Different Yet Wonderful: A Study on the Character Development of Children with Special Needs

In recent years, localities have adhered to the overarching goals of moral education, consistently enhancing the quality of special education, and promoting the holistic development of moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetic, and labor education, while ensuring the physical and mental well-being of children with special needs. This study focuses on the character development of children with special needs, examining three dimensions-honesty, bravery, and cooperation-through a questionnaire survey of 328 participants. The findings indicate that, although children with special needs generally demonstrate robust development of positive character traits, their performance in the domain of cooperation is significantly lower compared with typically developing peers. Furthermore, hierarchical regression analyses reveal that the developmental trajectories of these character strengths are significantly influenced by age, geographic location (urban vs. rural), parental educational attainment, and diagnostic category of disability.