Special Education for Children!

In various societies today children have become very vulnerable and may need a little bit of help in handling various issues in their lives. Many people tend to associate special needs with disabilities only; this may not be really true owing to the fact that the special needs of the children are diversified. As a matter of fact, any child facing a condition or situation that renders them vulnerable makes it to be in special needs. The special needs are grouped into categories such as race, age, sibling status, disabilities and children at risk.

The disabilities can be mental, physical, psychological and emotional .These disabilities make a child to behave different from his or her peers and it is therefore important that the child is assisted and made to have a sense of belonging. Learning may also not take place if the child’s disability and differences are not taken into consideration by the teacher (Terri, 2004). Adoption of children from some races is not as easy as those of other race especially the male gender, this has led to some adoption agencies declaring that children from certain minority races especially the male are children with special needs. A very young child is normally quite helpless and normally requires the assistance of an adult to be able to live; this therefore makes them vulnerable. Some children have been exposed to abuse, drugs and neglect and are therefore likely to suffer emotional, learning, and behavioral and even physical disabilities in the future (Adoption.com, 2009).

Proper learning is facilitated by the facilitated by the use of the suitable instructional methods that suit the needs of the individual learners. Some learners have disabilities that make it impossible for them to learn like the others, and the teacher must therefore consider using the suitable methods of instruction to suit the needs of each of the learners. Since John has an average IQ and can comprehend whatever is being taught except that he is a slow learner; the teacher can consider using strategies like questioning so as to give John a chance to participate in the class, the teacher can also consider using scaffolding mode of learning in which she would be giving support to John on how he or she would expect him to perform the tasks and to solve the problems given to him , Bit by bit, John will learn to perform the tasks independently and as a result he will be able to perform a number of tasks on his own. Anna is a child who is insecure, energetic, does not trust easily, has low concentration level and is restless. For Anna to learn efficiently, the teacher must ensure that all the above issues are addressed. It should be important that, if possible her teacher should never changed, since Anna does not develop a rapport quite easily with new people; she should also be given more challenging and physically involving tasks so that the extra energies she has can be put into positive use. Since Anna is very restless and has low concentration levels, the teacher can consider organizing for shorter periods of learning with a lot of breaks in between to allow her to relax.

The teacher can consider arranging the class in such a way that John is positioned at a place where he can easily be able to move in or out, it may not be right to have him sit at a corner on his own but instead, he can be provided with a special seat and be allowed to sit in between other learners and interact with them. Anna should always be made to sit at the front of the classroom or anywhere close to the teacher since it is from here that the teacher would be able to control her, help her to participate in class activities and prevent her from distracting others. The teacher can also consider using groups and giving Anna a leadership position so as to make her committed to class activities.

John’s assignments should be made as clearly as possible; they should be of his intellectual level and the teacher could consider using diagrams and charts which are easier to comprehend. Anna’s assignment should be short but challenging. This will help in improving her concentration levels and widening her perspective. John’s aide also needs to be taught on how to let John develop independence by guiding him on how to carry out various activities instead of doing entirely everything for him. It may be important that that Anna’s adopters are allowed to be part of the process in helping her develop trust and friendliness towards other children and people; they can come to the school and guide Anna’s behaviors and assist her in being conscious of the other children.