Students with special needs - They do exist... Don’t they?
8th October, 2015
Nick provides an outline of the different types of special needs that a teacher may encounter within their learning space.
I was sitting in a lecture last week listening to the lecturer discussing all these BRILLIANT lesson ideas that we could use with our future students. However, I thought to myself “how are the students with special needs catered for and included in these lessons?” The lecturer seemed to be presenting the ideas based on the assumption that every student fits into a perfect box, when in reality we know that this is not the case.
It is inevitable that in our learning space we will have the opportunity and in my opinion the absolute pleasure of working with one or more students with a special need. In my three years of studying primary school teaching this important area of education seems to be neglected and there is a sense it is ignored, as if students with special needs do not exist. This leaves placement as the only time in which a preservice teacher may gain some knowledge and experience in the area of special needs education. Catering to students with special needs can be a challenge and requires careful and explicit planning in order to set these students up for success in their learning. As the teacher if you are able to effectively modify and adapt your lessons to be inclusive to the needs of these students the results can be amazing.
What is a special need?
A Special need is an umbrella term and can be summarised as a specific educational requirement that a particular student may need in order to benefit their learning outcomes. It is often viewed as what a student can’t do, when in reality students with special needs can achieve outstanding educational results. As I mentioned, special needs is an umbrella term for many different forms of diagnosis and can often be associated with a negative as students with special needs require individual planning. In my experience students with special needs can significantly enrich the learning of other students within the learning space as well as create many advantages and unique learning opportunities for all students.
In your classroom you may have a diverse range of special needs for example:
• Students who have higher ability
• English as an Additional language learners
• Students with learning disabilities
• Students with hearing or visual impairments
• Students with muscular mobility and muscular disorders
• Students with emotional difficulties
• Students with social communication disorders
• Developmental disorders
• Neurological disorders
• Students with particular food allergies
• Students with behavioural difficulties
This is just a short overview of some of the special needs you may encounter when teaching. Within some of the above dot points there are many specific special needs which as an effective teacher you will need to accommodate for to ensure inclusion of all students. My aim in my next few posts is to examine some of the dot points above and provide some information on prevalent special needs you may encounter in your future learning space.
- Nick
It is inevitable that in our learning space we will have the opportunity and in my opinion the absolute pleasure of working with one or more students with a special need. In my three years of studying primary school teaching this important area of education seems to be neglected and there is a sense it is ignored, as if students with special needs do not exist. This leaves placement as the only time in which a preservice teacher may gain some knowledge and experience in the area of special needs education. Catering to students with special needs can be a challenge and requires careful and explicit planning in order to set these students up for success in their learning. As the teacher if you are able to effectively modify and adapt your lessons to be inclusive to the needs of these students the results can be amazing.
What is a special need?
A Special need is an umbrella term and can be summarised as a specific educational requirement that a particular student may need in order to benefit their learning outcomes. It is often viewed as what a student can’t do, when in reality students with special needs can achieve outstanding educational results. As I mentioned, special needs is an umbrella term for many different forms of diagnosis and can often be associated with a negative as students with special needs require individual planning. In my experience students with special needs can significantly enrich the learning of other students within the learning space as well as create many advantages and unique learning opportunities for all students.
In your classroom you may have a diverse range of special needs for example:
• Students who have higher ability
• English as an Additional language learners
• Students with learning disabilities
• Students with hearing or visual impairments
• Students with muscular mobility and muscular disorders
• Students with emotional difficulties
• Students with social communication disorders
• Developmental disorders
• Neurological disorders
• Students with particular food allergies
• Students with behavioural difficulties
This is just a short overview of some of the special needs you may encounter when teaching. Within some of the above dot points there are many specific special needs which as an effective teacher you will need to accommodate for to ensure inclusion of all students. My aim in my next few posts is to examine some of the dot points above and provide some information on prevalent special needs you may encounter in your future learning space.
- Nick
No comments:
Post a Comment