Engaging Students with Special Needs

Every student is affected by his or her previous experiences in school, both positive and negative. This is often compounded if the student has a learning, behavioral or emotional disability. Teachers are challenged daily to create interesting and exciting learning environments that will engage every student, even those with special needs. This is often difficult, as teachers have to be more prepared and flexible than ever to accommodate their students’ varying attention spans. However, one way to address this issue is by using technology to create interactive learning environments.

By encouraging students to participate in multisensory lessons through the use of multimedia, teachers can make sure that they address each of the students’ various learning styles. Through the use of technology, teachers can connect with their students by presenting material in a format to which the students can relate. This is especially important for students with emotional disabilities, as it can be more difficult for these students to feel connected to anyone, let alone adults in authority positions. In fact, many students with emotional disabilities have such difficulty in the classroom that they end up dropping out of school. A recent article by a former National Teacher of the Year award recipient describes some of the situations faced by students in his own classroom. Anthony Mullen writes, “according to the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition, students who are afflicted with severe emotional disabilities have the highest dropout rate of any population of students and comprise about half of the almost one million students who fail to graduate from high school each year.”

If our goal is to improve the academic success of students with special needs, then providing opportunities to learn through multisensory applications of lessons seems to be the best strategy. Technology-rich environments allow students to learn cooperatively, share ideas, collaborate on projects and show off their creativity. When students are actively engaged, they are less likely to become behavioral disruptions in the classroom. In turn, their motivation to learn increases and they become active participants in the learning process.

Read the full article: Special Needs and the Whiteboard Effect