Student’s Perspective On Support In Classroom

There are many ways to support students with disabilities in the classroom. Teachers have to know that every student is unique and everyone has different abilities and different difficulties. What works for one student might not work for another. The best way to help them is individualise the help by listening to them and adapting strategies to include everyone in the classroom. Here are some of those strategies with students words about them in quotations:

• Be patient and allow them to work at their own pace “ I might be slower than usual but my brain is slow today”

• Be understanding and don’t rush “thank you for understanding that I need a little more time for my assignments”

• Listen without interrupting “thank you for listening patiently and for not interrupting my thoughts. It's hard to think and to speak”

• Encourage the efforts “I like when you tell me I'm doing a good job. It makes me feel appreciated and valuable”

• Don’t be negative or critical “I’m doing the best I can”

• Repeat tasks “ thank you for reminding me what to do. It looks like my brain is a little broken and in a cast, and needs someone to remind it to work”

• Don’t multitask “ My brain can’t think at more than one thing at a time”

• Help them rebuild language skills “thank you for teaching me a new word. I might have learned it before but I couldn’t remember it”

• Allow rest breaks “My brain needs a little rest. It’s like a cell phone that needs to be recharged from time to time”

• Be supportive “I’m happy you understand what I’m going through. This is so much easier with your help”

• Modify classroom to ensure safety according to the needs of student “I’m happy I have enough room to move around in my wheelchair”

• Minimise visual and auditory distractions that might interfere with attention “ Thank you for not having too many posters on the wall. It helps me to stay focused”

• Prepare classmates for the re-entry of the student and explain any physical, or personality changes “it's easier when other people understand why I look like this and makes them accept me better”

• Set high expectations “I will do my best I can and try to learn a lot”

• Encourage students to use adapted computers and other technologies “Work is so much easier with the extra help”

• Focus on their strengths, not on their weaknesses “I didn’t even know I was so good at adding”

• Deficits should be viewed as opportunities to grow “I will learn from this and do better next time”

• Treat every child with respect and equality “Thank you for treating me like a “normal” kid and for not looking at me differently than the other kids”