Posted: June 5th, 2015

Topic: support diverse needs

The job of a teacher is not a walk in the park and a well-trained teacher is supposed to know all his/her students and identify their needs. Most of the time, teachers are often the first to identify special needs children and provide parents with their professional opinion on what should be done to help the child (Tangen & Bland, 2012). Most schools have a diversity program that allows all types of students to join the classroom and where a teacher can teach all students regardless of their backgrounds or specified needs. It is no secret that not all people are equal, and regardless of the abilities and interests, a classroom will have the quick to learn students and the ones that need a little more help in understanding as well as the average performers.

While autism is becoming a more serious disorder in this generation, it does not prevent students from getting the education that they deserve. Teachers are trained to deal with all types of students regardless of their conditions. Asperger syndrome otherwise described as a spectrum disorder is a form of autism that affects how an individual perceives the world. People with Asperger disorder are often normal on the outside and one cannot actually tell whether they have the condition or not from their outward appearance. This is one of the major reasons why it takes a longer time to diagnose it than other forms of autism and teachers have to be really keen to understand and assess the situation. This condition presents three major difficulties i.e. social interaction, imagination and communication (The National Autistic Society U.K, 2015). However, this condition is quite different from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) which is described as an impulsive and hyperactive behaviour with frequent inattention that affects individuals with a comparable development level. Despite these conditions, children are still normal in their own way and can learn and be educated in mainstream schools with other children (Effron et al, 2008).

As exemplified by Cooney et al, (2006), stigmatization of children with diverse needs is a common phenomenon in mainstream schools and it may not only be from fellow students, but, from the teachers and the administration as well. There has been evidence that education settings actually expose children to stigmatized treatment such as being bullied and ridiculed due to their intellectual inabilities and cognitive impairments (Cooney et al, 2006). Having a background in teaching has given me first-hand experience and insight into the lives of children diverse needs and I actually know how stigmatized and marginalized they can be because of their conditions. The only effective way of dealing with stigmatization and marginalization in educational institutions begins with the administration and the teachers.

Placing everyone that is different in their own classroom or school is not an option because special needs children need to feel included in their schools and be exposed to other children of their age. Moreover, normal children also need to be exposed to special needs children so that they can learn that the world is filled with different people who have to be accepted fully and treated equally to everyone else (Tomlinson, 2001). Having discussed only these three conditions does not necessarily mean that they are the only disorders given that there are many more disorders that fall under this category as well. It is up to educators to identify these needs and cater to them in an inclusive and universal manner as well as developing great and ineffective support programs that will address their needs better.

References

Cooney, G., Jahoda, A., Gumley, A, & Knott, F. (2006). Young people with intellectual disabilities attending mainstream and segregated schooling: perceived stigma, social comparison and future aspirations. Journal of Intellectual Research, 50(6), 432-444.

Efron, D., Sciberras, E., & Hassell, P. (2008). Are schools meeting the needs of students with ADHD? Australasian Journal of Special Education, 32 (2), 187-189.

Tangen, D. & Bland, D. (2012).Education in city and suburban communities. In S. Carrington and J. Macarthur, (Eds) p. 127 teaching in inclusive school communities. Milton, QLD. John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

The National Autistic Society U.K (2015). What is Asperger syndrome? Retrieved on May 22, 2015 from http://www.autism.org.uk/About-autism/Autism-an-introduction/What-is-Asperger-syndrome.aspx.

Tomlinson, C. A. (2001). How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-ability Classrooms. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Comment 1/

I AGREE WITH YOU Ali that t is difficult for teachers to meet the individual needs of all their students. Reachers do not intuitively understand what their students with ADHD for example, need, but these students equally do not easily understand what teachers require of them. It is necessary to build a relationship between the teacher and the student. This can then facilitate underatandings between the student and the teacher and it is upon this foundation that the knowledge of evidence-based practices can be used to optimise the learning experience of those students. This is a kind of “informed empathy” (Jordan, 2008, p. 13) towards students with diverse needs  where strength-based learning canbe the focus of intervention. As Jordan (2008) asks “Imagine if we were able to exclude fear from school, rather than excluding children” (Jordan, 2008, p. 13).

References

Jordan, R. (2008) Autistic spectrum disorders: a challenge and a model for inclusion in education. British Journal of Special Education, 35 (1), 11-15.

Comment 2/ Thanks Ali, for your interesting discussion. As you so succinctly point out teaching is not a “walk in the park” if only! If anything the role of the teacher is becoming more complex with the need to differentiate becoming increasingly apparent. To avoid stigma (Cooney et al. 2006) teachers must find ways to differentiate tasks and activities that do not cause their students embarrassment or as Cooney et al (2006) suggest that teach peers how to support these students and build relationships. Sometimes teachers also need to be taught how to support their students with special needs as (perhaps without meaning to) teachers may ignore or marginalise these students (Robinson, n.d.).

Collaborating with parents on individual learning plans is of the utmost benefit when the need to differentiate is apparent (Efron et al., 2008). With parents contributing insights, which may be overlooked by teachers who have many other students to consider. I do not think the relevance of smaller special education classes can be dismissed altogether as having taught in them I have witnessed the benefits they have to offer many students, who would find mainstream classes bewildering or who would refuse to attend a mainstream classes at all.