Individual instructional needs of students

Educators are faced with the challenge of dealing with each student's needs. Everyone needs a chance to grow, learn and face the challenges that are necessary for attaining excellence. There are always special needs children in each learning environment. Each of these students needs special attention because of their uniqueness in the learning process. Such learners may possess special gifts including learning potential and other talents. If such learners are attended to with an aim to nurture their special gifts, they are likely to make significant and special contribution to the communities that they come from and the world in general (Davis & Rimm, 2004).

In the case of Mike Grost, he has been found to possess special gifts including perfect emotional and physical health, remarkable intelligence, and eidetic memory, artistic and creative abilities. He demonstrates great ability in a wide range of areas of learning. His performance is clearly above the average in a wide range of specified domains. This is similar to Child prodigy in the mathematics. There are several suggestions that have been proposed for handling such cases at administrative level. Some of the highlights include

• Compacting the curriculum: Pre-assessment can be used to identify the areas that the student has already mastered. Thus such areas should be eliminated from the content lined up for instruction. Areas of new material that can be glossed through faster than the normal pace used should be picked out too.

• Independent study sessions: Such students should be granted independent study times in order to allow them time to study their subjects or topics of interest in great depth. This strategy can be a byproduct of curriculum compacting. The compacted material will free up some time for independent study.

• Differentiation: While most other students may be directed to use reference materials, learners such as Mike should be assigned more complex resources; it may be a source that contains more details about the subject under study.

• Product differentiation: Students with special abilities may be requested to complete their tasks independently, in tiered instruction, as opposed to the guided sessions that the average learners may be subjected to. Such learners may also be assigned a different set of criteria to handle the product.

• Flexibility in grouping students with advanced math skills: Gifted learners should be granted a chance to interact with like minded learners.

• Cross-Grade grouping: Differentiating the content for instruction by group level will help in allowing progression based on individual achievement as opposed to grade or age.

• Opportunities for advanced content achievement: Online learning opportunities, advanced placement, dual enrolment in institutions may be considered for learners with special gifts. However, there is need to exercise caution in order to ensure that all curriculum requirements have been addressed.

• Acceleration: Gifted children can be provided with accelerated content while they are allowed to stay with their peers at grade level. Note that each educational district has specific requirements for this area. There is need to check the specific stipulations with the administrator of your school.

• There is need to encourage learners to participate in math-based contests. This is a chance for the gifted learners to consolidate their abilities, reaffirm their skills and build relationships (Elliot et al., 2013).

• Supplementary material at advanced level

• The need to ask questions at higher level

• Higher level thinking tests should be provided

• Avail materials that focus on depth and breadth of a topic in specified areas of student interest.

• Provide a chance for creativity development (Johnsen, 2004)

Mary shows erratic tendencies. She seeks attention and is withdrawn. There are apparent health and emotional challenges that she faces. On the positive end, she shows altruistic qualities and loves to help the elderly people, the poor and children in need. Such learners as Mary need to be placed in a classroom environment with well planned behavior control measures (Seevers, 2014). Some suggestions that can help in dealing with learners of Mary's caliber include:

• It should be noted that instruction for such learners should be focused on their strengths and learning deficiencies. If instructional strategies are not designed that way, frustration often creeps in. Such frustration plays out in the form of attention seeking tendencies or withdrawal. There should be a consistent effort to address the learning needs while minimizing the tendencies to react as mentioned earlier.

• The need to deploy staff with the requisite qualifications to handle students with emotional and behavioral challenges cannot be overemphasized.

• Assessment of the needs of each student is necessary. It allows for the instructor to identify the needs of each case as opposed to the template provided for curriculum implementation. In Mary's case, each assessment should be custom made. A packaged assessment program should be avoided in such special cases.

• The instruction program for Mary must be one that provides solutions to her learning challenges. It should be a well thought out and effective program custom-made to include various social, vocational or life skills that she may need if she is to gain from a classroom environment.

