Teaching Students With Exceptionalities

In todays classrooms it is practically inevitable that teachers will have, at some point, students with some degree of exceptionality. Whether the student has high functioning autism, or tourettes syndrome, or they have developed a eating disorder. As teachers it is our responsibility to become informed about the signs and characteristics of these exceptionalities as well as strategies we can use in order to most affectively teach these student (as we seek to maximize learning from all students). Through learning about these exceptionalities we need to keep in mind that we are not teaching to a exceptionality but to a student, a person, who needs us to be sensitive to their difficulties and extra help to succeed. Now lets look at a couple learning exceptionalities, Aspergers and Fragile X syndrome.

Teaching strategies for students with these two exceptionalities are very similar, since they face many of the same challenges to their learning. For both of these exceptionalities it is important to try and provide an environment with reduced stimuli, free of distractions, as these can cause distractions or confuse students. It is important to provide clear, concise instructions in small easily handled packets. These students have difficulties interpreting data, so by providing too much information at one time, they get confused and lose focus. If you use a lot of idioms , slang, or sarcasm the students may have difficulty interpreting what you are trying to say. Researchers recommend providing extra instruction in maybe a duotang or folder, that is clearly marked so students can find their information more easily and it will help them with organization. For example, having different subjects paper or sections in different colors so that the students are able to associate the color with the subject.

Studies have also demonstrate that the use of images benefits the students learning and helps them interpret the message that you are trying to communicate. So it has been encouraged for teachers to provide students with schedules with pictures to follow along with the activity to help them interpret what is being done. As well, routines in the days schedules are encouraged so that there are no surprise for the students. Many students with these exceptionalities get thrown off when the days activities are repeatedly changing from day to day.

A wonderful tool to help facilitate the students learning is being able to use the computer. With all the information being directly in front of them the students are able to put the pictures together with the words to develop their understanding. As well by developing activities to be done on the computer it is easy to allow for the student to focus to activity on something that they are interested, which will benefit their learning. Since the students have difficulties interpreting and processing the incoming information, if they are able to take part in activities that deal with one of their interests or a life skill that is relevant to them the will focus more and learn the lessons more effectively.

Though there are many similarities between how to instruct students with these exceptionalities there are also a few differences. Some of these include the work environment the students are in. For a student with Aspergers it is important to give them the option of working by themselves, as this is considered a "high-functioning" form of Autism, they are able to accomplish the work , most often, themselves and by working by alone distractions are reduced. Individuals with Aspergers have a tendency to not understand certain social practices and so working in groups can be difficult. Students with Fragile X can also use the removal of distractions but since routines are of importance it might be more beneficial for these students to work often with specific groups or other students.

Since students with Aspergers have difficulties, teacher are then challenged to integrate teaching social skills into the daily activities. Students with Fragile X don't seem to have this same difficulties, social skills seem to come more easily for them. This provided some differences for instruction between students with these two exceptionalities.

Specific teaching strategies have been highly recommended for students with exceptionalities depending on the specifici exceptionality. Many, if not all, of these teaching strategies, would be great strategies to adopt in all classroom and would benefit all students. Who wouldn't want a teaching is more sensitive to the specific needs of a students, have fewer distractions in a classroom, clearer instructions, or activities connected to our own areas of interest. These teaching strategies would be a benefit for all teachers to acquire, work on, and be aware of.