Early intervention is important for students with intensive needs, but it can be difficult to determine the most important skills to focus on for a specific student. It is important to evaluate current abilities and note skills that are missing or underdeveloped before setting goals for an individual student. Formal assessments will often be conducted by psychologists, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists or other professionals affiliated with a preschool. Formal and informal assessments may also be administered by program staff. A variety of current assessments are discussed at LD Online and Polyoxo.
When assessments are complete, goals may be set. For some activities, a curriculum that has been tested and researched for students with special needs will be necessary. Other activities will allow for modifications based on needs, abilities and goals. For example, a paint center can be set up so that a cognitively advanced student can draw a picture and print or dictate words to describe it. A student with limited motor control could bring a laptop with a switch to the center, allowing her to color by pressing a button. A child sensitive to texture could finger paint wearing rubber gloves. Finally, a student working on communication goals may need to take a picture to a staff member to ask for a missing paint brush. Those who teach or parent children with special needs often become very skilled at thinking outside the box.
Research shows that children with special needs and their peers without learning difficulties both benefit from inclusive environments. Whether the classroom is an inclusive or segregated setting, there should be opportunities for inclusion whenever possible. In some cases, this may be accomplished by visits from siblings or children from neighboring classrooms. When teachers plan play that is structured and purposeful, children can learn valuable skills and develop lasting friendships. Building social skills through planned play can be as simple as taking turns stacking blocks to build a tower or as complex as learning how to join in an organized game that is already in progress. Again, assessment is a key first step in determining what needs to be taught.
Children with special needs benefit greatly from an organized, structured environment in which they know what to do, where to do it and how to find the materials they need. In a preschool classroom, furniture and masking tape on the floor can easily define physical boundaries. Posting a daily schedule and sticking to it can reduce anxiety for some children. Using pictures, words or objects to label things in the room or illustrate a lesson can help little ones understand and remember instructions and information.
Providing extra organization, structure and visual supports may seem like an arduous task in the beginning, but the initial investment will be returned. Children will better understand what is happening around them and staff will spend less time dealing with behavior caused by frustration and anxiety. Additionally, staff will likely find that strategies initially implemented for a specific student will actually benefit many, resulting in a more efficiently run classroom all around.