Key Characteristics:

Reading difficulty due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words.

Potential Symptoms during School Age:

• Reading well below the expected level for age

• Problems processing and understanding what is heard

• Difficulty finding the right word or forming answers to questions

• Problems remembering the sequence of things

• Difficulty seeing (and occasionally hearing) similarities and differences in letters and words

• Inability to sound out the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word

• Difficulty spelling

• Spending an unusually long time completing tasks that involve reading or writing

• Avoiding activities that involve reading

Challenges:

• Teachers might find it difficult to differentiate between normal functioning students and dyslexic students at the beginning, as this population had no problems in terms of intelligence and other functions.

• Teachers might need to provide alternative methods or extra time and efforts for this population to access the same content as their peers while facing time constraints.

Strategy:

• Multisensory

• Peer Reading

Classroom Plan

• When introducing a new word, teachers may prepare a physical copy (or illustration) of what the word represents or associates with, in which allows the students to "experience the word" in use of their visual, auditory and kinesthetic senses.

  • e.g., grass. Teachers can bring students to the field to "touch some grass". In such opportunity, teachers can explain the meaning of 'grass' while allowing the engagement of the senses.

• Assign every dyslexic student with a peer supporter (normal functioning students), where peer supporters guide these students by reading the content alongside them, as well as providing guidance to them

1. ASD,

2. Key characteristics ~ social communication challenges, repetitive behaviour.

3. Challenges ~ obsessional behaviour, lack of communication.

4. Strategies ~ Power Cards are a form of communication between the teacher and the children, for instance, how even superheroes and special people sometimes need help and support by relating it to the child’s behavioural issue.

5. Faced challenges using power cards.

6. Classroom plan ~ Full inclusion - monitor student progression; children will be within the main classroom

Key characteristics: struggle in forming and maintaining relationships. They also tend to keep to themselves a lot and prefer to do their own thing

Challenge: in a classroom setting of 10-11 year olds where the class is comprising of typical and atypical children (atypical in this case being, kids with ASD), the challenge would be that typical children would not prefer to interact or include atypical kids into their groups or may even refrain from from interacting with them in general. The same goes for the atypical children who won't actively socialise with others and they prefer to be "alone"

Strategies: impose a point based-system where during class activities, both parties can receive points if they are able to come together and work on a task without anyone feeling excluded or isolated. Everyone is respected equally and their opinions are considered through. These points would accumulate at the end of the month where they can receive rewards. Outside of the classroom setting, this concept would similarly be applied during sports or extra curricular activities. Sports, especially will teach them that typical and atypical children can get along well and actually work well together. As time goes by, they can learn how to have fun together and this can transcend to within the classroom as well

Characteristics:

• difficulties understanding social cues

• lack of non-verbal communication

• difficulty developing and understanding friendships

  
  

Challenges:

• Social exclusion:

  • Other students may not want to interact with children with ASD because they're different

  • This might result in the child feeling lonely and isolating themselves from the class

• Difficulty teaching

  • Children with ASD may often seem like they're in their own world, and may be focused on one specific thing

    • Teachers may face difficulties conveying the lesson materials to students because they can't understand

    • Conflict may arise if children and teachers don't understand each other

      
      

Strategies: Power Cards

• Acts a reminder about how/when to use the skill shown in a social narrative

Classroom Plan:

1. Finding a character that the child is interested in (I.e. superheroes like Spiderman or Superman)

2. Create cards with these characters and putting instructions and a scenario that encourages socially appropriate behavior (I.e. listen to the teacher and your classmates when they're speaking)

3. To make it inclusive for each student, they can also be asked for their favorite character for custom cards to be created. These cards can address specific challenges that each students face, whether academic or social.