What special do children with special needs need

A thought which often comes to my mind is what is that one special need of children with special needs.Most of us feel that a special needs child should go to a learning center .In a normal Class room situation he/she will not be able to learn or comprehend the way normal children do.Yes,this child will benefit by being a part of the learning centre but will benefit much more in a regular school.In a learning centre ,the stimulation will be limited.As part of a normal Classroom,the child will be exposed to all the experiences the rest of the children are going through.Complete stimulation is the special need of children with special needs.In this situation the child will be a part of physical activities, curricular activities and social interactions.Being a little sensitive to his/her needs,a teacher can plan simpler activities within the Classroom.While the Class is doing a complex language worksheet,keeping in mind the needs of the special needs child ,a basic language worksheet can be given.A little time from the teacher,a nod and a smile of acknowledgement will go a long way in building confidence in these children.In a normal Classroom they develop social skills as they are part of a group.It is also the teacher's responsibility to sensitize the other children in the Class.They in turn learn to grow in their acceptance and compassion.A special educator can observe the children with special needs within the Classroom and suggest strategies to the Class teacher.COMPLETE IMMERSION in a normal Classroom situation is the special need of special needs children.

Quality time or Quantity time

Sharing my experience related to a parent interaction the other day.This Class IV child had been coming late to school very often,was never dressed up properly and assignments were never submitted on time.I had met the parents regarding this issue earlier also but much of the feedback was not being taken seriously.As a result of parent negligence and concepts not being reinforced,the child was losing confidence in herself and withdrawing in her own shell,teachers at their end were giving a lot of personal attention but home does have a significant role to play.The school day begins with a certain rhythm and if a child is late,he/she will find it difficult to connect,also growing children become more conscious of these things.If parents do not provide support to a child in reinforcing concepts at home,he/she will find it difficult to keep pace with the Classroom proceedings.Children have different learning paces and levels,while some might not require support at all,some may require a lot of it.Coming back to the parent interaction,my first question to the parents was how much time did they spend with their child, the answer was "Both of us are at home these days as we have left our jobs and are looking for new ones.She reaches home watches TV,goes out to play with a friend for three hours,goes for an art class and also for a dance class.She also has a dog and loves to play with it.She has dinner around 10:00pm and sleeps around 11:00pm"There was no mention of how they were engaging with their child at home.There was no space for a reading time with her,sharing time or help in doing the assignments. In fact there was no structure to her day at home.Spending quality time with the child is more important than spending quantity time.Being with the child is more important than being there for the child.

What is logic

We keep looking for logic and reason behind different situations and events.Apply your logical mind is what we keep encouraging the children to do all the time.I am going back to a Classroom situation during the first week of the academic year.Nursery children were going through the phase of settling in their Classrooms,bonding with each other and in the process of discovering relationships.Theme of the week was 'Friendship', and a lot of discussions and activities were helping the children to connect with each other.Outside the Classroom is a small fish pond.During tiffin time children like to go out and watch the movements of the fish.On one such occasion a child pushed another child inside the fish pond.My immediate reaction was to talk and reason with this child,my logic was that 'listen we do not do that to any child in our Class,they are all our friends'.Next day a similar incident happened and this time another child had been pushed inside the fish pond by the same child.This time my discussion and reasoning was a little more serious,while I was trying to talk and get to the reason as to why he had done it,his simple logic was,"You said we do not do that to any child in our Class as we are all friends,but the other child is not from my Class and is not my friend." Simple logic!!!!!