Inclusive Classrooms

As a teacher, I’ve encountered many children with special needs; be it dyslexia, ADHD, ADD and different ranges of autism. This article does not propose any solutions to the challenges, but is just a reflection on my experiences with working with these children.

Politically Correct but Incorrect

During my training at NIE, I attended a course about managing children with special needs. At the beginning of the first lecture, the lecturer took a poll: How many of us believed that children with special needs should be integrated into our classrooms? Almost the whole lecture hall raised our hands.

After we watched a video about this topic, I believe most of us realised that we were too concerned with being politically correct to truly understand the complexities and realities of having a child with special needs in our classrooms, especially a disruptive one.

Regardless of the ethics of the situation, the fact is that children with special needs require more attention and support. Are we, as teachers, able to fully cater to the child’s needs? Is it fair to the child, that he or she can only receive a fraction of the support that he or she can get from a specialist? Is it fair to the other students, who have just as much right to learn at a pace that is appropriate to them?

Inclusive Classrooms

Two experiences have shaped my perspective on integrating children with special needs into our classrooms.

My first was with a boy with ADHD. His mother was an educator as well, and was a very understanding ally for the 3 years that he was in my class. I remember, vividly, the first time I called her regarding a discipline issue with her son. Her exact words are still etched in my mind, “Please, treat him like any other of your students. If you would punish the others for that, please punish him too. He needs to understand that that is not okay.”

I learnt that I had to understand his condition, not excuse it. And by doing so, I was according him dignity by believing that he could achieve the same behavioural standards that I had for any other child.

My second experience was with a boy with severe autism. He was bigger and stronger than any of his peers and was thankfully in another class next to mine. On one occasion, a relief teacher rushed to my class, panicking. That boy had somehow been triggered and had swept some books off a shelf. He was now roaring while holding his chair above his head. I managed to restrain him while one of the mother tongue teachers arrived and calmed him down.

I wonder what could have happened if the experienced teachers had not intervened in time. We might have made headlines the next day.

Both of these boys made the difficult job of teaching even more so. But at the same time, they enriched the class in unique ways. I didn’t mention how the classmates of the first boy would often look out for him, even during recess, to make sure he was okay; or how on that one occasion, while I was gripping that raised chair, that second boy’s classmates were trying to placate him, saying, “Shhhh, it’s okay.”

A Better Tomorrow

It’s been more than 10 years since I sat in that lecture and I still can’t confidently say if it’s beneficial to integrate children with special needs into our mainstream classrooms, but it’s definitely made me more compassionate with children.

Call me naïve, but perhaps in the long run, those children who learned to be more caring and inclusive with their special friend will one day grow up to be more caring and inclusive adults. And I think in our world today, we could all use a little more of that.

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