Problem Students - Essay Example

Individuals with special needs can sometimes become a serious challenge for the teacher or the caretaker. It is evident that special individuals require greater care and effort throughout their lives. They are students who have discrepancies and faces problem in their everyday life, for example, they might find difficulties in oral expression, written expression, listening, reading, mathematics, and calculations, reasons, etc. Therefore, it is important for teachers to be very vigilant and careful while looking after special children.

This reflective essay talks about my personal encounter of dealing with special individuals. Furthermore, the paper essay will also discuss how the encounter helped me improve my capabilities and skills. Last summer I got this opportunity to work with special needs children at ABC Care Center for two months. The classroom consisted of 20 young children with special needs. I had been training and taught children for the last three years however this was my first experience with children with special needs.

I have never experienced special education before. Therefore, there were a few things that made it difficult for me to teach and train these children in an effective manner, regardless of the research I did on how to teach and look after them (Brown et al., 2008). Initially, I had to accommodate and modify my teaching methods and techniques as per the requirements of these children (Fisher, 2005). As a professional educator, it was my core responsibility to communicate with them in the best possible manner and listen to what they are saying.

Despite following all the basic rules and procedures that must be followed while dealing with special education children, I encountered a serious problem (Olson, et al., 2008; Brown et al., 2008). Although the strategy that I adopted was quite effective and included all the basic requirements for special education, there was a lack of the communication plan with children with listening discrepancies. Since this was my first experience in the field of special education, therefore, I faced difficulty communicating with these children (Fisher, 2005).

Although I made plans for everything else, I did not realize that these children need more attention and enhanced techniques of communication. However, with the help of my colleagues, I was able to learn various techniques to communicate with these children. I also took help of the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) (Vickerman, 2007; Olson et al., 2008). The two months teaching experience in the field of special education taught me great lessons. It gave me patience and helped me realize the problems of special children in detail.

I paid extra attention to such children and even arranged extra / special classes for these children on a weekly basis (Olson et al., 2008). I learnt a better approach of strategy making and how to deal with issues and address them in an effective manner. The two-month special education training sessions helped me to become a better teacher in general. The skills and lessons I learnt during that period became handy later, and I still implement those in my teaching career. List of References Brown, S.

, Harwood, S. & Betty, V., 2008. 500 Tips for Working with Children with Special Needs. 1st ed. New York: Routledge. Fisher, R., 2005. Teaching children to learn. 1st ed. Cheltenham: Stanley Thornes. Hooper, S.R. & Umansky, W., 2009. Young Children with Special Needs. 1st ed. London: Pearson. Olson, J.L., Platt, J.M. & Dieker, L.A., 2008. Teaching Children and Adolescents With Special Needs. 1st ed. Toronto: Pearson Education. Vickerman, P., 2007. Teaching Physical Education to Children with Special Educational Needs. 1st ed. New York: Routledge.