Korean Job Discussion Forums

mrsquirrel · Joined: 13 Dec 2006

Do you have many students at your school with obvious mental problems. Not behavioral problems but geniune rewiring issues.

There are two at school that I have noticed. A young lad who turns everything on and opens every door cupboard in the classroom. Can't speak Korean very well.

A girl with possibly trisomy 21 but maybe not.

One the way to school every morning there is another young lad again possibly with trisomy who runs up to say hello everyday and ask me how I am.

There is a really big young guy who I see nearly every morning running at full speed up the alleys (more galloping) across the road and down the street. Again from the facial features something isn't correct.

When I lived here 4 years ago I never once saw anybody like this. Four years in Thailand there were maybe one or two but not many.

Are kids with problems (if you can call them problems really just rewiring issues) more common in the countryside and accepted here or is this a rare thing?

I know from general reading and understanding of Asia that quite often the kids are just kept at home (not sure if this is true or not but appeared to be the general consensus)

Pak Yu Man · Joined: 02 Jun 2005 Location: The Ida galaxy

passport220 · Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Location: Gyeongsangbuk-do province

Wow, only 2? You must not be at a big school. There are about 850 at my boy�s school and there are about a dozen. I had one student in Korean describe his impaired classmate as a �special guest� in class. I have a �special guest� in about every other class.

passport220 · Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Location: Gyeongsangbuk-do province

mrsquirrel · Joined: 13 Dec 2006

cruisemonkey · Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 4:05 pm Post subject:

I've had no students with obvious mental problems, but have had five co-workers.

spliff · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

loads of them in my classes. Strange really, can't remember seeing any at the schools I attended... Very Happy

formerflautist · Joined: 30 May 2006

There are several special needs students at my school and for the most part they are treated very well by the other students. But that's also just what I see. They have a special room downstairs with their own teacher but a couple also attend regular vocational classes. I guess to judge progress you would have to know more about the students from previous generations.

roybetis1 · Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 5:24 pm Post subject:

I've heard from a much more experienced teacher that it's practice for families in Seoul to send their challenged students to live with their grandparents in the country.
I don't know how true this is, I've lived both in the country and in Anyang and haven't noticed much difference.
I did notice that there are a lot fewer, or at least less noticeably, challenged kids here than in Tokyo.

poet13 · Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 6:15 pm Post subject:

I have a couple of kids at my alternate school (less than sixty students) who are screwy in some way. One of them, a boy, is a total freak. Yesterday in class he started hopping up and down on his chair and hooting like a howler monkey. Most of the other kids are protective of our few 'special' kids. Woe betide the student that I catch picking on or bullying them too. At my regular school, (boys private) I don't think we have any real disability cases. (701 students)

ilovebdt · Joined: 03 Jun 2005 Location: Nr Seoul

There are about 10 special needs children at my school. There is also one boy who has developmental delay, but it is not serious enough for him to be classed as special needs and attend classes with the other special needs kids.

The students in his class are, for the majority, kind to him, and I sit him on a table with students who I know won't bully him. He seems to like English and always tries to answer a question and says "Hello" when he sees me.

Unfortunately, I never see