Exceptional Children, in education, girls and boys who deviate from the average range of aptitude or adjustment. They need special attention of a kind the regular classroom is unable to provide. Exceptional children include the intellectually gifted; the emotionally disturbed and socially maladjusted; and those with physical or mental disabilities, including speech, hearing, or vision impairments, mental retardation, perceptual difficulties, and disabilities of the limbs and nervous system. The programs and methods used in instructing such children make up special education.