syafana.com Children with special needs and abilities are sometimes branded as difficult, or strong-willed, giving a negative impression of their ability to adapt and live a normal life.
Their parents are wary that they may be ridiculed, bullied, unaccepted or may be unable to develop or learn skills in the conventional classroom.
They hold fears about the ability of school staff to meet the special needs of their children.
Teachers and caregivers on the other hand may also be faced with issues of handling a class with challenging children. They have doubts about their ability to handle them appropriately.
Inclusion of children with special needs or abilities into regular classes in the early childhood setting is now common because of the concept that preschool prepares them for academic classroom, and aids them in improving their communication and social skills.
It also gives them the opportunity to build self-confidence and self-esteem; and to establish social relationships and friendship through play.
Collaboration among parents, teachers and other professionals involved is essential in furthering the children’s development.
The classroom should be a venue where they feel a sense of belongingness despite their physical disability or uniqueness, and, where neither these children nor the regular children would feel indifferent to one another.
Through play, children with limited or special abilities tend to copy or imitate their able friends’ activities hence, improving their skills, while as the other children are exposed to children with special needs it educates them and helps them understand disabilities.
Children with special needs can be observed as excessively energetic, underactive; oversensitive or under reactive to touch, sound, movement and sight.
They may (some may not) show inappropriate behaviors such as injuring themselves, aggressive (verbal or physical), disruptive and stereotyped behaviors because of various reasons such as lack of communication and emotional skills to convey their needs and feelings; social experiences; adverse life events; and their underlying disorder.
These could be triggered by words, changes in routine, sounds or images that would threaten or disrupt their feeling of security and safety. These are usually preceded by an “aura” or “cues” (becoming quiet, changes in facial expression, complaining, feeling ill, etc.) that can be read by the caregiver or school personnel, hence enabling them to predict the behavior.
Attention, support and assurance should be given immediately to avoid or to minimize the occurrence of crisis. Open minds and being properly equipped to deal with such situations would be beneficial to school personnel and caregivers.
Teachers and caregivers should anticipate rather than react, and should turn problems into opportunities.
Calming or soothing activities like slow swinging, rocking, massage and soft music can help excessively energetic children relax, while, alerting activities like jumping, running, skipping and dancing stimulate under responsive children.
These fun activities should enhance the sensory and motor skills — sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, balance and movement, and body position, gross and fine motor skills, oral and motor planning and bilateral coordination.
When you notice the child is having a bad day, consider the “Seven Drops” (Kranowitz, C. S. The Out-of-Sync Child has Fun):
1. Drop you voice – calm down
2. Drop your body — eye-to-eye level communication to let his feel understood and heard
3. Drop what you are working on — seize the opportunity
4. Drop your guard, let him learn through exploration
5. Drop your defenses — educate people about your child
6. Drop the batteries (electronic toys, gadgets) — let your child use his imagination
7. Drop your misconception that Fun is Frivolous — playing is learning
After all, we are all special and we all have needs.
source: http://www.thejakartapost.com
