How to Discipline a Special Needs Student
The word discipline is a misnomer for my philosophy about teaching children to make positive choices regarding their behavior. Discipline implies punishment and punishment rarely work. Instead, caregivers should work to create an environment which prevents problem behaviors. Children with special needs frequently display behavior problems more commonly than their typical peers. This may be due to a number of factors, one of which may be attributed to their inability to communicate needs and wants appropriately. It could also be related to the disability itself, such as in the case of autism causing increased self-stimulatory behaviors which might manifest as discipline problems or in the case of children born addicted to drugs might have a more difficult time dealing with their anger. Here are three suggestions for disciplining a child with special needs
Tip One Children, especially those with special needs, need a clear and consistent routine, preferably one with pictures andor words. Parents, teachers and caregivers need begin the process of establishing authority by creating a scheduled and fairly predictable routine. I recommend this routine be put into a picture schedule, particularly for children with Autism, ADHD or other behavior problems. I am in disagreement, however, with many current philosophies in the Autism community which states that the routine should be the same day after day and rarely stray from the routine. In the beginning the schedule should be fairly rigid but after a while in my classroom and home it becomes a framework upon which to build real learning, frequently referred to as the teachable moment.
read moreIncidental Teaching For Students With High Functioning Autism
Incidental Teaching is an interaction between an adult and child that occurs in a natural situation or setting which can be used to give the child an opportunity to practice a skill. Many practitioners of Applied Behavior Analysis believe that Incidental Teaching can be used as a primary teaching approach for children with autism instead of Discrete Trial teaching when discrete trials are not successful or not challenging.Some students are more successful when incidental teaching techniques are used.
The advantages of using the Incidental Teaching method
read more