Challenges In Communication Of Children With Special Learning Needs - Case Study Example

Challenges In Communication Of Children With Special Learning Needs Part I There are several special groups of children who have special communication and learning needs. These conditions are inborn and include autism, Asperger syndrome, Down syndrome and various physical disabilities that include hearing disorders, blindness and dumbness. People born with such conditions have challenges in relationships and understanding the world around them because they cannot communicate effectively with other people. This paper is written to critically identify the special person’s communication skills and needs, analysis of opportunities for communication in the environment and skills of communication skills as well as a plan for implementing recommendations for enhancing communication for the challenged individual. People with autism seem to be in a world of their own because they are not able to make out meanings of gestures, facial expressions or words spoken by people (Taylor B., & Harris, S. 1995, 24- 40). Their semantic skills are disoriented and they seem indifferent or aloof about what is usually going on around them. How they behave does not match with what they feel inside and relating with other people becomes difficult if not impossible. The difficulty comes in when for instance an autistic child wants a toy from another non-autistic child, yet his gestures cannot let the other child know, or understand what he wants because of communication challenges. This results in the autistic child grabbing the toy forcefully because his needs are not being comprehended and acted upon on time. This therefore results in a conflict, in that, other people not in the special group category cannot understand them and may not meet their needs appropriately because they can’t comprehend the needs of the autistic child. Normally the communication chain is structured as below: Ideas Decide Choose words Choose appropriate sentence structure Selection of sounds An autistic child’s communication chain lacks some stages like looking or attending, so as to read from the expressions or gestures, does not coordinate instructions to the speech muscles, his phonology is not developed. The autistic child can produce a voice that mostly does not make sense to the communication partners. The sentence structure or syntax is poor and they cannot make sensible sentences (Taylor, B., & Harris, S. (1995).) hence making the communication process very challenging. Asperger’s syndrome is autism in a milder form (Anderson, S.R. et al 1987). A person having Asperger’s syndrome can read and understand. Many are of average intelligence and make it to school, college and even get jobs and sustain their livelihoods. What they lack is creativity or lack pragmatic and semantic skills. They are too rigid in their understanding such that they take the literal meaning of everything even jokes (Stone, W.L. & Yoder, P.J. 2001, 32). A person with Asperger’s syndrome will not know when someone is sarcastic. An example of such situation is whereby an individual with Asperger’s syndrome gets so scared on hearing a statement like ‘you need to hit the thumb on the nail’. The factors discussed above and other factors make relationships difficult for individuals with these syndromes and there is a greater need to put in place viable implementation communication plans to be taught to individuals with such challenges. Down’s syndrome is also a form of autism that is characterized by poor communication skills, mental retardation that could be ranging from mild to moderate ratings (Johanna Anderson. 1999, 43). This syndrome also comes with impaired cognitive ability. Another characteristic is Dycarthria that makes their speech slurred and makes it look like it’s a lot of work to speak because of the effort put forth by the challenged individual when speaking. Part II The environment The environment is an important factor because people with these conditions mostly keep to routines previously learned. An autistic child can arrange his playing items in one way facing one direction and any disruption/disarrangement could make him very irritated or disturbed. This goes on even as to how and when other things are done for him for instance when to take a bath, when to be fed, or when to go to sleep. They operate well with schedules that are strictly adhered to. A family environment that is conducive as well as vocational training will go a long way into improving the all-round development of children especially with Down’s syndrome. The environment can either impact negatively or positively depending on how conducive it is for the children in the special groups. Due to the fact that these children afflicted by this mental conditions don’t seem to be in touch with the real world around the, it can become very difficult for them in schools or in the society because people don’t understand them. They can only do well in an environment that is homely and one with special care providers. Many are the times when other children bully them probably because normal children view them as being unpleasant. This can happen when for instance a special child with impairment of the sensory organs shrieks annoyingly on being touched by another normal child. The normal child will not understand why he/she (the special child) has to behave that way. These special children react differently towards factors like light, noises, and touch. They need to be in an environment that is sensitive to their needs so as to make their livelihoods better. These special groups of people also seem to have a tendency to be sensitive to smells whereby some smells make them uncomfortable. The environment they are in should be sensitive to this so as to make their world a better place. In addition these individuals can also exhibit sensitivity to heat and depending on the degree of heat, they could be either uncomfortable or comfortable. It is worth noting that some people with this disability are sensitive to the factors earlier mentioned like light, heat, noise and smell while others are completely insensitive so that the necessary precautions can be taken in the learning environment. Opportunities for communication occur when the children want basic needs for instance food, when they are uncomfortable and when they want to use lavatories. The communication partner should have special skills that will ensure that he/she understands and is sensitive to the special children’s needs. The partner or caregiver needs to follow the child’s lead by giving fewer suggestions to avoid confusing the child. Following the child’s lead makes the child more interested because he is the one who initiates the activity. The communication partner should encourage the autistic child to interact with others and be able to learn