New Approaches for Teaching Students with Disabilities at Home

Special education teachers are looking for optimal ways to handle exceptional educational challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic crisis and the transition to virtual learning (distance education) classrooms.

Before delving into the details of this article, let us clarify "what is meant by special education?". Special education includes providing diverse services to a wide range of students with disabilities who vary in terms of age, interests, abilities, and the severity and type of disability, where these services begin with an individual assessment for each student, or what is known as determining the level of performance, and then designing and implementing the individualized educational program according to their specific needs. Students with disabilities require a special approach to education, as students' communication and focus styles differ; some communicate non-verbally, some suffer from attention deficit, and they need continuous guidance and cannot complete tasks alone. Their level is expected to be negatively impacted by the current sudden shift to e-learning, but teachers must strive as much as possible, adapt to the current circumstances, attempt to deliver special education services to students in their homes, and help parents grasp their role in assisting. In this article, we list some suggested solutions to help special education teachers continue teaching their students remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.

Preparing a Home Learning Environment

Special education teachers are advised to set up an appropriate home learning environment, as well as plans and goals for students and their families before starting lessons and activities. This can be done through several points:

1. Checking parents' circumstances: Effective communication between teachers and parents contributes to understanding the home situation of each student individually, for example, do the parents stay at home the entire time? What electronic devices are available to the student, and is there an internet connection? Is there suitable space for motor and sensory activities? Such information helps teachers to build an individualized educational plan for each student according to the circumstances of their home environment. The teacher must support parents in understanding the specific individual school plans and goals for their child, as parent training is part of the special education teacher's work, especially during this period.

2. Designing educational plans: Teachers must assess and understand students' family situations and their home environments, then identify goals that can be worked on at home, and break down these goals into sequential schedules that are easy to implement in cooperation with parents.

3. Flexibility and initiative: Parents need guidance and ongoing support during this period. It is important that teachers check on the family's situation from time to time, and some teachers recommend creating support groups that bring together parents of individuals with disabilities to exchange ideas and successful—and unsuccessful—experiences of learning in the home environment. Also, teachers' flexibility regarding their working hours is very important during this period. They must be available at different communication times to accommodate parents' varying circumstances and schedules; some parents may go to work during morning study hours, making it difficult for their children to use devices or finish their tasks without assistance.

Achieving Educational Goals for Students

Changing the familiar educational routine is disruptive for individuals with disabilities, so parents and teachers must work hand in hand to design a home learning environment and activities that closely resemble a regular day at school. Here are some tips from teachers on how to achieve this:

The importance of organization: The most successful environments for educating individuals with disabilities are organized and well-scheduled environments that serve their educational goals, as students need a specialized teacher present with them at all times, and a home learning environment cannot provide the same organized performance even with the same educational plan. Therefore, special education teachers are advised to:

1. Write down a daily schedule of activities similar to the student's school schedule, broken down into small tasks and filled with breaks as much as possible.
2. It is important that the schedule is full of illustrative pictures of the activities, to help them comprehend the activities.
3. Use a timer to start and finish each activity, to act as the school bell.
4. Change the rooms or corners where activities are performed within the home, as students are accustomed to changing locations according to the type of activity in the school building.

Effective communication with parents: Recording lessons electronically for families is an excellent step to guide them on how to prepare their children's activities, and communicating with them for collaborative thinking on how to utilize the home environment to serve the student's education, such as using cornflakes or coins as sensory tools for math activities.

Meeting motor and sensory needs: Students' sensory and motor needs must be met, so if students need to release their energy, parents can use simple items such as colored clay and bubble wrap, or brain games such as wooden puzzles. Using shaving foam for drawing and writing may help reduce anxiety and develop the student's language learning; hugs, breathing exercises, and allowing them to run in the yard also help.

Finally: We must remember that it is impossible for the home learning environment to be identical to the school environment, and many parents will not be able to set up an environment identical to the school environment, given the parameters and resources of the school environment; therefore, parents should be reassured about the reality of the situation and not pressured.

As specialists, we believe in the possibility of achieving excellent education in a home environment, but special education is a complex network of methods and activities that depend on the student's needs, and the current circumstances are expected to hinder the education of individuals with special needs, but we have no choice but to try.

Source

Fleming Nora and Minero Emelina, 2020. New Strategies in Special Education as Kids Learn From Home, Edutopia.

.https://www.edutopia.org/article/new-strategies-sp...

Originally published in Arabic. This English version was produced with AI-assisted translation; the Arabic original remains the reference.