Acceptance part 1

You may assume that acceptance is just about students in a class accepting a peer with learning difficulties into their social or learning group, but often the children in the class are much more accepting than the adults. Teachers often struggle or think they will struggle to meet the needs of a student with additional learning needs and this can leave the child ostracised often completing completely different work to the rest of the class and  missing out on key social interactions.

This article will look then not only to help the teacher make an accepting class environment (part 1), but also give tips that should help the teacher accept the student with additional needs in to their class (part 2).

Building an accepting classroom environment:

Circle of Friends –

This is a method traditionally used in primary schools, but it certainly has a place in secondary of done right. The method involves 6-8 volunteer peers supporting 1 student with additional needs by creating a support network. All of the students meet once a week for 20-30 minutes with a supporting adult. In the meeting the students reflect on the week and build strategies to support the pupil at school, they build friendships, provide encouragement and more generally help the child to fit in at school. Interestingly this method (first designed by Whitaker et al, 1998) has also been seen to raise self-esteem and confidence in all students who participate.

buddy

Buddy systems –

Buddy systems have been proven to be very effective, however it is important to provide a student with more than 1 buddy so they don’t become reliant and to relieve pressure on the buddy. Buddies should be fully prepared as to what is expected of them and should also provide feedback to staff. Here are some ideas for where a buddy could be used:

  • Providing support at break times
  • Walking a student from one lesson to another
  • Being a person to talk to during a transition period
  • Someone to offer encouragement in class
  • To provide support during an after school club
  • Someone the student can discuss answers with in class if they lack the confidence to speak in front of the whole group. The buddy can then share these answers with the teacher.

Resources –

Some students with learning difficulties may have a much lower reading/spelling age than their peers and may require redesigned resources. However it is important that while offering more simplistic work these resources remain appropriate to the chronological age in their style and design.

 

Interventions and withdrawing from the classroom –

There are many opposing views on the issue of whether or not to remove students from the classroom for interventions. Where I work we believe students may have short intensive interventions if we believe the results will be beneficial. However for the most part it is important to keep the student with learning difficulties in the classroom with their peers and include them in all group activities.

  • If a student does have to go for an intervention, select a buddy who can catch them up on what they have missed.

Group tasks –

There are so many different ways to include students through the use of group tasks, but here are a few ideas that may help you:

  • Move groups around each week so students with learning difficulties learn to work with a variety of students, this will also help build social skills.
  • Jigsaw groups provide an excellent way for a student with learning difficulties to work with lots of different students in the class.jigsaw
  • Provide lots of opportunities for paired work in class.
  • Build team work exercises into lessons.
  • Provide opportunities to build the confidence of the student with learning difficulties by asking them to share knowledge with other pupils.
  • Provide positive activities that rely on the cooperation of all pupils for their completion this will encourage team work.
  • Encourage the groups to discuss how well they have worked together this will encourage reflective thinking.

References:

Jigsaw Classroom (2014) Jigsaw in 10 easy steps [online]. Accessed from: http://www.jigsaw.org/steps.htm. [Accessed on 6 December 201].

Whitaker, P., Barratt, P., Joy, H., Potter, M. and Thomas, G. (1998) Children with Autism and peer group support: Using ‘Circle of Friends’. British Journal of Special Education. Vol. 25 (3) pp.60 – 64.

 

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