from them. The school or kindergarten where the child is should be one that the child feels familiar with because only then will he or she try to communicate. According to (Beukelman, D., & Miranda, P. (1998), there are four stages of communication; the first stage is where the child likes to be alone and is not interested in other people. The second stage is whereby the child tries to make the caregiver aware of his wants. It is at this stage that the child realizes that his behaviour affects other people. The third stage is where a child communicates better. He begins to repeat some of the words that he hears and in the process gets to memorize them. At this stage the child tells the adult the things they would like by pointing at them. In the fourth stage the child is able to confidently communicate well and express himself to another person. However the confidence in communication is dependent on the familiarity of the environment. Part III Implementing Change To implement any positive changes for autistic patients one has to identify the need of the special person. This because those afflicted do not present the same type or kind of problems. There are those whose needs are mainly speech skills, others are social skills and yet others could be skills that are mostly to do with doing things for themselves for instance dressing up, feeding themselves or even making their beds (Calloway, C., & Simpson, R. (1998). One program cannot be used on a number of patients because of the different needs that different individuals have. It is therefore best to put every patient under his or her own program. The main aim is to address the needs of those individuals with such conditions and help the children to be less dependent on other people. Encouraging the child to interact with other children and not spending time alone can adversely improve the communication skills. This is because the child will use observation and with time could adapt some of the things he sees, though this might take some time. The teacher can also help them to communicate by putting things they really like at a place where they can see but cannot reach. This makes the child seek the caregiver for help in order to access the thing that they want and in the process initiate communication. The first step is to identify the needs of the individual with special needs. This is because there are variations in the needs of different disabled people. The variations come in because some are severely affected while others are moderately affected and others are mildly affected. Some people will be very sensitive to light, smells, and sounds while others may not even notice them. This therefore means that any modifications made to the surrounding environment will be different as per the diversity of the challenged individuals in order to meet their needs. People with autism, Asperger syndrome and Down syndrome can be assisted to develop to their full potential by being encouraged to use their skills through vocational training (Taylor, B., & Harris, S. (1995). This brings out the best out of the patient and gives him or her confidence and self-esteem. The quality of life also improves because they engage less in harmful activities that can endanger their lives. Improvement in communication skills is very important to start the therapy at the infantile stage for optimum results because the minds of small children can easily be conditioned. Research has shown that there is remarkable improvement in people who are assisted from the time they are very young ( ). The person training needs to teach the child how to look at people attentively and comprehend gestures and speech. Looking and listening helps the child read and interpret facial expressions and gestures. The caregiver will also need to use audio-visual devices that comprise enlarged pictures, for instance that will help the child to read human emotions and interpret them correctly (Beukelman, D., & Miranda, P. (1998). This stage is also where augmentative and alternative devices come in. The effectiveness of this comes in because normally these special children avoid looking at the faces of other people and therefore are not aware of the different human emotions. Due to the size of the pictures involved, they cannot avoid looking at the faces and gradually they get used to looking at the pictures and to learn about the different emotions. Audio-visual kits are helpful because their repetitive effect of words go along way in assisting the child to retain certain words, which they may learn later by pronouncing and echoing and eventually use them for communication. It is worth noting that the rehabilitation should be done in conducive environment free from distraction so that they can be able to concentrate. Most children with the conditions being discussed in this paper have very short concentration spans hence the dire need to avoid destructions when teaching them. Functional communication is another strategy that can be used for children with challenging behavior (Taylor, B., & Harris, S. (1995). The first step is to try and understand the reasons why the child uses the bad habit for instance violence to get what he wants. The caregiver should observe how he behaves prior to the violence and after the violence and then come up with the best replacement behavior. A special child might opt to use an object to pick for himself something that he cannot reach and the consequence is that he might drop what he is reaching out for and damage it. In this case the caregiver needs to instill in the child the habit of asking for what he wants or pointing at the item. With this replacement method one has to be persistent and needs to reward the special child every time he practices the new way of getting the item to instill the learned behavior in the child. The new skill has to make sense to the child so that he does not go back to the old habit. The new method needs to prove more effective and this therefore calls for alertness on the caregiver so that anytime the child gestures or points at the item, he gets it immediately. Failure of him/her getting the item faster than the way he/her gets it when he uses the old system makes him resolve to the old challenging way of doing or getting things. Augmentative and alternative communication is another strategy that can be implemented to assist children with speech difficulties to communicate non-verbally (Smith, T., Groen, A.D., & Wynn, J.W. (2000). Pictures, signs and computers are the most commonly used. For this approach to be effective the caregivers need to also be involved because only then will they be able to understand or communicate with these special children. Augmentative and alternative communication takes place with the uses of signs, symbols, pictures and use of computers. The person or caregiver should use speech hand in hand