The teaching process is often hard and complex. It should ensure students receive the information in the best possible way. Usually, teaching is viewed as being universal and having a similar structure throughout all institutions. However, every student is different, and it is crucial to use a unique approach with each of them. While the teaching methods must vary among students with special needs, parents should also engage in an educational process in order to give children an understanding of its importance.
Teaching Students with Special Educational Needs
It is evident that students with physical disabilities require a different approach to their education. The role of teachers and educational assistants lies in ensuring that a child receives all the required information for the intellectual and social development along with other students. The tasks of a support staff vary from the ones of a teacher, being more targeted at serving a child’s physical needs rather than teaching. They ensure that a child is not distracted from learning and can identify the tasks given by a teacher. There are controversial opinions about whether a support staff proves helpful for these categories of children.
Teachers have a leading role in this situation. Apart from teaching, they have to support children with special education needs by providing them with necessary surrounding conditions like the amount of light, sound, etc. While supporting them, a teacher should not pay too much attention to a single student, for everyone else will not get the amount of information required by the program. Moreover, the concept of responsibility, by default, must not affect students with educational assistants, so teachers have to ensure they spend enough time with their students instead of delegating their functions to support staff.
Parents’ Role in the Education Process
Usually, parents believe that the responsibility for their children’s education lies solely on teachers. However, students tend to show less progress if they do not see the interest in the learning process from their parents. Thus, it is important to engage parents in this process to ensure students are supported both at school and at home. Teachers can stimulate this situation in several ways. Firstly, it may include family projects when parents would have to devote their time to homework. Secondly, the cultural events should take place in families’ lives.
Teachers may assign to write reflection papers based on those events, thus underlining the importance of mutual learning and checking the students’ ability to analyze the material at the same time. Finally, regular parent meetings should be a source of signals whether parents are interested in their children’s learning or not. Teachers may address those families that do not show any involvement and describe the importance of parent support. It is especially important regarding parents of students with special educational needs, for they are the ones who decide on the child’s participation in the IEP process. Their engagement will serve as a base for learning progress and adaptation.
Conclusion
Students with special educational needs require more effort put in their learning process than their classmates do. The most important role is played by the teacher, who should perform exclusive, yet fair, treatment of such children. It is crucial that they combine their forces with parents during this process to achieve the best possible results.