Case Studies:Children with Disabilities and Children without disabilities in the classroom
Children with Disabilities compared to Children without Disabilities
As teachers, we are likely to have students with special needs, who are different enough from their peers and may need adapted instruction materials to help maximize their learning and achievement. Some students are gifted and gain little from grade level activities and assignments. However, some students have cognitive, academic, social, and physical disabilities that affect their performance in a classroom (Ormrod and Anderman 141).
Some students with special educational needs show no signs of physical abilities yet have cognitive difficulties that interfere with their ability to learn certain kinds of academic materials and perform certain classroom tasks. For example, a student with specific cognitive and academic difficulties known as ADHD may have a hard time concentrating and completing tasks in the classroom. However a student that does not have a cognitive disability would be able to concentrate in class and stay on task. Students with ADHD also known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder typically have chronic deficits in three areas known as inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. According to Ormrod and Anderman inattention are when students have difficulty focusing and maintaining attention on task (148). Likewise, students with hyperactivity seem to have excess amount of energy compared to students with impulsivity who have trouble inhibiting inappropriate behaviors. However students don’t necessarily show all three characteristics. Students with disabilities not only differentiate in cognitive and physical abilities but also social and language skills.
Students with disabilities differentiate in language skills also known as social skills. Researchers found that “the average language skills for a child classmates in the fall significantly predicted the child’s language skills in the spring especially for children with disabilities.” The result supports inclusion policies in schools that aim to have students with disabilities in the same classroom with developing peers. According to Laura Justice, co-author of the study “Students with disabilities are the ones who are affected most by the language skills of the other children in their class.” Students with social difficulties often requires and support from peers to motivate them. Peers who may not have a language or social difficulties are able to motivate other peers because they are able to develop language or social skills. Jessica Logan, a senior researchers in education conducted a study that involved six hundred and seventy preschool children enrolled in eighty three special education classrooms. About half of the children had an Individualized Education Plan, signaling presence of disability. In the fall and spring all the students language skills were measured with a test called the Descriptive Pragmatics Profile. The results concluded that children with disabilities who were in classrooms with highly skilled peers, language scores in the spring were about 40 percent better than those of children with disabilities who were placed with the lowest-ranked peers. Results like these prove that inclusion in classroom can improve students with disabilities social and language skills. Students with disabilities not only differentiate in social and language skills but also in physical and sensory skills.
Students with special needs have physical and sensory disabilities caused by physiological conditions. For example, a few physical and sensory disabilities may include visual impairments, hearing loss and health impairments. A student without a physical or sensory disability would differ from a student with physical or sensory disability because they may be able to see the board or hear what the teacher is teaching. Physical and health impairments are general physical or medical conditions that interfere with school performance that special instructions are necessarily (Ormrod and Anderman 159). Physical challenges are infrequent compared to other special needs, however they are important to the lives of students and families. Teachers should take children with physical and sensory challenges serious and accommodate students in the class. A few strategies teachers can use to accommodate students in the classroom are to be specific to limitations and accommodate them flexibly, know what to do in emergency, and if students and parents give permission, educate classmates about the nature of student’s disabilities. It is very important to educate students about children with disabilities so they can be aware of student’s behavior and not act out in a way to offend a child who may be disable.
In conclusion, students with disability and students without disability may learn differently, however every child is capable of learning. One of the best strategies to incorporate all students learning styles and interaction with peers is inclusion. Inclusion give all types of students the availability to additional resources and supportive techniques. This also allows for students with disabilities to receive support from peers and increase achievement goals. As teachers we should incorporate various methods to accommodate students with different learning styles to make sure each student has the resources to achieve.
Work Citation
Davey, Chris. Children with Disabilities Benefit from Classroom Inclusion.https://news.osu.edu/children-with-disabilities-benefit-from-classroom-inclusion/ 28 July, 2014.
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