The first step in planning a curriculum for special needs children is understanding them. Get to know their functional skills and behaviors, as well as areas where they need the most attention. This helps identify the content of the curriculum that will be the target for intervention with each special needs student. Think of curriculum planning as a process. But in order to know where to start, you first need to know who your students are and which ways will be most effective for instruction moving forward.
Even in early education classrooms, it's common for students to work on arts and crafts projects. While special needs students can also partake in such activities, teachers must remember to make adjustments so that these activities are short and concise. According to TeacherVision, long, drawn-out projects can be frustrating for a child with learning disabilities. This can lead to discouragement, which can be detrimental to learning.
Learning disabled students have trouble understanding abstract terms and concepts. Because of this, it's a good idea for teachers to adjust their classroom curriculums so that students learn certain basic terminology with actual concrete objects and events. For example, teachers might conduct a lesson plan on animals by bringing in pet cats and dogs for the students to see, touch and hear.
In many cases, early education centers separate children with special needs from those who are developing normally. However, this might not always be the best practice. According to Pearson Education, children with disabilities and developmental disorders have been shown to thrive in settings when they are included with average developing children. Including such children into regular early education classrooms wouldn't require drastic changes to any curriculum, just slight modifications to ensure that special needs children are getting the attention they need to keep up with the rest of the class.