We may all want different things from life. Some of us want to be one with our art, some want to make lots of money for themselves and their family, some want a tea estate and a tiny farm, and some want to build tall buildings.
They may all be unalike in nature, but the string that ties them together is having the skill and knowledge on how to achieve those dreams.
Most of us take the path of gaining formal education. And this way, education somehow becomes a necessity, it becomes a right.
Education for most of us has been a free-size garment. Fits all but fits differently. Some of us need a Cinderella-shoe kind of education. It needs to be tailor-made.
An inclusive system for all is inspiring and that’s the kind of world we should be working towards.
Why Do We Need Special Education?
You can ask a child what she/he/they want to be when they grow up. Answers like astronaut, dancer, doctor, teacher, scientist, footballer, athlete will pour down like torrential rain. Some children might get a hang of how to reach their goals faster while some might take longer. That’s a pace that they happen to take. What’s our role here? Is it to unjustly decide for them or to support them with all our might. It ought to be the latter.
Special Education provides a range of services for differently-abled children. It could be children who are physically, mentally, socially, cognitively, or behaviourally different. It caters to children with hearing, vision, and speech impairments along with children who have Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD and ADD, Down Syndrome, or advanced academic abilities.
As a society, we already create this difference with our words, both written and spoken. To bridge this gap that we create, we need to care for the needs, needs that require tailor-made solutions.
Special Education Helps With:
Working with different learning rates
We all have different speeds at which we process and learn things. Someone with ADHD might process faster but might lose interest halfway, while some have Autism. A classroom for special education will help the special educator dedicate time to their students and have one-on-one interactions with them. This will help improve their learning curve by having a more specific type of instructions for the child to follow.
2. Unique Methods of Learning and Teaching
Special educators are trained to understand how to patiently work with their students. In a standard school, the methods are the same for all and the child has to figure it out themselves. In special education schools, methods of teaching are customised to the needs of the child rather than expecting the child to pick up whatever they can and wing the rest. Special educators don’t use textbook ways of teaching and don’t use textbooks to teach. They design workshops and activities that make sense to the child, are engaging, and have a better chance of being picked up.
3. Structured approaches
Special education programs keep in mind; the necessity of following a structure of the children. A program, if designed poorly, will have almost none to negative effects on the child’s learning capabilities. Special educators like speech, occupational, language therapists know the constant work they need to put in for the child to show improvement. It does not happen overnight and it definitely does not happen in a 30-minute class.
4. Smaller classrooms
One of the advantages of providing special education to your child is that their needs are met with precision and patience. In a class of 20-50 kids, what are the chances your child is getting the attention she/he/they needs? A smaller group of kids helps the educator allot time to each child and meet the specific needs rather than rushing and doing an unsatisfactory job.
5. Special Equipment and Techniques
Because the teaching has to be so tailor-made, it needs to have equipment and technology that are unique to the teaching style. Classrooms for the visually impaired, for children with learning disabilities, or with physical disabilities will need to have equipment and facilities that will aid the process of teaching and learning. At a standard school, these details are overlooked.
These are a few of the many things that you will find at Asare as well. Special educators working with students that have different needs and state-of-the-art facilities like a computer room, a gym, multiple learning centres, playgrounds and so much more available.
Stay with us for longer. We do have another blog following this one; with more information on special education. Let’s work together on building the inclusive society we all want for each other!