• Factors such as each learner's attention span and style of learning should be incorporated in the instructional program and curriculum.

• There is need to incorporate alternative e programs in the conventional instructional programs. Such areas as health services, social services, child protection and foster care are useful in attending the wide range of needs that a child may be experiencing in school and outside (Quin et al., 2000)

The following interventions may be applied by therapists/counselors working in liaison with Mary if she is to be helped out of her tendencies

• Self-Management: this refers to being able to control one's emotions, behaviors and thoughts in a variety of situations. Stress management, impulse control, self-motivation and working to achieve such goals are part of self-management.

• Social awareness: It involves the ability to see matters from a real life perspective. It includes developing one's empathy for other people from different backgrounds. One should seek to understand the social norms and the culture of others. They should take note of the family, community and school resources.

• Skills for relationships: This refers to one's ability to maintain a healthy relationship with people from diverse backgrounds. Communication skills such as the ability to listen, negotiating skills, constructive criticism, and ability to resist undue pressure are important elements in this respect (Ponischil, 2014).

Sam Edder is reported to show delayed development, emotional withdrawal and isolation. On the positive side, he shows notable interest and skills in reading and music. Sam's creative abilities can be enhanced by applying the recommendations below.

• Relationship Development Intervention (RDI). A systematic method geared towards helping Sam develop his social and emotional skills and self-awareness should be applied.

• Speech Language Therapy: this can be boosted by frequent teaching that applies a range of techniques for solving the various challenges. SLT is meant to tackle speech mechanics including the social value and meaning of words in a language. SLT also employs other communication techniques in cases where a child is unable to speak.

• Floor time/ Difference Relationship Model (DIR) Sam can be assisted by this approach because it will meet him at the point of need for development (Autism Speaks Inc., 2012).

• Providing instruction while allowing a degree of independence. When allowed to mix and mingle with peers, he will, also, acquire the requisite functional skills and communication abilities.

• Encourage Sam to participate in music and related events. He should be allowed to meet other students with like mind so as to hone his art and music skills.

• Create an all-inclusive classroom environment: Such include open ended activities that address a wide range of student abilities. They also help students to elicit a broad range of responses. They are child centered by design and are supported by the teacher.

• Group engagements: they help to grow each student's ability by assigning a role and participating opportunities to every group member. Even students with weak social skills should be allowed to mingle with the rest. They develop a feeling of being at the same level with others and consequently improve their self-esteem (Fukunga, Simonelli, & Sperry, 2013).

References

Davis, Gary A and Sylvia B. Rimm. Education of The Gifted and Talented. 1st ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 2004. Print.

Elliott, C., Mallard, J., Kelly, J., King, W., McGrath, B., & Pike, T. et al. (2013). Teaching students who are gifted and talented (1st ed.). Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov.nl.ca/edu/k12/studentsupportservices/publications/TeachingStudentsGiftedTalented.pdf

Fakunga, Landry, Shannon Simonelli, and Laurie Sperry. "Individualized Educational Support Strategies for Students with Autism in Inclusive Classroom Settings." N.p., 2013. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.

Johnsen, S. (2004). Identifying gifted students (1st ed.). Waco, Tex.: Prufrock Press.

Ponischil, Kristina. "Cultivating Kindness and Compassion in Children | The Center for Child and Family Well-Being." N.p., 2014. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.

Quinn, M. M., Osher, D., Warger, C., Hanley, T., Bader, B., Tate, R., & Hoffman, C. (2000). Educational strategies for children with emotional and behavioral problems. Center for Effective Collaboration and Practice Retrieved from http://cecp.air.org/aft_nea.pdf

Seevers, Randy L. "Supporting Students with Emotional and Behavior Disorders: Perceptions of Health Providers, Special Educators, General Educators, Administrators and Parents." International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 4.13 (2014): 43-45. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.

"Supporting Learning in The Student with Autism." Autism Speaks Inc. N.p., 2012. Web. 5 Feb. 2017.