How to Teach Children With Physical Disabilities

The key to successfully educating students with physical disabilities is making the classroom environment accessible. A well-planned classroom design and the right technology greatly enhance the learning environment for the physically disabled student. The teacher, parents, doctors and school counselors should work together as a team to design an individual education plan for each disabled student.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Speak with the student, the student's parents and the school counselor, and evaluate school and medical records to gain an understanding of the student's physical limitations.

2. Design the classroom so that it is accessible to the student. If the student uses a wheelchair, desks need to be placed far enough apart from each other to allow the student access through the classroom. If the student has a visual or hearing disability, she may need to be seated in the front of the classroom. Each child has individual needs. Be creative and flexible about the classroom layout. You may find that it needs to be changed a few times throughout the year to meet the student's needs on a continuing basis.

3. Provide the student with assistive technology to aid him in his education. There are many different assistive devices available for the physically disabled--from ergonomic pens to touch-screen computers to voice recognition software. Speak with school counselors and doctors to learn about assistive technology products currently available.

4. Familiarize yourself with the assistive technology products so that you can instruct the student how to use them. Depending on the physical limitations of the student, she may take quite a bit of time to master the new technology.

5. Educate the student's parents about assitive technology devices and how to use them, which enables the parents to assist the student in mastering the technology.

Resources

• Assistive Technology Devices

Who Can Help Sponsored

• Earn your degree from industry experts at University of Phoenix. Take the next step in your career.