Dealing with a special needs child is a tedious job to do. Being a special education teacher, work with them patiently in your classroom. You have to work hard with them to get results. They are complex to deal with. If you are a special education teacher, you should think every child in your class is a different individual with different challenges. Sometimes, in the classroom, they trigger their abnormal behavior, which becomes tough to deal with. Here, we are providing some tips about how to deal with special needs child in the classroom. They will be helpful for you to become an impactful special teacher. 

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How to Deal with Special Needs Child in the Classroom?

This section will explain how to include a child with special needs in the classroom:

Keep Everything Organized

A special needs child requires a proper structure in the classroom. It will keep everything in routine, make them less anxious, and allow them to adapt to the environment easily. A child with any disability gets distracted easily. In a chaotic environment, they will not feel safe and relaxed.

The first priority of a special educator is to make his/her students relaxed and calm in their sped classroom. They even keep everything in an organized manner that will put their mind at peace. They will concentrate on learning despite being entangled with other distractions.

Treat Every Child An Individual

It might be very challenging for a teacher to manage a class with a special needs child. Being a professional teacher, you should learn to understand your student’s needs and challenges while teaching them. Ignore their diagnosis completely and take them as an individual.

Don’t try to make them feel they are different from normal children. The first duty of a professional teacher is to develop a feeling of confidence in them so that they can win against their disabilities.

Provide Opportunities

How to deal with special needs child in the classroom is not complicated as it seems. Providing opportunities is the most important thing a teacher must do because, without an opportunity, your student can’t identify their potential. Giving this to your students will help you to recognize their strengths. It will help you to take them on the right path.

Providing opportunities to them will increase their willingness to participate. This simple thing will develop a feeling of happiness and boost their mental strength. After giving an opportunity, your special student will get a boosted self-esteem that will help them to convert their adversity into opportunity.

Build a Support Network

Working with special needs children is always a challenge, no matter how good a professional you are. Still, you can’t deal with them alone. If you want to manage everything about them successfully, you should build a support network in collaboration with their parents and therapists. 

Your student’s therapists and parents are the individuals who know their pluses and minuses. They could be a great help in handling your special needs student. With the help of this support network, you can develop an effective strategy to make your students learn about new things. In the overall learning process, this network would play a key role. 

Keep Things Short and Simple 

You should keep tasks and projects short and simple while teaching a special needs child. You already know there are a lot of challenges. If you make projects and tasks difficult, it will add anxiety and stress among students. In worse cases, they might lose their interest in their studies. They can leave the class too. 

Overall, a special needs child requires compassion and love inside as well as outside of their special education classroom. You are required to treat your students compassionately. Don’t adopt a harsh approach. It will complicate the learning process rather than do any good for them. Always remember that a special needs child requires special treatment.  

Teaching Special Needs Students in the Regular Classroom

Teaching special needs students in the regular classroom is tough for teachers. Students with special needs typically need unique accommodations and instructions. To give excellent support to them, teachers need to work jointly with counsellors, therapists and special education teachers.

Check below the best strategies that may work well:

Understand Education Plan

Make yourself aware of Individual Education Plan (IEP) and other plans that are helpful for students with special needs.

Motivate Students

Do applauding, positive reinforcement and offer rewards. It will encourage special needs children and ultimately boost their confidence level.

Make Required Adjustments When Teaching

Adjust the amount, level and speed of teaching as per the readiness level and progress of each kid.

Use a Wide Assortment of Instructional Techniques

To engage diverse learning preferences and styles, use a broad variety of instructional techniques like discussions, demos, multimedia, etc.

Believe That They Will Become Successful

Believe in their potential to succeed. It will show respect, love and acceptance you have for them.

Build an Inclusive Environment

Creating an inclusive environment means teaching every student in the same regular classroom at a local school, no matter what challenges they are struggling with.

Offer Multiple Opportunities

Give numerous chances to students with special needs for review and practice. To help them become expert in new skills, you can even use scaffolding methods.

Help them to Focus

To manage their emotions and improve concentration, use breaks, flexible seating arrangements and fidget tools.

Improve their Memory and Organization Power

To help students remember data and organisation power, use visual aids, mnemonic devices and graphic organizers.

Give a Demo of Suitable Classroom Behaviours

Since numerous special needs children do not know how to do things, try to model suitable classroom behaviours.

Give Direct and Clear Instructions 

To help kids understand properly, offer clear directions, feedback and expectations.

Accommodating Special Needs Students in the Classroom

Kids with special needs may face cognitive, behavioural, physical or emotional challenges that need unique support and attention. So, accommodating special needs students in the classroom is crucial for teachers. It typically involves making a few adjustments to help them learn properly.

The following techniques can help:

Provide Enough Instructional Materials 

Try to ensure that the instructional materials you choose cater to the needs of special needs children. For example, if you have kids with hearing or vision impairments, give them additional copies to maximize learning.

Teach New Learning Methods

Numerous special needs kids find it tough to sustain focus for long periods. Therefore, make sure you try new methods of learning. For example, make sure your lesson doesn’t wholly focus on the content. Try to change the activity or take a break between lessons.

Use Assistive Technology

To help students in their learning and communication, use assistive technology.  These could be adaptive software, apps and devices. 

Create Special Seating Arrangements

Ask the student to sit near the teacher. It will help him/her learn in the best way.

Ensure Proper Assessments

Give students an alternate assessment like oral or taped feedback, word processors, etc. You can even offer graphic organizers, outlines and checklists.

Give Specialized Testing Arrangements

Make sure you change the physical environment so that it becomes more accessible for the students. For example, you can have a silent room with minimal distractions. It will let the student take a test or work in a unique setting.

Communicate Daily

Try to communicate regularly with the students and other experts involved in their education.

FAQ’s – How to Deal with Special Needs Child in the Classroom

What challenges does a special teacher face in the classroom with a special needs child?

Generally, a special educator has to deal with aggression, self-injury, and various types of disruptive behaviors. 

What is the most effective teaching approach to teach children with special needs? 

Teachers know how to deal with special needs child in the classroom well. They keep tasks and daily projects simple and less complex. 

What kind of classrooms are appropriate for a special needs child? 

A sped classroom with good organization is appropriate, where there is no chaos.

How to build a strong support network?

You can build a strong support network by collaborating with parents and child’s therapists. 

How can you boost their confidence?

You can boost their confidence by providing them opportunities for participation. 

We hope our post on how to deal with special needs child in the classroom is helpful to you.