Teaching exceptional children
Labels: Gifted Children
Learn how teaching exceptional children can be a very rewading experience.
All children have the need to be trained or taught. This includes the exceptional child: those with physical disabilities, sensory impairments, communication disorders, learning disabilities, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Until recently, the availability and the opportunity for children with disabilities to participate in school programs have been minimal. Today, we are seeing an increased awareness on the part of educators for the need to mainstream education for the disabled.
For a long time now, we have been attempting to define exceptional children. I have, in the past, been used to define a child with exceptional talent. It has also been used to define children who deviate from what is “normal”. In education, exceptional children mean both gifted and disabled.
Disability means that a person cannot do, or do easily, one or more things that other people can do. Something is important for us all to remember is that a disability is almost never “total”.
Physical impairments is a condition, which limits a child’s physical abilities. This type of handicap is usually visual. Children may use such things as wheel chairs, braces, or even have artificial limbs.
A physically handicapped person has a disability that is a result of a neurological or an orthopedic impairment.
Some examples of a neurological impairment would be:
Cerebral palsy
Epilepsy
Some examples of orthopedic would be:
Brittle bones
Arthritis
Some severe medical conditions can also be a reason to label a child as handicapped. Some examples of this might be:
Asthma
Heart disease
There are many types of physical disabilities. They can range from mild to severe. All teachers should be aware of basic guidelines when he/she teaches children with physical handicaps.
1.) Physical handicaps are not the same as mental retardation. It is all too easy for us to link the way a person’s body functions with the way the mind works. We cannot assume that just because a child in a wheelchair that they are mentally challenged. We must always assume that a person mind is fine unless we are told otherwise.
2.) It is important to learn as much as you can about the disability of the child or children that you will be teaching. Talk to the parent, they are the best source of information. Who better to tell you about a child’s strengths and weaknesses?
3.) Avoid being over protective. These children need stability. They need to be an active member of the regular classroom. You must have activities in which the handicapped child and the able bodied child can work together.
4.) Special classes for the disabled are no necessary whenever possible----MAINSTREAM!
Most important to remember is that even though these children have a physical handicap, they have the same wants, needs, and concerns as other children.
Even though special classes are not needed, teachers of the disabled need to plan for special modifications in the classroom. The following is a list of some of the things that you may want to consider:
1.) Wheel chairs, walkers and braces need extra space; you must make sure that the classroom is set up for this. It is important, also, to keep the room free from clutter.
2.) Make sure the children in need are sat next to another child that can be helpful.
3.) Make sure that all materials are adjusted to meet the eye level of the child. Heights may be different for children in wheel chairs.
Children who are hearing impaired have trouble hearing out of one or even both ears. Often these children are lonely because it is hard for them to communicate with others. This feeling can probably best be summed up in the words of Helen Keller. “Blindness separates an individual from things, but deafness separates and individual fro people.”
What does it mean to be deaf? Simply, it means that a person’s ability to hear is nonfunctional. There are two groups that the deaf are normally put into:
1)Congenitally: born deaf
2)Adventitiously: born with normal hearing, but lost it due to an injury or an illness.
A child would be considered hard of hearing if any measure of sound can be detected with or without a hearing aid.
There are special curriculums that are available to be used for the deaf child. It would not be good; however, to assume that this would meet every child’s needs. An important work for the teacher of a deaf child to remember would be: ADAPT!
It is important to remember that a deaf child learns with his/her eyes. This next list shows us some ways in which we can make learning visual:
overhead projectors
Chalkboards
Pictures
Maps
Filmstrips
Puppetry
The teacher must also remember that the deaf child will communicate differently. Once again, you must ADAPT!
All children have the need to be trained or taught. This includes the exceptional child: those with physical disabilities, sensory impairments, communication disorders, learning disabilities, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Until recently, the availability and the opportunity for children with disabilities to participate in school programs have been minimal. Today, we are seeing an increased awareness on the part of educators for the need to mainstream education for the disabled.
For a long time now, we have been attempting to define exceptional children. I have, in the past, been used to define a child with exceptional talent. It has also been used to define children who deviate from what is “normal”. In education, exceptional children mean both gifted and disabled.
Disability means that a person cannot do, or do easily, one or more things that other people can do. Something is important for us all to remember is that a disability is almost never “total”.
Physical impairments is a condition, which limits a child’s physical abilities. This type of handicap is usually visual. Children may use such things as wheel chairs, braces, or even have artificial limbs.
A physically handicapped person has a disability that is a result of a neurological or an orthopedic impairment.
Some examples of a neurological impairment would be:
Cerebral palsy
Epilepsy
Some examples of orthopedic would be:
Brittle bones
Arthritis
Some severe medical conditions can also be a reason to label a child as handicapped. Some examples of this might be:
Asthma
Heart disease
There are many types of physical disabilities. They can range from mild to severe. All teachers should be aware of basic guidelines when he/she teaches children with physical handicaps.
1.) Physical handicaps are not the same as mental retardation. It is all too easy for us to link the way a person’s body functions with the way the mind works. We cannot assume that just because a child in a wheelchair that they are mentally challenged. We must always assume that a person mind is fine unless we are told otherwise.
2.) It is important to learn as much as you can about the disability of the child or children that you will be teaching. Talk to the parent, they are the best source of information. Who better to tell you about a child’s strengths and weaknesses?
3.) Avoid being over protective. These children need stability. They need to be an active member of the regular classroom. You must have activities in which the handicapped child and the able bodied child can work together.
4.) Special classes for the disabled are no necessary whenever possible----MAINSTREAM!
Most important to remember is that even though these children have a physical handicap, they have the same wants, needs, and concerns as other children.
Even though special classes are not needed, teachers of the disabled need to plan for special modifications in the classroom. The following is a list of some of the things that you may want to consider:
1.) Wheel chairs, walkers and braces need extra space; you must make sure that the classroom is set up for this. It is important, also, to keep the room free from clutter.
2.) Make sure the children in need are sat next to another child that can be helpful.
3.) Make sure that all materials are adjusted to meet the eye level of the child. Heights may be different for children in wheel chairs.
Children who are hearing impaired have trouble hearing out of one or even both ears. Often these children are lonely because it is hard for them to communicate with others. This feeling can probably best be summed up in the words of Helen Keller. “Blindness separates an individual from things, but deafness separates and individual fro people.”
What does it mean to be deaf? Simply, it means that a person’s ability to hear is nonfunctional. There are two groups that the deaf are normally put into:
1)Congenitally: born deaf
2)Adventitiously: born with normal hearing, but lost it due to an injury or an illness.
A child would be considered hard of hearing if any measure of sound can be detected with or without a hearing aid.
There are special curriculums that are available to be used for the deaf child. It would not be good; however, to assume that this would meet every child’s needs. An important work for the teacher of a deaf child to remember would be: ADAPT!
It is important to remember that a deaf child learns with his/her eyes. This next list shows us some ways in which we can make learning visual:
overhead projectors
Chalkboards
Pictures
Maps
Filmstrips
Puppetry
The teacher must also remember that the deaf child will communicate differently. Once again, you must ADAPT!