Children With Special Needs
“If a child cannot learn in the way we teach … we must teach in a way the child can learn”: Ignacio Estrada
It is a known fact that every child has the ability to learn but learning becomes most effective and enjoyable when it occurs at the child's individual pace. We at N.C. Jindal Public School know that every child is special in her or his own way, and therefore we have established a Learning skills Centre at our school.
The Learning Skills Centre has trained and competent Special Educator who observes the, ‘at risk’, children and, interact with their teachers and parents. After preliminary assessment the child is referred to the specialist for formal diagnosis. Based on the diagnosis and report by the specialist, appropriate measures are adopted to integrate the ‘special education need children’ into the mainstream.
The Learning skills centre provides specialist teacher support to students with learning difficulties, like dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia or any other special learning need that interferes with their progress in the regular classroom. Short term support is provided to students who are identified by the class teacher till child is formally diagnosed. All identified students attend, regular mainstream classes and learning support is provided either through ‘in-class support’ or during Library, Art and third language periods. Special care is taken to ensure that students do not miss classes they really thrive in.
Learning support services are available throughout the school for every diagnosed child. We embrace N.C. Jindal’s guiding principle which values diversity. Learning support at N.C. Jindal Public school caters to students who are intellectually capable of meeting curriculum and assessment requirements. We provide moderate individual support, in-class modifications and accommodations as per CBSE guidelines.
Additional activities are offered to students (of pre-primary and primary) who are academically weak.
How do we do it?
In our inclusive set up, the Empowerment and Sensitization of teachers is achieved by having regular meetings, workshops, and discussions on strategies, their review, and close observation, and monitoring of students. ‘Differentiation’ or ‘differential learning’ is emphasized to promote greater inclusion. Simple actions like
- • more visual stimulus
- • repetitions
- • sitting arrangements; like keeping anxious children in the proximity of teacher
- • designing appropriate worksheets with varied font size and spacing
- • using different materials, technology and prompting
- • having a sensory ball in pocket or reading frame
- • mixing ability levels to garner peer support
- • movement breaks
are some of the small steps that make big difference in the life of students with special education needs at N.C. Jindal Public School.