10 Things That You Have To Be Aware Of When Dealing With Special Educational Needs (SEN) Students

What should we do to help the children with Special Educational Needs as a teacher/educator/parent? The followings may serve as some notes to all who are working with/taking care of the SEN children...

1.) Do not isolate them or make them to form a special group on their own, try to arrange students with different abilities, with/out SEN to form groups and work together

2.) Promote collaborative learning and provide a scaffolding learning opportunity through theme-based games/activities which can enrich students' understanding of the topic(s) of interest and mastering of the key language items

3.) Skilfully design levelled worksheets that can match well with the abilities of individual student(s)

4.) Allow more time to give assistance to all students, especially those with SEN; and observe how they they communicate within their groups

5.) Provide a platform for the students, those with SEN in particular to showcase their strengths and to build up their confidence

6.) Help them to find and develop their interests, and guide them along the way

7.) Pay special attention as to how they behave, because they may not be good at using words to express themselves; but their behaviours could surely give us some hints regarding their feelings

8.) Do not label them and differentiate them from normal kids, because this will only make them feel about themselves and make it harder for them to get along and work with others

9.) Do not scold them right away when they start to make noise or cannot concentrate well in class, because in some cases, the students really cannot control themselves. Try to work out a way for which you can treat all students fairly and maintain a certain degree of discipline control while trying to show your care and acceptance towards your SEN students

10.) Work together with the school's educational psychologist/social worker and the parents to think of ways that can help enhance the learning motivation of the SEN students both at school and at home