They don’t belong
Posted on November 15, 2009 by Big Universe in Uncategorized.
Tags: Asperger's Syndrome, assessment, Emotional Disabilies, learning disabilities, special ed, Special Needs, VGLA Worksheets
“They don’t belong,” are words I can’t tolerate. I’m a special education teacher and I believe everyone belongs everywhere. It may take some children longer to acclimate to a situation than others, but with a team effort that includes the school and home, I believe it can be done. Unfortunately when a child has problems that include behavior and the child looks different, the feeling that “they don’t belong” seems to escalate.
One thing that works in my class when a student becomes overwhelmed with too much academics is reading books together as a class, that are projected onto the Smart Board. I’m fortunate to have my own classroom and a small group of boys and they all benefit from lots of read aloud so a book break is always beneficial. Seeing and hearing words and even being able to touch them on the Smart Board are very productive for these children with Learning Differences.
Sometimes I have to make really quick decisions about the book but the one site I always go to is biguniverse.com. They have a beautiful selection of top quality picture books and I’ve never gone wrong in any of my selections. I’ve started saving my favorites to my virtual bookshelf on the site so I can easily bring them up when I go to the site.
This week my special student and I are going to write a social story together using the create portion of Big Universe. We’ll write about what we can do when we feel really angry or confused. The site has 7,000 cliparts and I can even import my own pictures.
The three words “they don’t belong” should never be spoken together. It’s our job as a society to do all that we can to ensure that they aren’t. As teachers we are the first line of defense in helping our special children develop strategies to cope with situations that exist in the real world. I’m just glad there are sites like Big Universe that make my job easier.
Hi, I saw ur tweet on twitter. (I’m Rocktique) My dad used to be superintendant of several private schools in NY for “Mentally Handicapped” children. I don’t know if even THAT is the right words to describe special needs children anymore. My father worked w/them last about 20 yrs ago. I remember how FURIOUS he would get if he even so much as heard the word “retarted”, did not matter what the person was referring to. He still carries his beliefs and values & has passed them along to me. To the point where just writing the aformentioned word made me cringe. He will be so happy to know that there are still people out there that promote the “rights & wrongs” of what these children are capable of and how they should be and NOT be referred to as. Great job on what you do. It takes a strong, caring, patient and understanding person to do your job. Please keep up the good work, the world needs more people like you!!