched by an Angel that addresses the same issue I unfortunately do not know the names of either the books or the show. If someone else could find them. I do not consider 'Special Needs' a derogatory term. I consider it a accurate term as the kids in question have needs over and above what would normally need to be met by the school or caregivers. Bigots(especially those under 18) are clever they can use any word as an excuse to exclude people that are different. that doesn't mean that the word in question should be considered a derogatory term. Tydoni (talk) 05:05, 28 March 2009 (UTC)


 * A note about derogatory connotations can be included if reliable sources can be found to demonstrate derogatory usage, but content in articles can't be sourced to anecdotal experiences. So a first step towards including this content would be locating articles, reports, and/or dictionary entries that discuss "special needs" as a derogatory term. --Muchness 22:09, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Here are some reports of the negative connotation that many people feel regarding the term "special needs"
 * The Case Against "Special Needs"
 * Needs are Not Special

Reports of negative connotations around the word "speical" ChristopherJamesPhillips (talk) 19:30, 18 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Time to Get Rid of "Special"?
 * Beyond the AP Stylebook... (see the section titled "A 'Special' Note")

The Term Special Needs is not only used in Foster Care it is use frequently in schools to classify students that need extra help to succeed. that should be mentioned in the article Tydoni (talk) 05:07, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

I mentioned the use of Special Needs in the educational setting however that needs to be expanded. please help Tydoni (talk) 05:25, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, the term is considered ableist by some people in some contexts, but in other settings and contexts, it can be really empowering and the most appropriate term. My child has special needs because she was adopted from foster care. In her case, we need to alert people to certain special needs that she has because of her situation. Our friends and family and her teachers need to be aware that certain things need to be dealt with very differently with her than they would be with a child who is securely attached to her parents. There are certain situations and settings to which we just don't take her because she wouldn't deal well and it would be detrimental to her well-being right now. These are special needs, but not because of a disability -- she actually is dealing very normally and expectedly with having been suddenly taken out of one family and brought to another one. In this case, "special needs" is really a great label, because the current paradigm is that she can only get accommodations at places like school and in healthcare if she's labeled with a disability like an attachment disorder, which she doesn't have. Triangular (talk) 02:28, 20 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Calling it "people with these problems" could be problematic since you are stating that they have problems. --94.222.21.41 (talk) 00:07, 13 October 2019 (UTC)

German term?
I’m missing a source/proof of the alleged German term “besondere Kinder”. I’m German and I’ve actually never heard of this term in relation to children with disabilities. This is probably more a personal matter of political correctness of whoever posted that. I pledge for removal. — 88.74.147.28 (talk) 00:25, 20 April 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree ! Per incidence I came to this site (seraching for placebo-special needs) and I was wondering about the german term "besondere kinder". I'm german, noone uses such a term here. It is also no official or burocratic term. So it has to be deleted. Sincerely yours ;-) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.189.197.237 (talk) 22:25, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Proposed Article: Children with Special Needs Healthcare (U.S.)
I am a student at Rice University that is a part of the Poverty, Justice and Human Capabilities minor. In this class we are assigned to create or revise an existing Wikipedia article that reflects these subjects of the minor, mainly disadvantaged groups of people and other things that affect them. My topic of interest is that of Special Needs, but I found this current article to be greatly lacking in resources and information on the topic. I aim to create an entirely new article focusing on Children with Special Healthcare Needs (CSHCN) specifically in the United States. My goal is that my article will inspire others to write more about Special Needs, and have these topics merge back onto this current Special Needs page. I also hope that by contributing to this talk page those interested in Special Needs can help me find resources on this topic as well as help with editing my article as I create it.

Ideally, this current Wikipedia article on Special Needs requires many more resources, sections, and a fair amount of work. As I mentioned, the eventual goal is merge better information from several editors to make this page a broad and definitive standard of all that encompasses Special Needs. A team of people splitting the sections required for this Special Needs page will make for a much better resource, and put less work on one editor. I will start this process with my page on Children with Special Healthcare Needs.

My proposed outline for Children with Special Healthcare Needs is as follow:

Introduction 1. Definition of Children with Special Health Care Needs 2. Statistics 3. Insurance 3.1 Government Provided (link to Medicaid, SSI, SCHIP) 3.2 Private 3.3 Uninsured 4. Government Programs (link to Medical Home Model) 4.1 Nationwide 4.2 State 5. Special Needs Healthcare Providers (link to various types of doctors and therapists, AAMC) 6. Patient Advocacy (links to various advocacy groups, Patient Advocacy) 7. Transition to Adulthood

Resources I plan to use include government documents, Pediatrics journal as well as other journals, and information from surveys conducted by Universities and the government administration. Any other potential sources I could use would be very helpful to know about.

To conclude, I believe my proposed article needs to be created, especially because 11.2 million children in the United States have some form of Special Needs, or in other terms, 1 in 5 households. Articles like these will clear up ideas such as "Special Needs" being a derogatory term, or what Special Needs even means exactly. If editors could team up and create a standard definition and resource for what Special Needs are, and this resource is available to the general population, more understanding and compassion can be generated.

Robinkvest (talk) 19:11, 3 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Welcome! I think your plan looks very good, however, this is an international encyclopedia and not just an American one, so you have to take care to write in such a way that it is possible for others to write about their countries. Alternatively, you might consider creating an article about "Children with special healthcare needs in the USA". However, new articles sometimes get deleted. If you like the idea of creating a new article, it would be a good idea to first consult with an editor who knows more about new articles than I do.
 * By the way, two more things: I put your template with the other template on top of the page, and in Wikipedia we only use caps in the first word of a section heading or a title (with some exceptions). With friendly regards,  Lova Falk     talk   19:14, 3 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Please see WT:WikiProject Disability. It's best to keep the discussion on a single page - spreading it across multiple venues creates confusion. The Project Talk page is also the better venue because the topic is not about this article specifically. Roger (talk) 08:14, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

Using people first language
Is people first language allowed on a wikipedia article?

“People First Language” (PFL) puts the person before the disability, and describes what a person has, not who a person is. PFL uses phrases such as “person with a disability,” “individuals with disabilities,” and “children with disabilities,” as opposed to phrases that identify people based solely on their disability, such as “the disabled.” Scranton (talk) 14:17, 16 October 2022 (UTC)


 * Yes, but not everyone likes it ... see People-first language. Graham 87 14:35, 16 October 2022 (UTC)
 * will editors revert the change?Scranton (talk) 16:16, 16 October 2022 (UTC)
 * also, did not see a prompt on the top of this page to add a new topicScranton (talk) 16:16, 16 October 2022 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't (unless it made the text extremely clunky) and I'm one of the only ones watching this page (mostly for vandalism-fighting). I'm meh about the whole idea though. There's a new section link after the main edit link for this page. Graham 87 09:10, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Is it a service to the reader to write with the person in mind instead of the disability?Scranton (talk) 16:38, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
 * Well yes, but not all of us place as much importance on language in that way ... Graham 87 08:21, 18 October 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program course assignment
This article is the subject of an educational assignment at Rice University supported by the Wikipedia Ambassador Program&#32;during the 2012 Q4 term. Further details are available on the course page.

The above message was substituted from by PrimeBOT (talk) on 16:16, 2 January 2023 (UTC)