Art in a child’s education is an important thing; this is because education in the arts plays an essential part in the development of every person. Arts include music, dance, visual art, and theatre. Just like every other kid, special needs children to need arts incorporated into their educational programs even though it may be hard as Susie describes it, in meeting the special child’s needs. Art activities given to children with special needs are an essential learning experience, and it makes these children enhance their confidence level. According to Susie, special needs children improve their problem-solving skills, communication skills, advanced expression and self-esteem and finally it motivates them to succeed.
Special needs children need special attention when handling them. They need a lot of patience and positivity from the instructor. To achieve this, the instructor must mainly focus on the process more than the result. Even though it may take some time to master the concept being taught, the child will grasp the idea of time. The child will do well when more fun is even involved in the experience that when a lot of rules are used. Rules make special needs children lose focus on the primary activity. Allowing plenty of time for these children to finish up their projects releases pressure hence they do complete their art project steadily and at unpressurized pace.
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Developing special chairs, soft carpets to sit on, are some of the accommodative facilities that should be used in school to ensure that special needs children feel included in the school, those who are visually impaired should also be given individual communication boards. An all-inclusive environment promotes learning goals of a child and thus minimizes stress.(Bullard 2017).
Being lavish with praises, kind words and encouragement are some of the things needed to help children with special needs. In overall, children respond well to kind words, affection is shown to them and compliments were given to them. Using these strategies will make the special needs children feel more accommodated and part of the school and the society in general.
“Across all ages of children, accommodation can be made through the use of adapted scissors with oversized handles, with springs to keep them in the open positions when not cutting, with long looped handles that can be operated by a thumb and all of the remaining fingers or with double loops so that teachers can assist the child with a physical disability”, (Isenberg, Jalongo 2018). Even though adaptive scissors are used in the art, a special need child must undergo certain mandatory learning process with the aid of the teacher staring with projects that do not need scissors at all to experimenting projects where a child can use pinking shears to demonstrate what he/she has learned. A teacher can also adapt a variety of tools like brushes through using large foam curlers or rather the sponge-like foam that pillows the computers. And for it to fit the kids’ hand, it must be sawed with a hacksaw blade
Art work should be authentic and original this can be achieved by allowing these types of kids to retain their artwork ownership by deciding on their subject matter and ideas. They should be allowed to express their ideas in their unique ways and organize their art whichever way they want. They require the freedom to use a variety of the art media. A child’s art becomes raw, personal and usually amazing when he or she is not confined to an idea. Possession of the artwork by the child gives insight into the emotional, physical and psychological wants of a variety of ages and disabilities.
Art has been adequately used to support a child’s fine motor development. “The motor system is how infants and toddlers move their bodies gesture with their hands and arms, and show expression on their faces," (Wittmer and Petersen, 2018).The motor system is not only how children move but also their communication level. In most cases, infants and toddlers have only been thought of about their motor development. Every child is unique and capable in their ways. They gradually improve their movements in reaction to body change, environmental change and ability of each child. In the meantime, every child finds answers to the motor task. The main contributors to motor learning are majorly gender and temperature. The temperature should be considered by teachers when planning for motor activities as children may be motor driven or motor cautious. Gender should also be taken into consideration as men have a habit of more large bodies and they are stronger while women are smaller in body size.
To help a child gain confidence, should be let by the instructor to talk about their work in front of the classroom. And to motivate the disabled kids who always lose hope in specific areas lessons should be structured in a way that creates successful outcomes. Teachers are supposed to be consistent with rules and discipline, ensure there is reinforcement for accomplishment, correct detected errors and award students when they make the corrections and above all ensure that appropriate behavioral characters are instilled in their students.
In conclusion, special needs children need attention at every stage of development. Using art in every development stage education ensures that the attention needed is given appropriately. Arts ensure that they are given the opportunity to express their ideas in whichever manner they feel is appealing to them. As a teacher for the special needs children, you should majorly focus on a student's strength and not a weakness, for example, focusing on what he or she can do, not what he or she can’t do.
References
Isenberg, J. and Jalongo, M.(2018). Creative thinking and art-based learning. Preschool through fourth grade . Seventh edition page 104. ISBN 9780134461120.
Wittmer, D. And Petersen, S.(2018).Infant and toddler development and responsive program planning. A relationship based approach . Fourth edition page 241. ISBN 9780134450094,0134450094
Bullard, J.(2017).Creating environments for learning. Birth to eight age . Third edition. Page 97.ISBN 978-0-13-401455-5, 0-13-401455-3
