Strategies+for+SN+learners

Erik Bremer's Wikispaces article.

Article found here ---> http://investigations.terc.edu/library/implementing/qa-1ed/special_needs_strategies.cfm

Based on what you have learned, identify some common diagnostic and assessment strategies you might use with this special needs population. Discuss these diagnostic strategies in the Course wiki and respond to other classmates’ discussions as well.

This website gives 12 investigation strategies that we can use with special needs students. The samples given are for 5th grade, but the strategies are applicable to all grade levels. The main points of the article is that informal assessment is a great way to assess special needs students. Formal assessments such as tests or quizzes can give these student heightened anxiety and many SN learners feel that they are unable to do well in school. One type of assessment the SN learner would receive would be an informal assessment where the student answers a question orally and the teacher writes the response on the board. I can also help them focus their point by repeating what they just said and adding a little bit to it. Always encourage the SN learner and tell that they did an excellent job. Whatever you write on the board has to be mostly the ideas of the student with only a small contribution from the teacher. This is not only a much more relaxed situation for the student, but you are writing their response for them so you can assess their response and you also have their answer written on the board for you to look back at and make sure the student is understanding the material. I think this is an excellent method although it might not always be practical to write the student's responses on the board, but every now and again this should absolutely be implemented.

Another idea that I thought would be very effective is giving the SN learner more structure on a given task. An example would be during group work to not allow the students to decide what students will perform what task. Often, the non SN students will simply take charge and do most of the work and the SN learner will feel anxiety about doing some parts of the work. This is why it is a good idea to assign roles or jobs within the group and give the students more specific instructions instead of simply putting them into their groups and letting them figure it out on their own. This ensures that the SN learn does a portion of the work that is completed and you can individually assess them on their performance even during group work.