Essay On Birth Order

883 Words4 Pages
One of the most common disorders that changes children’s entire life and make them special is mental retardation/challenge. An individual with mental challenge has certain limitations in mental abilities and in skills such as communication, daily care activities and social skills. Due to these limitations, a child learns and develops more slowly than a normal child. The performance and behavior of a normal individual or even a mentally retarded individual is not only dependent on his or her cognitive abilities, but many other factors are also responsible like emotional maturity, education, social and cultural environment. The diagnosis of mental retardation mainly requires low general intellectual functions and age of onset before the age of…show more content…
When researchers asked siblings about shared daily activities, children mentioned that older siblings often helped younger siblings with academic and peer challenges (Tucker et al. 2001). Moreover, individuals occupying youngest position in family have been found to be more secure, yet dependent. In this regard, Nims in 1998 reported that youngest children are believed to be accustomed to receiving attention and thought to misbehave if they feel a lack of attention. In another study it was revealed that although many genetic and environmental factors contribute to differences between siblings, some differences in behaviour of siblings have been attributed to the effects of birth order (Claxton, 1994), an individual's rank by age among siblings (Steelman, 1985 in Claxton, 1994). Thus, by keeping this discussion in mind it can be stated that birth order affects the personality, thinking and the development of children. However, the impact of child’s birth order on the adaptive behavioural skills of mentally challenged children is still not completely revealed. Therefore, in the light of the above reflections, the present study was planned with these objectives. 1. To assess and compare the level of adaptive behavioural skills among mentally challenged children across their birth order. 2. To investigate statistical differences in the adaptive behavioural skills of mentally challenged children across their birth
Open Document