The Study of the Development of the Difficult Child

Abstract

The group of children whose behavior deviates from the norm and who therefore stand out from the general mass of children with respect to education,—that is, problem children in the broad sense of the word—must be divided into two basic types: (a) the type of child whose behavior deviates from the norm as a result of some organic defect (physically handicapped children including blind, deaf, blind-deaf, and crippled children along with mentally retarded or feebleminded children who suffer from some organic defect); and (b) the type of child whose behavior deviates from the norm as a result of some functional disorder (difficult children in the narrow and strict sense of the word, such as delinquents, children with character disorders, and psychopaths).