Emotional, Behavioral and Physical Disabilities in Education, Essay Example

Students who have emotional disorders, behavioral or physical disorders show some elements that are of relevance in giving instructions.  They show behavior different from the one expected in school or in the society. This should be approached by operationally defining exactly what each student does that is a deviation with the expected behavior. An effective strategy is to tackle each student behavioral problem as each one of them is unique. This essay will look at various aspects of education in regard to students with these disabilities and the various strategies that are used in teaching students with disabilities. The essay will also look at various ways that teachers use to make other students to understand, respect to students with disabilities in the class. The essay will also look at the ways that students with disabilities can be helped to develop their self esteem, self determination and also on how to develop their advocacy skills. In the end the paper will look at behavior modification strategies that I experienced being used in a school I visited.

There are different strategies that are used in teaching children with disabilities. One of the strategies is the use of inclusive classroom. This strategy allows all students with disabilities feel safe, supported and have a feeling of acceptance in the regular classrooms. The placements include the regular classrooms most of the time with cases of where alternatives are selected. In this strategy the students with disabilities are taught in least restrictive environment appropriate which meets their unique needs. The teacher remains being specific in everything he or she does meet the specific needs of students with disabilities.

Another strategy used in teaching of students with disabilities is direct teaching. This means the teacher should remains specific to make sure that learning occurs in the class room. Here the emphasis shifts from teaching to learning. In using this strategy, there are points that are put in place to make sure students with disabilities have maximum learning outcomes. The teacher makes clear what the essential outcome of the learning know the sequencing, he or she remains concrete i.e. the way to model the skills in the students and the specific examples that he, or she gives. The teacher gives independence to the students because students with disabilities have difficulties in self monitoring. The main intention of this is to allow students to become more independent (King- Sears & Bradley, 1997).

Oral comprehensive strategy ensures that the students who have disabilities have comprehension of material and information that is presented orally during the class work. This is because most of students with disability face problem with oral comprehension. The teacher presents his information simple and short sentences, to ensure that the students understand the strategy involves repeating and rephrasing his or her instruction and use of voice intonation. Visual aids and charts are used in teaching for referencing. The teachers also include mental rehearsals. Orally presented materials are reviewed, and taped versions are used in trying to make the students comprehend what they are being taught well. There is regular monitoring, which helps to support children who have oral comprehensive difficulties.

There is also the multi sensory teaching method which is the most effective strategy in teaching students with disabilities. This is where students are helped to learn through more than one of their senses. This is mainly used in teaching students who have dyslexic problem. Students with this problem may have a problem in one of the senses that are used in teaching i.e. hearing, seeing, or in auditory processing. This strategy involves the use of more of the students’ senses. The teacher uses the sense of touch and movement of the students in teaching. This helps the students’ brain tactile and kinetic memories to hang on as well as the auditory ones. This assist the student in comprehension of information they may have difficult in comprehending using some of their senses that may be affected (King- Sears & Bradley, 1997).

Class experiences of students with disabilities can be positively or negatively affected by the behavior and the attitudes of other students towards them. School counselors should take the leading role in assessing the classroom climate in relation to students who have disabilities. The teachers should advocate for change when it appears appropriate. In order to make other students have respect and understanding regarding the students with disabilities there is a need for teachers and the entire school administration to use the appropriate strategies.

Over the past ten years there have been little research, which have been conducted in relation to attitude that students have in regard to their fellow students with a disability. According to a research conducted by Nowicki and Sandieson in 2002, shows that most students without disability prefer to interact with other students without disabilities. They have a negative attitude torwards student with disabilities. There are various interventions that can be done in school to make students without disabilities have respect, understand and respond positively to those who have disabilities.

Teachers should act as advocates for students with disabilities. The teachers are positioned to take the lead in ensuring that students with disabilities have a positive classroom experience. There is a need for more self awareness on the importance of having a positive attitude towards students with disabilities. The awareness will help students develop cooperative relationships. Positive contact with students with a disability is the only way that other students in a classroom have knowledge concerning students with disabilities (Salend, 2005).

The other way that positive attitude can be developed is by the formation of cooperative learning groups which would provide both social and academic benefits to students with disabilities. There should also be collaborative problem solving, for example, regular classroom meetings which provide the students a voice of concern towards students with disabilities and help them develop more understanding towards them (Salend, 2005).

Another way of creating more positive responses towards students with a disability from other students is by use of modeling from teachers. This will help other students learn how to interact and also help them see the students with disability similar to them. Teachers can also help students develop respect for diversity by teaching empathy and anger management skills. There is a need for teachers to incorporate strategies to help students with disabilities develop their self esteem, self determination and also assist them to develop advocacy skills. This should be done with good collaboration with the parents. There have been many materials that have been developed to assist in development of these aspects in students with disabilities. There is sufficient evidence that students with disabilities are in a position to become more self determined and career focused if their self esteem is nurtured. There is a need for educators to restructure and also expand their roles, incorporate self determination, self esteem and advocacy skill in the curriculum. They should also create more opportunities for students to make choices and have experience of the consequences of self regulated behavior with the teachers’ guidance (Fiedler, 2000).

This can also be done by empowering the parents who are supposed to work as partners in the promotion of these skills to the students. The involvement of parents in this process is very critical. Parents should encourage the students in the development of these skills. There should be facilitation of student centered meetings and self directed learning models. This will help the students in practicing the skills. In these meetings the teachers and other team members should assess the students’ abilities, for example, in facilitating the meetings, their participation and should also articulate their academic and social strength, challenges and needs. This will assist in development of confidence among the students and also have them to develop the advocacy skills (Fiedler, 2000).

I visited a classroom that had a combination of students who had various disabilities. I made observations at behavior modification strategies that the teachers used in trying to improve the behaviors of the students. The teachers used various a variety of behavioral system in the class. This was necessitated by the fact that the class room had students who had various special needs. These are the strategies that were used in the class. The teachers used the point system for each student. Each student was given a chart at the end of the day. The charts include points earned throughout the day. The points were given in reading, math, behavior and homework. The chart had to be signed by the parent and returned daily. The teacher wrote notes to parents on the charts. This necessitated the teacher to have constant contact with the parents. Once a month the students go shopping for school supplies using the points earned in the whole month.

There was also the use of Lunch tickets. This is where during lunch time the assistants who serve the students during lunchtime would give tickets to students who showed good behaviors. This is because there was a tendency of students to disrespect the assistants. There was a draw that was done at the end of every week for prizes using the tickets. The two strategies were used in encouraging students change their behaviors and also to improve in their academic performance. This helped especially due to the incentives that accompanied any improvement. The collaboration of the parents in the process was also helpful in encouraging better academic performance (Hersen & Rosqvist, 2005).

As can be seen, students with disabilities need special attention in education. There is a need for teachers to understand the needs of the specific students. This will assist them to attain their education goals like the other students without disabilities. The schools should also create a conducive environment for the students to be able to carry on with education.

References

Fiedler, C. (2000). Making a difference: advocacy competencies for special education Professionals. Boston: Allyn and Bacon publishers.

Hersen, M. & Rosqvist, J. (2005). Encyclopedia of Behavior Modification and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. New York: Sage publication.

King –Sears, M. &  Bradley, D. (1997). Teaching students in inclusive settings: from theory to practice. Michigan: Allyn and Bacon publishers.

Salend, S. (2005). Creating inclusive classrooms: effective and reflective practices for all Students, Michigan: University of Michigan.