Learners With Special Needs in our Classrooms

Learners with Special Needs in our classrooms

Identifying learners with Sepecial Needs in classrooms

1. Gifted and talented learners

• Finish the teachers work within a very short time
• Gets everything correct
• Ask complicated questions some of which may not  be related to the lesson
• May start doing another activity after finishing work given
• Asking to go out within the lesson
• May be bored and show little interest in the lesson

2. Learners With Specific Learning Difficulties

• Stays out of class during this particular lesson
• Does not do all the work given
• Bored most of the time
• Little or no interest in answering the teacher’s oral questions
• Gets most of the work given wrong
• May avoid coming to school if this lesson appears the first one on the days schedule
• May not like or always avoid  the subject  teacher
• Withdrawn and feels out of place
• Frequently looks at his/her watch

3. Hearing and vision problem

•  Prefer to sit at a certain position in classroom
• Some have squinted eyes
• Hold the ear in order to hear well
• Holds the book too close or too far from the eyes
• Talks too loud
• Stumbles on desks and on other objects
• Straining to look at the blackboard/whiteboard
• Itchy red eyes
• Discharge from the ear or eyes
• Lack of balance while walking
• Omitting some words  or skipping lines while reading or  writing.
• Moves the head along as they read
• Withdraw from a conversation

4. Speech problem(Starters and stammers)

• They shy away from answering questions
• May prefer to use sign or body language to speech
• May deliberately refuse to answer oral questions
• May be confused for being rude
• Shake or close the eyes before starting to talk.
• May talk very fast before they get stuck with their speech.

5. Physically challenged  

• Lack balance  while walking
• Stumbles on objects
• Falls down easily
• Fears playing with others
• Too big head (Hydrocephalus)or too small head
• Lacking some limbs eg hand, leg, fingers

6. Mentally challenged

• Drooling
• Fidgeting
• Hallucinating
• Hyperactive or hypoactive
• May eat a lot of food
• Love for certain colors