How to Effectively Teach Students With Special Needs

Teaching life skills is an essential part of education for every child, most especially for children with special needs. These life skills enable them grow to become independent of their parents or guardians and also allow them fit into society perfectly without feeling different or incomplete in any way. For those up for adoption, it is necessary to be adopted at birth in order to promote easy transition to adulthood. This also gives them the chance to be more successful in life just as an average normal kid would be.

According to statistics conducted by the special education programs in the U. S., the number of students between kindergarten and 12th grade in need of this life skills teaching is up-to 6.7 million. This makes it quite important that attention is given to the training of these kids. More important is the impartation of life skills that will enable them to get by in their day to day activities.

The following are ways by which you can effectively teach students with special needs and equip them with life skills:

Communication:

Allowing them to express themselves. Interact and communicate with them while also encouraging them to do the same. Get them into social atmospheres so they can interact and develop their communication skills. Also, have them describe their mood and feelings with the aid of pictures.

Navigation skills:

Teaching life skills to special children also involves teaching them how to navigate and get to where they want to be from where they are. Use a hallway or a corridor as a guide amongst other things.

Time management:

Teaching life skills also have to do with teaching children how to manage their time. This is a very important skill that everybody must have in order to forge ahead. It is not restricted to those with special needs alone. Teaching them this particular life skill might be done by helping the students plan their routines and calendars so they can have a focus, and direction every day.

Expression:

Self-expression is a vital part of being human, it is also a skill that someone develops. Teaching life skills to special needs children require that they learn how to express themselves. Encourage them to take breaks and sincerely express themselves to those around them

Accountability:

Special needs children also need to be taught about being accountable and responsible such that they can respect other people's properties.

Nutrition and health:

Show them what a healthy meal is and what a healthy meal isn't. They will learn better and retain more that way. Just teaching them that some foods are bad won't do, to effectively teach them and develop their life skills, you need to demonstrate and show examples. This way, they can relate what you're teaching them to reality as a result of which the gain a better understanding.

Hygiene:

Teaching life skills definitely involves teaching how to maintain personal hygiene. Students with special needs are not exempted from this, in order to get through life, by themselves, they need to learn how to take care of their personal hygiene. Stories should be told about the good effects of maintaining personal hygiene and the detriments of not maintaining it. Also, demonstrations should be made such that they can have a better understanding of what hygiene is.