How to Help Elementary Students Understand ‘ Uniqueness ’

“Do you know what a disability is?” I asked this question to students in third- through fifth-grade classes. Some students gave an answer, but most struggled to form thoughts on the topic. I decided to raise our students’ awareness of their classmates with disabilities. At South Walker (Louisiana) Elementary, I treat students in our significant disabilities classroom, several resource classes and two special-needs pre-K classes. I wanted our typical students to better understand their special education classmates, so I hosted an event called “Understanding Uniqueness.” The event helps educate students and staff about different disabilities. I also hoped the event would foster a more caring and nurturing environment among all students in our large school. More than 350 upper elementary students participated in Understanding Uniqueness. I set up a series of events in the school cafeteria and classes rotated through during the afternoon. Each of the four activity stations focused on a different disability and gave typical students a way to experience some of the challenges experienced by their classmates. The stations included physical impairment, autism/communication, visual impairment and learning disability. (We felt the time constraints made it too challenging to thoroughly and accurately cover hearing loss issues as part of this event, but  we hope to do so for a future program.) At the physical impairment station, students wore thick gloves a...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Advocacy Augmentative Alternative Communication Autism Spectrum Disorder Source Type: blogs