If you are a Special Education Teacher (Therapeutic Pedagogy) you will know how beautiful this profession is, but you will also know that many resources are needed to be able to stimulate and motivate children with SEN (Special Educational Needs). Something very positive is that children love new technologies, something that will undoubtedly make them motivated and want to continue learning.
New technologies are capable of capturing the attention of children with Special Educational Needs, which is why it has become an essential and very useful resource for special education. New technologies allow us to adapt the activities to the needs of the child according to their characteristics and their individuality, as well as according to their tastes and interests.
When working with children with SEN, it is essential that teachers work thinking about the needs and idiosyncrasies of each student because it is the professionals who must adapt to the interests of the students and not the other way around. In addition, it is essential that they motivate them to be able to capture their attention for as long as possible.
Next I want to give you some ideas of resources for special education so that you can use them as tools in your daily classes and that in addition to motivating them, you work on diversity in the classroom.
Simple Games for EE (Special Education)
The simple games for special education is an excellent collection of games and stories for children to learn vocabulary through images and pictograms.
The words game
The word game is an interactive application for the acquisition of reading in students with special educational needs and for students with hearing impairment. It is very complete and you can find a didactic guide, a user guide, the principles and the rationale, as well as the activities for students. The activities are divided into weeks so that you can work with a good organization.
The magic tree of words
The magic tree of words is a downloadable game designed for visually impaired boys and girls with 21 activities of two levels of difficulty so that you can adapt the activities to the level of each student. It allows working with the keyboard and the mouse since auditory information and verbal reinforcements are needed so that the child can understand the program and feel motivated.
Bimodal dictionary
El bimodal dictionaryl is a dictionary with pictograms and signs made by the CPEE Rincón de Goya de Zaragoza. It is classified by categories and themes so it is very easy to use. Has many words appropriate to the family and school context.
The butterfly circus
«The butterfly circus»Is a great short film dedicated to high school students. It is starred by the motivational speaker Nick Vijicic and is ideal for students to accept and value the diversity of people, for students to trust themselves even if they have difficulties or some disability. It's a great video that will help them get the best of themselves and learn that they too can overcome any obstacle. Although it is not a resource in itself, it seemed like an excellent idea to tell you so that you can teach it to your students. It is in English, with Spanish subtitles.
Internet User Security Office
It is an excellent resource that can be used both at home and at school so that students with or without SEN can learn and understand the dangers of surfing the Internet. The Internet User Security Office It is also ideal for those parents who want to be better informed about the dangers that may exist in the network and thus be able to share it with their children and protect the computer and themselves.
Guide for people with ASD
This guide to ICT resources is an excellent guide for people with Autism Spectrum Disorders and is a recreation of a classroom equipped for teaching and educational support of students with ASD. Includes explanatory videos.
Other resources
The following resources are also very interesting:
- Early stimulation exercises for elementary school boys and girls. A very entertaining way to develop intellectual, reasoning and learning skills.
- Dream letters. It is a software designed to support the learning of reading and writing for children with hearing impairment.
- The Adventures of Spoti. For boys and girls with Down Syndrome.
- The roulette of emotions. Great interactive game to learn emotions.
I am a Special Education Student and I am interested in these and other assessment and intervention tools. Thanks.