http://www.interventioncentral.org/behavioral-interventions/special-needs/teaching-children-developmental-disabilities-classroom-ideas : is a great website that will give teachers some different ideas when it comes to teaching these certain students. Intervention Central is the domain of this first website I am looking at. The title of this article is called, Teaching Children With Developmental Disabilities: Classroom Ideas. Using visual cues to orient student in the classroom can allow these students with special needs to be more independent. Teachers can mark off sections of the room with different color tape or bookmarks, for example, to show students which sections of the room are for what. One section might be red for reading/studying and another section might be blue for playing. Storing classroom items such ass pencils or rulers on a shelf that are easy for all students to reach is important too. Labeling items like these can also make it easier for students to know what it is they're reaching for; instead of a guess and check. Posting a clear and predictable daily schedule so students can see in the classroom! Special need students are BIG on routine. They have to go on the same schedule or else they might have a strong reaction and a hard time with the change. Other students might like change and it might not effect them at all. When creating these posters it is important to remember to use pictures and numbers. Some students might not be able to read words, but will recognize pictures as words and understand. Schedules only work when they are followed. Begin each day with the daily schedule so the students can get an idea of how they day is going to go. Checking off the items you've completed can be helpful as well! Using strategies to make directions and learning expectations clearly understood is huge. Not all students are going to make eye contact or respond when they understand something or are listening. It might be different for them because of their culture or because they just don't do that at home. Checking for students attention BEFORE giving directions is important. AFTER giving directions teachers need to be on the look out for 4 questions students might ask. 1. "How much work is there to do in this task?" 2. "What exactly am I supposed to do?" 3. "When do I do the work?" 4. "What is my payoff for doing the work?" Honestly, I could understand students asking all of those, except for the last one. Special needs students want to be rewarded for the work that they have completed and I understand why. Providing structured opportunities for students to participate in social interactions is something all teachers should try their best at. I know that a lot of teachers will give the students with disabilities a teacher helper role. This job is allowing students to feel in charge and giving them responsibility other students in the classroom do not have. Asking them to do something as simple as handing out papers or organizing the posters on the wall will make them feel special! Or when the teacher is forming groups, assigning one person to be the group greater is also important to these students with a disability. It is allowing them to talk to the other students and feel involved. The last thing teachers want is for their students to feel different and isolated.
Many of these tips will allow for teachers to think about how their going to teach a lesson or instruct their classroom before they begin. Knowing how your students are and the special attention they need is important for not only the teacher, but for the other students as well. They shouldn't treat the special needs students different, even if they come off that way. All students are the same and at school for one main reason; TO LEARN.
Another helpful website that I found is, http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2013/04/08/fp_armstrong.html : Education Week Teacher. 7 Ways to Bring Out the Best in Special-Needs Students is what the article is titled. "What we need to do is change this situation around so that right from the start, students with special needs are told about all the things they're good at, and are engaged in activities that are based on those strengths." This quote came from a a former Special Education Teacher, Thomas Armstrong. Mr. A was always having students that treated the special needs students as retards or just simply ignoring them. He realized that he needed to make a change. This article provides us with 7 different ways us teachers can activate the strengths of our students with special needs. Discover your students' strengths. Taking action and learning information about your students BEFORE they enter the classroom is always a good idea. Asking previous teachers what they know about these students is a good place to start. Also, asking the students personally what they're interested in is a great idea as well. It'll let your students know that you're interested in them and they will love that! Provide positive role models with disabilities. "Nobel Prixe winning geneticist Carol Greider (learning disabilities), film director Steven Spielberg (ADHD), and animal scientist Temple Grandin (Autistic Spectrum Disorder)" are just a few of the many famous people with a disability. Hanging up posters like these in your classroom will motivate your students into doing things that they thought was impossible. If they see that all these people can do it, than they can too! Develop strength-based learning strategies. Knowing your student's strengths and weaknesses will allow you to develop different ways for them to learn. For example, if the students has a hard time reading and writing, allow the student to draw what they would be writing. Teachers are still able to see that the students are either learning or not learning the material. Use assistive technologies and Universal Design for Learning tools. There are a million different apps or computer programs that allow for students to learn and produce work through that. If a child, again, has a hard time writing, download an app that will give them an opportunity to speak into the technology and will record and print their words. Dragon Naturally Speaking is the example Mr. A provided in his article. Maximize the Power of your students' social networks. Most students with special needs have poor communication skills, so it makes it difficult for them to talk and work with peers. Teachers can create a graphic organizer of their strengths and weaknesses then match them up with a buddy that best fits. These students can work together comfortably and get the work done that is needed to get done. Create positive modifications in the learning environment. Making accommodations for students with special needs is important. If a student has a problem with sitting still, allowing them to walk around during a lesson or playing with something is a great thing. They won't be distracted with consistently sitting still and will be able to focus more. It might be distracting to others at first, but eventually they will be able to not notice it and everyone is happy.
This article helped me see many new things! I am able to make changes to my future classroom that I never thought about before. It might be a struggle at first, but anything that is new is a challenge.
A few other websites I came across are listed below:
- http://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/working-with-special-needs-students/
- http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/2012/10/15/8-important-tips-for-working-with-a-special-needs-child/
- http://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-adapt-your-teaching-strategies-student-needs
References
- Koegel, R.L., Koegel, L.K., & Carter, C.M. (1999). Pivotal teaching interactions for children with autism. School Psychology Review, 28, 576-594.
- Saskatchewan Special Education Unit. (1998). Teaching students with autism: A guide for educators. Available: http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/k/pecs/se/docs/autism/
- Volmer, L. (1995). Best practices in working with students with autism. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology (3rd ed., pp. 1031-1038). New York: Wiley & Sons.
- Neurodiversity in the Classroom: Strength-Based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs Achieve Success in School and Life
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