Tips for working with special needs students From an interview with Caitlin Smith 1. Be Patient- Things don’t always come naturally or easily to special needs students. They can take a lot longer to learn, so teachers need to be willing to work at the students’ pace. When teachers are patient with students, a learning environment is created. 2. Be Flexible and Adaptable- Use the learning opportunities that become available. Things that you have planned can change very quickly in a special needs environment. As teachers adapt their teaching to the current situation, students are able to learn regardless of the change in plans. 3. Care for students’ basic needs If children are uncomfortable, h
Listen to the episode here. Notes Teaches English for Read With You. Born and raised in Texas, played sports, wanted to work with children. Enjoyed sports and thought of coaching. Went to SW University in TX. Studied Kinesiology, loved learning about special ed. Loved how it was very individualized. Double majored in special ed. and kinesiology with a minor in Spanish. Taught middle school life skills in Alaska for a year, working on basic skills. Taught for 2 years in TX and coached volleyball and track, resource math and adapted PE. Moved to Michigan and taught adapted PE to kids ages 5-26 in various skills. Masters degree in special ed. with specialty in adaptive PE. Had a self contained
There are many things to consider when deciding if homeschool is right for your family. Ashley Slaten, a homeschool mother of 3, says that these were her main considerations. 1. Family Culture Not having the time constraints of the school schedule allow the family to structure their own day, and their own family culture. With a schedule that has less constraints, parents can choose to go out or stay in, read or play, exercise or be still. Parents can deliberately choose what to expose their children too. Homeschool families can use this time to read together, strengthen family relationships or serve in the community. Each family will have their own family culture, whether they choose to home
Never planed on homeschool. Went to public school herself and had some good experiences. When her oldest was 3 she started researching her options and learned more about homeschool and decided that was the best for their family. 3 main things that were important about homeschool 1. How it would affect their family culture- things they could do as a family if they weren’t at school all day, freedom to explore and build relationships, serve in the community 2. Public School – her experience- she was able to coast along and didn’t really study, wasn’t challenged. Didn’t really learn. It was not very educational for her. She wanted her kids to be able to explore their passions and have the fre
Environment Nancy Wood, a beloved children’s librarian, says, “Environment is a teacher that we kind of take for granted. We don’t always realize what environment can do in teaching the child.” The environment allows children to discover new things and learn in a variety of ways. There are many ways to set up an environment in your home or school that will help foster learning for young children. It is helpful to have a structure for children’s learning environments. In a school or library setting, teachers can start with an opening and closing song, for example. Each session can follow the same general structure. In the home, parents can set aside a consistent time for children to have acce
Did undergraduate in early education After graduation, decided to work with younger kids: preschool, child care, head start Wanted to work with children and parents together, so she became a librarian Wanted to help educate the parents, and let the parents see how these skills were used and be able to use them at home There is a skill to helping children learn how to learn Library Program: Worked with the environment first “Environment is a teacher that we kind of take for granted. We don’t always realize what environment can do in teaching the child.” Children need stimulation in many areas: cognitive, musical, physical, social, emotional Open ended projects, so there’s not a right way to d
