Strategies for special needs students

Diagnosis-

The latest psychological and psycho educational reports suggest ADHD(Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in combination.

Observation and Abilities effected-

Social interaction/communication is slightly impaired, therefore his rate and rhythm of speech is slightly affected (as there was a significant delay in acquiring language at an appropriate age), and this may have further affected his cognitive abilities and general adaptive skills.

His language is more concrete and may have a difficulty with idioms or abstract speech.

He sometimes has a difficulty with comprehension-auditory or textual.

His imagination skills need to be worked upon.

He has a difficulty with give and take conversation.

Lacks the sensitivity about interrupting others.

Sometimes unusual verbal/sensory behavior (flapping hands or laughing loudly to self).

He is sensitive to very loud sounds too.

His facial expressions are usually flat, but he now recognizes the expressions of others (sad, happy, angry and surprised).

His organizational, planning, prioritizing and problem solving skillsneed support.

His time perception and management skills need support; also he requires help to generate new ideas.

He may have balancing difficulties or standing in a line during PE activities.

His thought process is sometimes impulsive and scattered.

Also while transitioning from one task to another it may take him longer than others.

He connects well to present tense; future is very abstract for him.

Strengths which he has acquired-

He has developed academic based language.

Recalls visual images and memories easily.

He has a good rote memory.

Learns chunks of information quickly.

Has good spellings and can read well

He is genuine and honest not manipulative at all.

He needs to be motivated constantly, and requires immediate appreciation.

He has adjusted very well to his new environment.

He is very positive and hard working, his attention span can last up to 45 min.at a stretch.

Important elements for a successful program-

Initially teaching in 1 to 1strctured lesson and then moving him toa group.

Implementing routines with visual cues to assist transitioning.

Structure tasks and instructions should be short and precise.

High interest activities.

Encouraging family involvement and helping them how to teach their child.

He needs constant repetitions and revisions so that the material isstored in his LTM.

Visual strategies and visual cues are helpful (visual CD’s of a text).

Strategies

Seating arrangement close to the teacher.

He needs a quiet environment, minimum distraction around him

He requires 1 to 1 instruction, and supervision at the beginning of a task. Once he has understood the concept he is able to complete the task without getting distracted.

He may require repeated instructions and if possible show him what your expectations are by doing or giving him an example.

He is a visual learner therefore tap his auditory via the visual mode.

Though you may require checking his work and constantly motivating him, as he requires instant gratification.

Divide work into separate segments and give him 1 instruction at a time.

Advance planning is important in his case, as sometimes when the transition period between 1 to another task is too long he looses focus.

He requires extra time to finish a task.

Hierarchical building up of curriculum will help him.

He may not be able to explain his reasoning verbally so a lot of time we have to accept that he has understood a concept if he can demonstrate it in a way comfortable to him.

Similarly formative assessments can be conducted via different mediums.

He may require syllabus and paper modification and assignment substitution.

We need to block any extraneous stimuli, so only present materialhe has to do (may have to make worksheets specifically for him), as he may not be able to trace if he is told-find sum number 3 of section 2, this will cause unnecessary confusion.

Daily routine (visual time table) which Harjyot shall make for him.

Also try to fit him in smaller groups.

Sharing with the parent the teacher lecture note or a Dictaphone/tape recorder.

Hand book is important for parent teacher communication on a daily basis.

Informing the parent in advance about the topic to be covered in class so that they can read at home with him and prepare him.

Visual and oral information goes hand in hand.

Underlining important text for him so that he knows what to focusupon, also a feedback for parents at home.

Graphic organizer-which actually explains the concept and information via examples.

Homework Policy-

We have to relax our HW policy for him and give him more time ascompared to the other students.

The teacher can use the handbook to communicate about the HWwith the parent.

Provide buddy telephone numbers to the parent incase they require additional information or teacher email id.

For the parent-

Memorizing of a material can be made easy by using mnemonics.

Develop a reading guide for each subject; it can be developed chapter by chapter with related QS in the end.