Special needs is a very broad term. So before we can start to identify which of our students have special needs, we need to first identify some of what the term entails.
Usually the term would refer to a student who has a disability like blindness, deafness or who suffers from a specific mental disability. But the term should be used a lot broader than it is being used at the moment.
Description of a teacher who teaches special needs students:
Every teacher in the world.
Now you may say that this is not true. I agree that there are teachers who specialize in this field and who are trained to specifically deal with students with very obvious special needs. These teachers do an incredible job. But if you look at the description of a student with special needs, you will understand that the need for special needs educators are so high that it is impossible to limit it to the handful there currently are.
Description of a student with special needs:
Any student who is unable to learn and succeed at the same level as the majority of other mainstream learners.
Now there may be many different reasons as to why a student is not able to perform at the same level as his/her peers. Some of the most obvious ones are of course the physical and clear mental disabilities some students suffer from. In a class where mathematics are being explained in the old chalk-and-talk style, it is obvious that a blind learner will have trouble following along with the rest of his classmates. Everybody also accepts that a learner with Down's Syndrome will have more difficulty absorbing information than the learner with no form of mental disability.
Usually the term would refer to a student who has a disability like blindness, deafness or who suffers from a specific mental disability. But the term should be used a lot broader than it is being used at the moment.
Description of a teacher who teaches special needs students:
Every teacher in the world.
Now you may say that this is not true. I agree that there are teachers who specialize in this field and who are trained to specifically deal with students with very obvious special needs. These teachers do an incredible job. But if you look at the description of a student with special needs, you will understand that the need for special needs educators are so high that it is impossible to limit it to the handful there currently are.
Description of a student with special needs:
Any student who is unable to learn and succeed at the same level as the majority of other mainstream learners.
Now there may be many different reasons as to why a student is not able to perform at the same level as his/her peers. Some of the most obvious ones are of course the physical and clear mental disabilities some students suffer from. In a class where mathematics are being explained in the old chalk-and-talk style, it is obvious that a blind learner will have trouble following along with the rest of his classmates. Everybody also accepts that a learner with Down's Syndrome will have more difficulty absorbing information than the learner with no form of mental disability.