Learning disabilities

During my visit to India last summer, I wanted to use some of my time productively. Teaching individuals with special needs is a challenging job as you have to be very diligent and also creative. Most of the times, you run out of ideas or do not exactly know what to do next. These were the same challenges which motivated me to pursue a Masters' degree in Special Education.

As I had been working with students with Learning disabilities, I was very eager to share it with my Indian counterparts. With the help of the Zilla Parishad Chairman of Ongole District, Andhra Pradesh, I was able to conduct a Q&A session for the headmasters from the district. They were very enthused and enjoyed the session. The Project Director of Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan gave me the opportunity to conduct a workshop for all the Special Educators working in the district. After a small discussion with the Project Director, I decided to come up with a generalized content matter on "Special Education with an emphasis on "Learning Disabilities".


The title of the workshop was " Workshop on awareness on individuals with special needs and their effective management"
The workshop took place on August 16th, 2007 from about 12:00p.m-4:00p.m.

About 20-30 teachers working in Special Schools,home-bound programs and in Community centers attended the workshop.
All the teachers were young, dedicated, enthusiastic and eager to learn more. They were not paid to attend the workshop. Moreover, it was a hot afternoon when there was no electricity in the hall for more than 2 hours. However, this did not deter them from asking me more questions and extending the 2 hour workshop to another 2 hours.
I was only glad to answer their questions and give them the information they wanted.

The hand out for the participants included the following information:
Definition of the term " Individuals with special needs",
Definition of Learning Disabilities,
Identifying individuals with special needs
Teaching Strategies
Behavior Management
Classroom Management
Building Parent Teacher Communication

In the Beginning:
Every one introduced each other. To get an idea of the information the participants had, they were asked questions relating to Special Education. There was a discussion on the types of conditions classified as disabilities. It aroused some interest in the audience. Even before I could go any further with my introduction to Learning Disabilities, a lot of hands raised asking me about the definitions of ADD, ADHD, Autism Spectrum, Asperger's Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and Mental Retardation. They also asked me about the methods to identify individuals with the above conditions. I was surprised. All the Special Educators, who were in that room were expected to have some knowledge of some terms like Autism, Mental Retardation, Cerebral Palsy, Traumatic Brain Injury and Autism Spectrum Disorder. Irrespective of the length of their coursework, they were expected to know about the above conditions ( at least their definitions and how to identify them). But, I also knew that they were skeptical about my knowledge and were trying to test me before confiding in me. So I spent some time in explaining them the above terms and definitions.
Once they were confident about my knowledge, they sat down quietly and participated with enthusiasm through out the workshop.

During the Workshop:
The participants/audience were introduced to some of the informal and formal tests which are helpful in assessing and identifying students with disabilities. Now came the part of discussing about the teaching strategies. The participants named Shaping, Chaining, Reinforcement, Modeling, some of the teaching strategies which can be used. These were the same strategies, I was introduced to when I was pursuing my course in 1997.

To make sure everyone knew what they really meant, they were asked to do an activity. The participants were divided into 2 groups. The strategies were shared among them and they were asked to come up with a simple definition and an example for each of the strategies by discussing among their group members. After the group discussions, each group came to the dias, posted their definitions and examples on the wall and a member of the group explained them. Any one who did not agree with the definition or needed clarification was helped. I facilitated the presenter and at times, helped them to correctly understand the real meaning of the terms they used.

After the discussion, the participants were divided into groups of 3 and each group was given a task of coming up with skills in 3 academic areas:
Pre Reading skills
Pre Writing skills
Pre Number Skills

After the discussions within their groups, a couple of members came up to the dias from each group, posted their work on the wall and shared their work with all the groups. Once again, my job was to facilitate the discussions and add in extra information wherever possible.
After the discussions, I gave the participants some input on classroom management, behavior management strategies and building communication with the family and the individuals.

At the End:
There was a discussion session wherein the participants asked questions related to Behavior management, classroom management, teaching strategies and the Education system in the USA. They presented case studies with some problems which they encountered and sought guidance for their problems.
The discussion went for for more than an hour and the Project Manager had to intervene and set up a formal close up ceremony for the workshop.

Most of the members spoke of how the workshop was useful and what they needed more information in. I was thrilled to learn that every participant in that hall enjoyed the workshop and found it quite useful. They expressed their need to know more about teaching students with Cerebral Palsy, handling them appropriately, helping students overcome repetitive behaviors, how to help students with transitions and many other topics.

I was very overwhelmed with their needs and wish to do more to help them.