The task of educators is not an easy job. And even more complex responsibilities come and need to be provided with utmost quality and efficiency in the case of handling students with learning disabilities. As we all know, the case of learning disabilities are different form one another. It is therefore crucial for educators to have the necessary elements to become well capable in generating methods and strategies of teaching that will be appropriate on the impairment cases of each student. What’s even worse on these cases is that an individual can be diagnosed with more than one learning disability at the same time. It is then the job of special ed schools to work hand in hand with their teachers and help them become more prepared and equipped by giving them all the necessary trainings and skills to implement special education system in each class.
A basic yet effective method in implementing their programs for special education is by focusing on the major academic skills that serve as foundations for learning in every student. These are reading skills, vocabulary, and focus. Special ed schools must be able to guide their teachers in the proper development of their teaching strategies that will provide the needed benefits on the abovementioned areas.
Building Strategies for Better Reading Skills
Even though basic reading is expected to have already been mastered in the primary education, there are still some students with learning disabilities that still encounter difficulties in reading. It is extremely vital for teachers to help their students to further develop their skills as it is an important component on all other complex courses. Special ed schools that already have years of experience in implementing special education note that teaching students in text decoding is an effective strategy. Teachers can also apply extensive listening sessions on audio recording that will help students learn the correct pronunciation of words.
Giving Importance on Vocabulary Skills
Improving the vocabulary skills of the students with learning disabilities is not simple. Teachers need to take into consideration on the students’ level of comprehensiveness and storing information. One effective technique is by teaching a few words at a time and teach them how these words are used in a sentence instead of providing them the plain definitions of the words used.
Helping Students Maintain their Focus
Focus is an essential component in every student’s study skills. Students need such a skill in order to properly absorb every lesson and immediately develop problem solving techniques on their own. Students with learning disabilities however, come up short with this technique. They tend to get bored so easily making them uninterested on the lessons or tasks being tackled. Instead of just giving them a single set of tasks, teachers can make variations and provide them with alternative choices but with the same content. This way, their interests towards the task help the students maintain their focus. Providing them with assistive tools and equipments appropriate for each task is also a plus.
Special ed schools have already been using various strategies developed out of the factors mentioned above. These strategies have been proven to be effective in improving their students’ learning skills and close the gap on their academic deficits.
