積分 10482
爵位一等子
榮銜正八品修職郎
身份郭絡羅府家主
旗籍滿族鑲白旗
爵位一等子
榮銜正八品修職郎
旗籍滿族鑲白旗
配偶
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發表於 2023-10-10 15:20:50
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本帖最後由 郭絡羅景翊 於 2023-10-10 15:26 編輯
A Case Study on a Student with Special Educational Needs
Through the rise of inclusive education in both primary and secondary schools, students with special educational needs (SEN) have been considered a challenge for teachers and conventional teaching methodologies. As future teachers, we may also feel disturbing and difficult to deal with students with SEN and their learning styles, but it is our responsibility to help them fit into society, achieve their full potential and to ensure that they are provided with the possible opportunities to learn in equity. To further develop skills in providing a helping hand to students with special educational needs, this essay will introduce an actual case of special educational needs, while at the same time exploring and evaluating multiple methods to feasibly help the student in the described case from a teacher’s point of view.
Case Background
In the YouTube video (Now News, 2019), an 11-year-old child named Carson is the protagonist of a story in the television programme. The video is presented in interviews with Carson, his mother and his triathlon coach on his behaviour and symptoms, and also included excerpts of observations of him doing homework at home and participating in the triathlon class. It can be seen from the video that Carson would suddenly start drawing while originally doing revision exercises. He also told the reporter that he would feel uncomfortable and have difficulty sitting still for a long period of time and, therefore, has to leave the seat, stand up or go to the toilet immediately to make himself feel better. He also would leave his seat during lessons at school. From his mother’s account, Carson could be easily triggered and had previously physically attacked his classmates during conflicts. She claims that Carson’s mouth would go faster than his brain and that he is talkative and uncontrollable when getting along with others.
On the other hand, however, Carson does have strengths that may cancel out his weaknesses. His mother mentioned in the interview that Carson would be happy staying along with his friends, and would sometimes feel too energetic and excited when acquainted with them. She also mentioned that he does not compare himself with others and is able to learn and improve from the mistakes he made. From the observation throughout the video, he also has an optimistic personality and is passionate and vibrant most of the time. He is, moreover, interested in doing sports, especially cycling, and has participated in triathlon classes and competitions.
Cause Analysis
The aforementioned symptoms exhibited by Carson can be concluded as inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. This indicated and affirmed the idea that he is highly possible to be suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), As shown in Table 1 (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), Carson’s symptoms are fulfilling six of the DSM-5 criteria for the disorder, which meets the standard for him to be confirmed as an ADHD patient. Carson’s symptoms could further be classified as the predominantly hyperactive-impulsive subtype of ADHD (ADHD-PH/I), as he is more of a hyperkinetic person and exhibits more characteristics of the ADHD-PH/I subtype.
Table 1
Fulfilled symptoms of Carson under the DSM-5 classification of ADHD-PH/I
| Symptoms | Fulfilled | 1 | Often fidgets with or taps hands or feet or squirms in seat. | ✓ | 2 | Often leaves seat in situations when remaining seated is expected. | ✓ | 3 | Often runs about or climbs in situations where it is inappropriate. | ✓ | 4 | Often unable to play or engage in leisure activities quietly. | ✓ | 5 | Is often “on the go,” acting as if “driven by a motor”. | ✓ | 6 | Often talks excessively. | ✓ | 7 | Often blurts out an answer before a question has been completed. | ✗ | 8 | Often has difficulty waiting for his or her turn. | ✗ | 9 | Often interrupts or intrudes on others. | ✗ |
Note: From “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5,” by American Psychiatric Association, 2013
3-Tier Model of Intervention
To provide help for the aforementioned student possibly with ADHD, teachers could implement the 3-tier support model to better develop strategies in learning and teaching. In the following section, this essay would further design intervention methods to help students in various domains, including learning and social interaction skills.
Tier 1: Universal support
Through the 3-tier support model, the school and teachers could implement support on the school, form or class level. Tier 1 strategies are usually linked with quality teaching within the classroom. Through observation, teachers could discover the factors that caused students’ unsatisfactory academic results, and apply corresponding teaching methodologies to help them improve in the related aspects, especially for students that have been diagnosed to be with special educational needs.
ADHD patients are usually easily distracted and forgetful, and they may have deficiencies in sensory processing as investigated by Shimizu et al. (2014). Teachers could apply diverse types of teaching approaches to facilitate better understanding and to better attract them to work as an aid in the academic domain. For example, the VARK teaching strategy, which includes the integration of visual, aural, read/write and kinesthetic sensories, could be used in the lesson for multi-sensory stimulation. This could help attract the student to focus on the lesson when integrated with interactive teaching methods. The teacher could also design class activities from time to time that could allow students to move within the classroom, which would help satisfy the desire of the SEN student to leave his seat.
Another possible implementation of tier 1 support is a group reward scheme that could be implemented in class to cater to different SEN students. This could be considered as a kind of group training for the student, and could suitably add up peer pressure to the student, which, according to Thompson et al. (2003), could improve their motivation to be well-behaved. To start with, class teachers could discuss with the class and set up several class rules for students to follow, such as keeping their desks tidy, sitting properly and keeping quiet in class. The class will then be divided into small groups of around 4-5 students. Subject teachers will assess with the highest score each week and could be rewarded with small gifts like stationery, stickers or snacks. The class rules and score record sheet should be displayed in a prominent position in the classroom to act as a reminder and encouragement.
