It can be difficult enough to teach students in a class when they have minor learning differences, but when you add a student who has a special need or mental disorder it can add to the complication. When it comes to teaching language or grammar in your class, how would you cope with a student in your class who has special needs? How would you balance out your lesson to include the students with special needs and the students who are at normal standards? To go along with this idea, how would you incorporate students into your lesson who are gifted or advanced learners?
This link has useful tips and ideas on how to teach students with special needs and how to include them in a normal classroom setting.
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17 comments:
It IS hard trying to teach a student who had special needs/learning disabilities. It takes a strong person who truly enjoys their profession and cares about their students to be able to help students with learning issues overcome this large and growing problem. I think we need more people to come forward to help with this issue. There are so many children who have a large number of learning disabilities, but it seems as if nothing is really being done about it.
I came across the following quote while browsing through the link:
"If you treat people as if they are what they ought to be, you help them become what they are capable of being." --Goethe
Despite all the technical or scientific methods to teaching, I think this quote get to the basic of how to teach students with special needs in the classroom. If, as a teacher, you don't have faith in the students to achieve, they won't have faith in themselves either. I think that half the battle is learning to give these students a chance in the classroom.
Teachers who are able to teach students with disabilities are not given enough credit. I personally do not have any idea how to help those types of students, unfortunately. However, for gifted students I feel that if you make the class difficult but fun. Gifted students feel like it is a challenge to get a good grade in a difficult class that they are interested in. I can only speak from experience.
I agree with amurphy. The most important thing to avoid is discouraging students. Students with special needs require a great deal of effort to achieve their goals. The best way to do this is to make them feel capable and up to the challenge.
I think that most people underestimate people with disabilities. I too agree with amurphy. If you tell someone something long enough, they will begin to believe that and become that. As a teacher you are obligated to care for your students, regardless of their abilities. if you are not willing to do that, maybe teaching is not for you.
--bonnie bilyeu
I completely and totally respect individuals who are going into special education because I am not sure that I would have the patience and the strength for that profession. Going into education and knowing that I will have some students with disabilities is one thing, but having an entire class is something that takes a lot of training and patience. I will use some of the hints provided on the link I am sure.
I believe in learning at your own pace. I was home schooled so I never moved on to a new topic before I mastered the one that I was currently learning. Some lessons lasted longer than other. Students do not learn well if they are being forced to learn at the same pace as others. This is true with "normal" learners. Some are smarter than others. Some are ready to move on while others are struggling. This is the nature of classroom learning. You can’t force people to learn at the same pace no matter how hard you try. Adding in a student with a learning disability only aggravates an already flawed learning system. You can not solve this problem. There are things that can be done to lessen its effects but some students will always be bored and others will always be lost.
Bryan Norbut
I think that students with learning disabilities should be seperated from students who learn at a normal level. Leaving students with special needs in a regular classroom only frustrates them when they see other students learning at a quicker rate then they are. Also, students with normal learning abilities do not recieve as much attention if the teacher has to speicifically work with speical needs students. Students with learning disabilities deserve more attention then just being thrown into the classroom with no special help.
I am currently taking a class dealing with special needs children and there are so many different approaches when it comes to teaching, it's amazing. I think that teaching special needs students can be very challenging but also can be fun. It is a different way of approaching a lesson to fit someone's needs. I thought the article was very interesting!
I believe that teachers who teach special needs students must do additional research. I think that they should look up special techniques to better assist the students so that they can learn in their way. I would have more time where the children work on their own so that special needs students and the students at normal standards do not feel forced to work at the others pace.
My cousin is mentally and physically disabled and he has had to attended special classes so that he can get an education. He is 22 and just now graduating from high school. I believe that people with disabilities that are severe enough to change the class enough that the other students would not benefit should be placed in other classes designed to help them. I am not trying to be mean or rude, but school systems work on the benefit of all the students and there has to be a majority of one disability, even speaking another language, to change the way the system works.I wish that this could be different but there are not enough teachers nor enough time efficiently meet the needs of all students, which is why America's school systems are not as good as other countries.
everyone learns at that own pace. We need to be encouraging.
Well usually there are special education classes for students with special needs. However if there are remedial learners within my class who need extra help that should not be a problem. I would just work with them a little more.
Great link! One of the most important things to remember while teaching is that no two students are alike. The range of the children's abilities within a classroom are going to be vast. Some great teachers I have had seem to recognize this and help students as they need. I also think that teachers who include improvement within their grading do the students are great justice.
I really hope I never have to teach. I admire teachers and how hard they have to work. It's just not for me. I, personally, would have a really hard time teaching someone who needed special attention.
I think the wide range of "disorders" or learning disabilities would cause it to be extremely difficult in a classroom setting. Think about public school systems they generally (Or atleast mine) had only ONE special education class-- these students range from mental retardation to down syndrome to autism and then just behavioral disorders...how do you throw these kids into one class and treat them all the same subject when they each have different problems and specific needs.
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