Teaching Special Needs StudentsChristine Wolfe

The primary goal for teaching special students in general education classrooms is success for all students. Most students with special need can succeed in general education classrooms.

Teaching special students in the general education classroom requires a collaboration and team approach. The goal of collaborating with various teams serving students with special needs is to ensure that students are provided an appropriate education based on their individual abilities and needs.

In teaching special students in the general education classroom it is recognized that special students have special needs. Special students, as a group, typically experience difficulty in academic and social areas; some students also have special behavioral and physical needs.

Teaching special students in general education classrooms requires adapting instruction. Special students may experience difficulty in the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of basic skills, content area information, and transitioning times.

Managing classroom behavior is essential in teaching special students in the general education classroom. Classroom behavior problems interfere with instruction and social interaction; study skill problems affect a student’s academic performance.

Promoting social acceptance is a necessary part of teaching special students in general education classrooms. Students with special needs may be rejected if they do not look or act like their peers; another contributing factor is that some students with disabilities have poor social skills.

Teaching special students in the general education classroom entails coordinating the classroom learning environment. The instructional environment of the classroom affects both achievement and nonacademic performance.

Teaching with classroom technologies is beneficial to teaching special students in general education classrooms. Three types of technology support education; instructional technology, technology tools, and assistive technology.

It is important to consider students with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders when developing an action plan for teaching special students in the general education classroom. The most common area in which adaptations are made for general education students with learning disabilities is academic instruction; these students may require assistance in acquiring skills and learning content area information.

Students who are gifted and talented need to be a part of the program for teaching special students in general education classrooms. The major educational adaptations for students who are gifted and talented are acceleration, enrichment, and grouping for challenging instruction.

Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.Aristotle