Activites for mild special needs children in a year 1 class?

Question

Starting tommorow I will be working a 4 week placement in a year 1 class of children with mixed abiltiies. Some of them will have special needs which i assume are mild as they are in a mainstream school. Ive never worked with special needs children before and I wondered if anyone could think what sort of activities I could do with them?

I havent met the class yet so I dont know what special needs these children have but Im expected to begin the placement with an idea of what sort of activities I could do with them.

This placement I was meant to be placed into an official special needs school but they could not find me one so Im expected to do most of the activities with the special needs children. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thankyou in advance!

Answer 1

First, it depends on the abilities of all of the children. Will you have someone in the room to assist you because there could be the case that you may have to change diapers? Either way they will eventually need the restroom and you also have to think about assistance when you take them to the cafeteria to eat - you'll need help.

If I were you, I'd have a great deal of manipulatives on hand such as items to sort and match; easy to medium difficulty puzzles, beads to string, and colors/coloring books on hand. Also, educational videos are a big hit. Many special needs children love music...so I suggest to have kid-friendly music on hand to help the day go by. May I also suggest reading to them and asking literal and inferential questions about the story.

Once again, depending on the students abilities will be the best factor in determining what types of lessons you need to plan.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I am unfamiliar with the term year 1.  Is that first grade?

I will go with that assumption.  Special needs children are extrememly unique.  They can be on grade level --even above in some subjects, yet very far behind in others.  The same goes for their motor skills.  You will be able to assess this once you are in the class.

As for tomorrow take along some books to read to the class.  Make a list of questions to ask the class during the reading session.  You can then have each student draw and color a picture of their house and family for you.  Also, check the web and run off some low level sight word flashcards.  Then run off some counting flash cards.  Possilby run out to Walmart and pick up a few beginner jig saw puzzles.

This should give you ample material to fall back on as certainly the classroom will have the students' daily curriculum on hand.