Foreign Languages for Everyone
Irene Konyndyk's Website for Teaching a Second Language to Students with Learning Disabilities
Here is a link to a very helpful and easy-to-read article about what learning disabilities are and how they can manifest themselves. Be sure to click on the links embedded within the article for more information on specific topics, such as ADHD.
http://specialedpost.org/2014/10/07/defining-learning-disabilities/
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good evening,
I teach FLES to K-3 grade students. I have also been a SPED teacher for students with mild to moderate disabilities. Recently, students with moderate to severe disabilities (Autism) have been included in my Spanish as a second/foreign language class. Some do not speak. I tink they should do more than socialize (which they are not doing now). I urgently need suggestions, strategies and activities that can help me reach them.
Thank you,
Carmen
Hello Carmen,
With your SPED background it is clear that you must have a big heart for struggling students. I would suggest that you contact the SPED coordinator in your school (which you have probably done already!) and discuss what kinds of strategies and activities are helpful for these students in other classrooms into which they have been mainstreamed. There must be some kind of IEP for each of them, right? Could you work together with the SPED team to decide on some specific strategies that would meet their IEP, as well as meet some of your FLES goals? If the students do not speak, due to their severe disabilities, then it is unrealistic to expect them to speak in your FLES class. But perhaps they could demonstrate their language acquisition in a more kinesthetic / tactile way (e.g. pointing to a color said in the target language, or drawing a picture of a dog when it is said in the target language). I would also suggest that you contact the parents for ideas of what kinds of strategies they think might be helpful. I wish you all the best, as you tackle this huge challenge. And remember that a big goal we all have as second language teachers is to help our students to develop a positive attitude toward the target culture and to grow in their cross-cultural understanding, so that their view of the world is opened up.