Special Needs Project

[LauraKateBull]

Help needed! I am currently a student at the University of Wales, Newport. I am carrying out a project on special needs. The project brief is as follows:

Children of all ages find play enjoyable, from a very young age to the end of school and beyond. In education many educationalists such as: teachers, play workers and child minders have used the theory of learning through play to enhance learning skills. There is a known shortage of educational playing equipment for children who have special needs that need to make learning through play enjoyable.

My task is to produce a learning resource that is suitable for children with special needs that need to have fun whilst learning to be able to get the most out of their a session of teaching.

I would be very grateful for any ideas you could give me, any information you could give or any share any of your experiences with me.

Many Thanks
Laura Bull

Pretty much anything at this stage really. Open to any help possible :)

Okay thankyou very much :) will have a good think about it and post a more streamlined question.

JAS is absolutely right, Laura. Two kids with SN can be a million times more different from each other than one of those children will be from a child with no SN at all!

Actually, one of the things you struggle with as a parent is the tendency of the world to divide everybody into "disabled" and "not disabled" and think that because they have made some effort towards inclusion which will help some children with disabilities, their duty is done.

Erm... and here's another one. Children of all ages do NOT find play enjoyable. Not all of them. Children with more severe SN may have absolutely no natural play skills which can further limit their ability to learn. With these children, it's as much about teaching them how to play, and specifically teaching them that play is enjoyable and that job is long and hard and can literally take years. It's not a question of producing a sufficiently "accessible" toy and Bingo! the job is done.

The best learning resource is pen and paper to measure progress against SMART small learning targets.

Equipment and toys do not promote learning or raise attainment, good quality teaching does. I'm a bit confused about your brief and the underlying assumptions to be honest. Do you have good quality evidence to support this?

The brief was given to me by a lecturer in the university i have not personally made any of it up so i therefore do not have any evidence to support it i am afraid.

Maybe you could go back to your lecturer and put some of these comments to him/her and see what the response is. What course are you doing?

I would agree with other posters that you need to narrow it down by thinking of a particular SN as well as thinking about exactly what you are trying to teach the child about through their play. I do know that I have found some SALT resources very dull and these have been very de motivating for my daughter. Perhaps you could take something which exists but is totally unsuitable or dull and make it into something worthwhile?

Not sure about being a shortage of equipment really. Lots of sn toy websites you could look at for inspiration eg specialneedstoys difflearn therapyshoppe. DS has ASD and his play is very delayed and cause and effect toys are what he likes. It's not true all sn children like sensory toys either my DS would not go near a sensory room. You would need to narrow it down to an age group, target education skill and type of disability.

I agree. You need to identify a skill that a piece of equipment will support a teacher to teach. Often, with SN, the skill will be an aspect of play. The best equipment is the simple stuff that supports the teacher teach.

I agree it is the simple stuff, also consider how much of the teaching aids in ms schools can be adapted or just used slightly differently or with support to aid children with sn.
My DS2 is very much a kinesthetic learner with huge visual perception problems as well as fine motor control problems.
So he can't cope with a white board and pen but can use a sand tray and his finger (although its messy)

Also consider if you want to create something for children with ASD that toys that depend on imaginary play for learning may not be the best, many children with learning difficulties who do not have an ASD dx may have ASD traits and are more comfortable with more literal or even guided play.

The things that i like are the things that incorporate a life skills as well as just the academic learning, life skills are often just as an important part of school for a child with LD.

a touch and response type teaching aid is also good as the child can see an immediate reaction and response to their action.

Also remember it may need to be more robust than a teaching aid for NT children.
Both physical and or developmental impairment may mean a child is a little more clumsy or rough with resourecs than usual.

All these statements are huge generalisations though!

LauraKateBull

There is a Special Education - library 88 articles at CiteULike. Some of which may provide some ideas or lead to research journals which may provide more information

Thankyou to everyone that has given help and advice :) I am very grateful, given me lots to think about.