To allow teachers to better manage the dedicated student, he could also be moved to the front row of the classroom. Teachers could monitor and observe the student's behaviour in class and get him controlled when he exhibits disorderly behaviours that may possibly affect the lessons. Sitting in the front row could also minimize distractions from windows or doors and allow the student to focus on the lesson.
Tier 2: Additional Support
When intervention methods in tier 1 are applied but are with low and unsatisfactory effectiveness, teachers should proceed to the implementation of tier 2 support, which is commonly defined as additional support for the dedicated student on top of the normal teaching methods or curriculum.
In tier 2 level support, the same-age peer tutoring method could be applied to provide more help to the SEN student on their learning progress. A typical example would be that teachers could invite competent students with high achievement in academic results, like the class monitor or other gifted students, to act as peer tutors. Peer-assisted learning strategies have been proved by Lorah (2003) and could be further extended to improve the student’s behaviour in the classroom. Carson could be arranged to sit next to or nearby the peer tutor and the two could be arranged in the same group during class activities and discussions. The peer tutor could help him with topics and problems that he does not understand in lessons as immediate support, at the same time act as a role model for him on appropriate classroom behaviours.
Teachers could also use small-group learning as one of the teaching methods as additional support to the dedicated student. Carson could be grouped with other students with similar learning difficulties and share similar learning objectives. With reference to the research and experiment done by Hart et al. (2011), ADHD students have been proven to have higher productivity and less off-task behaviour if small-group instruction methods are used, when compared to independent or whole-group learning.
Carson could also be arranged to participate in social skills workshops organised by the guidance team, school social worker or outside organizations after school. This would facilitate him in learning suitable social interaction skills, such as the appropriate tone and words used in communication with peers. He could also learn skills to control his own emotions when there is a conflict with peers and to develop the ability to politely express opinions instead of using physical confrontation.
Tier 3: Individualized Support
To further develop personalized assistance for Carson, teachers could work alongside social workers, educational psychologists, parents and the student himself to design an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP).
In the IEP, strategies implemented in the previous tiers would be continued, but at the same time adding more intervention methods as specialised support for Carson upon the ADHD symptoms he exhibits. More stakeholders are participating in support, including relevant professionals like educational psychologists, and the students’ parents for the implementation of support outside school time under the idea of home-school cooperation. The IEP is designed to be implemented in a period of 6 months, then could be revisited to review and evaluate the effectiveness and outcome of the strategies and short-term goals initially.
Individualized implementation in the IEP designed for the student includes the learning and social skills domains. Class teachers could add cue cards with colourful icons and text to Carson’s desk in the top left corner, which would be used to remind him to follow classroom manners, including not leaving his seat without teachers’ permission. Non-verbal cues are proven to be effectively affecting ADHD patients for classroom management purposes, as mentioned in the investigation by Geng (2011), and thus could be implemented to further improve his classroom behaviour.
Teaching assistants or the second teacher in a co-teaching classroom are also designed to provide extra help to Carson. This could be considered a variant of the “One Teaching, One Drifting” teaching strategy, and could provide help and direct him in the good manners of participating in conversations and discussions.
Counselling Skills
As ADHD students would be easily distracted and could have negative relationships with their classmates, which could possibly lead to emotional difficulties or even anxiety and depression. As teachers, it is also important to apply counselling skills to comfort him and straighten him out.
Teachers could use the rational emotive behavioural therapy (REBT) method and the ABCDE model to facilitate the designated student’s cognitive restructuring. Carson could be taught about the relationships between the activating event, beliefs and consequences. The ABCDE model could help him in developing a positive interpretation of different obstacles that he faces. The REBT framework would also help “stresses the importance of developing rational self-statements that are theoretically and empirically opposite of the unhealthy beliefs” (Doyle & Terjesen, 2006), and thus work as a counselling theory that could work as a guidance for Carson to develop positive thinking.
Despite the REBT framework, teachers could also utilize the cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) approach. Under the CBT framework, the five aspects model could be implemented, which includes evaluation and reflections of a certain experience on the situation, and the student’s thoughts, behaviours, feelings and physical reactions during the incident. According to Wright et al. (2002), the five aspects model could assist better both sides in identifying and clarifying the problem and the focus of counselling. For a more specific example, Carson could be invited to fill in a worksheet on the five aspects as a reflection after a misbehaved action in class, and teachers could then together evaluate the incident with him. This could help set up a goal and let the student understand the underlying reasons that he should be well-behaved in class.
Conclusion
As teachers-to-be, students with special educational needs like Carson are not going to be rarely seen. SEN students take up around 7.74% of primary and secondary students in Hong Kong (Alliance for Promoting Special Educational Policy and Legislation, 2019), and this has been a rising trend in recent years. It is crucial for us teachers to show a helping hand to these children, assist them to effectively learn at school, further develop their strengths and help them conform to peers. Despite that the methods mentioned in this essay, like the 3-tier intervention model and the individualized educational plan, are well-evaluated in the actual implementation in the past years, teachers should still be able to develop a specialised way for every single SEN student and apply suitable strategies to reach the aforementioned goals. |
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