Supporting Students with Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools

Part One: Understanding Special Educational needs and Ensuring Inclusiveness

Overview

This part 1 of the workshop will give an overview of the clinical diagnostic criteria for autism,attention deficit and hyper-activity disorder (ADHD), attention deficit disorder(ADD), and dyslexia, and what this means psychologically and affectively for the student as an individual. The social, emotional and learning challenges that students with disabilities face will be explored and how schools can develop understanding, support and full inclusion.

Desired Learning Outcomes:

Participants will:

• recognize distinctive characteristics as defined by The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, (DSM-5) of the developmental/learning disabilities covered
• recognize common misconceptions regarding the disabilities
• recognize both the common humaneness of students with special educational needs and their unique identities
• recognize the importance of students with developmental/learning disabilities being included in school life and socializing with peers and staff
• be familiar with common behavioural challenges and their possible causes and intent
• be able to implement basic common antecedent (pro-active) and consequential (retro-active)strategies and interventions to enable socialization and inclusion

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Part Two: Pedagogical and Behavioural Strategies for Supporting students with Special Educational needs

This part 2 of the workshop will focus on the strategies for supporting and enabling students with learning disabilities at the institutional, teacher, peer, and communal levels.The strategies and interventions will extend beyond the academic to include behavioural and social dimensions, partnering parents and caregivers, communal integration and transition beyond school.  

Desired Learning Outcomes

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Participants will:

• recognize the importance and key characteristics of sustained and systematic institutional structures for students with special educational needs
• be familiar with an evidence-informed structures and processes to maximize social and behavioural support for students with special-educational needs
• be familiar with evidence-based pedagogical strategies and interventions to support students with special-educational needs in their academic performance

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What Past Participants Said?

• Benefited from gaining knowledge about various disabilities through Mr.Simon Reynolds’s enriching presentation.
• Gained a better understanding and awareness of how to apply these insights to improve support processes for SEN students and teachers.
• Appreciated the clear explanation of strategies that we may have previously used or may currently be using in class.
• Recognized that the workshop offers comprehensive coverage on Special Education Needs.
• Acknowledged that the workshop serves as an effective reminder of various practical strategies to be adapted, and provides fresh insights into learningdisabilities.
• The workshop fortified my belief in the necessity of a collective effort to manage SEN students in schools, highlighting everyone's responsibility.
• Found the workshop insightful, with the strategies provided being practical and useful.
• Appreciated the clarity of the presentation and the inclusion of useful,evidence-based practices.