with this method of communication because this encourages social interaction. For this communication method to work, a lot of patience is required. The people who are in the disabled persons’ social circle must have a knowledge of symbols used, must also know how to operate the equipment used and must also be at a position to understand what those symbols mean. This strategy over time enables a special child to express his needs, emotions and do certain things for himself independently. Individuals in these special groups appreciate routine and work very well under different schedules. There needs to be allocation of activities with time such that they follow a certain kind of order to avoid confusing them. For instance a timetable when he can always refer to so as to know what the next activity is. The timetable can be pinned on the wall next to where he sits or on the desk; the timetable communicates a message to him that he /she can easily relate to. Consequently the use of communication passports is vital for children and individuals with communication challenges because it narrows down instructions on what are to be done and how in case the challenged individual is faced with a situation. This could also assist both the challenged individual and present communication partners to know what to do incase there is some emergency to be handled. Caregivers need to sometimes let the child take the lead by laying back and embarking on the things he is interested in. This is effective because he puts all attention to it and initiates anything he wants done which leads to some communication. By the child taking the lead he learns to be independent and enables him to evaluate his work. However the caregiver cannot always let him take the lead because in most cases what the child wants may not be an acceptable behavior. As the caregiver interacts with the child he or she needs to train the child to take turns in communication by encouraging active listening. When the aspect of taking turns is incorporated in the rehabilitation programme the child does not easily lose interest in the conversation or activity that is going on. It helps the child not to be self-centered on himself alone but considers it essential to have the other party with him. Individual with Asperger’s syndrome need training how to interpret communication skills like gestures, whereby they can tell what someone means by use of certain signs (Smith, T., Groen, A.D., & Wynn, J.W. 2000). The use of non-verbal communication goes a long way in enhancing communication because people learn the meanings of words by associating them with particular situations. For the non-verbal communication to yield positive results it has to be used in the right way. First there is the ‘looking stage’ where the special individual has eye contact with the other person. This stage is vital to help the child build confidence in the other party and hence learning can commence. From the eye contact the facial expression is seen and it can be interpreted hence a form of communication takes place right there. Other ways of communication are through posture and distance between the communicating parties (Maureen, Aarons and Tessa Gittens. 1999, 68). Non-verbal communication is useful because it helps and enables people to tell when others are sarcastic, humorous or just not serious. Interpretation of these gestures would make those with Asperger’s syndrome not only to take the literal meaning of everything that is said. It is very important that at some point the caregiver takes time to stop and wait for a response from the challenged child because of their impairments that make their motor actions slow down (Johanna Anderson. 1999, 59). This is a follow-up strategy that ensures the challenged child gets the lessons being taught on communication skills. For instance if a caregiver gives the child a reward and they should observe all the facial expressions of the challenged child and note if they have noticed or even appreciated what they have been given. Waiting for a response and letting the challenged child think through ensures active use of the mind hence the ability to make decisions and this is a vital step in implementing communication skills. On the other hand, the challenged child should also be conditioned to active listening of sounds to understand the message being conveyed by the communication partner. Conclusion Communication for challenged individuals in the society is a subject that is still under more research in order to ensure that the challenged individuals are fully empowered to be fully integrated in a functioning world. Understanding the communication needs for the challenged individuals is the first step in understanding how to help them and the environmental setting where the learning takes place greatly determines the end result of the therapy. This however is also determined by factors of implementation plan of the teaching therapy and the professional skills of the trainer. Such challenged individuals can be trained and their living standards improved amicably to face and to be integrated in a normal functioning world and still live life to the fullest with the support of the whole society. Reference list Anderson, S.R., Avery, D.L., & DiPietro, E.K., Edwards, G.L., & Christian, W.P. (1987). Intensive home-based intervention with autistic children. Education and Treatment of Children, 10, 352-366. Beukelman, D., & Miranda, P. (1998). Augmentative and alternative communication: Management of severe communication disorders in children and adults (2nd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company Boyd, R.D. & Corley, M.J. (2001). Outcome survey of early intensive behavior intervention for young children with autism in a community setting. Autism, 5, 430-441. Calloway, C., & Simpson, R. (1998). Decisions regarding functions of behavior: Scientific versus informal analyses. Focus on Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 13, 167-175. Johanna Anderson. Sensory Motor Issues in Autism (Psychological Corp, 1999). Maureen, Aarons and Tessa Gittens.The handbook of autism: a guide for parents and professionals, revised and updated 2nd edition (Routledge, 1999). Pp65,78-102. Smith, T., Groen, A.D., & Wynn, J.W. (2000). Randomized trial of intensive early intervention for children with pervasive developmental disorder. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 167. Stone, W.L. & Yoder, P.J. (2001). Predicting spoken language level in children with autism spectrum disorders. Autism, 5, 341-361. Taylor, B., & Harris, S. (1995). Teaching children with autism to seek information: Acquisition of novel information and generalization of responding. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 17-25 NAIROBI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL NBNHFNHH HHBHRHRG OF KHNFHGGH HNFFH RN Read More