20th April 2018

When you have students in your classroom who have special needs, it is important to remember that being sensitive to their need will contribute positively to their sense of coping with the classroom environment. Only teachers with a specialization in SEN courses for teachers in Kolkata are equipped to deal with children who are sensitive in more ways than one.

Each highly sensitive child with special needs, just like every other person on this planet, is unique. Some child is sensitive to noise, others to taste, others to activity around them, while some are introverts and some are extroverts.

Emotional experiences involving fear, caring, enjoyment, frustration, guilt, shame, loneliness and rejection can lead to heightened emotional outburst and responses which often lead to a disturbance in the path of the development of a special child.

A journey into their sensitive world:

• Sensitive children do not know how to respond to put-downs, teasing and critical comments.
• Instead of shrugging their emotions off, children with special needs take them to heart with too much sentiment.
• Sensitive nature is an asset, so as a teacher trained in emotional behavioural disorder courses, you learn how to help your child see it positively.
• Besides, the role of an educator is not to change children’s natural personality, but to help them cope more successfully and learn to control how they respond.
• Sensitive children show greater receptivity and an enhanced capacity to take in their environment through the senses.

Respect the emotional behaviour of the special child:

• Your sensitive child is a feeling person, so start by acknowledging those feelings. Doing so helps them open up and discuss their concerns.
• Ensure the child with special needs that in times when they are facing an emotional turmoil, you are there for them.

• Tell them something like, “When you calm down a bit, we can talk.”
• Tell them something like, “You cannot control what another person says or does, but you can control how you respond.”
• OR, something like “You may not be able to stop others from being so mean, but if you practice you can learn not to cry when they call you names.”
• Encourage them by saying “I don’t want you to ever stop being such a caring person. That’s one of your greatest gifts.”

 Suggest actions that enable them to control their emotional disorders:

• If your child tears-up easily, they will need to learn what to do instead of crying.
• Talk about possible suggestions and then have your child choose the one they like the best.
• Encourage them to think of a really fun place inside your head, and make your mind go there.
• Ask them to count up to 10 inside their head, by then they are diverted from the issue that was causing the disturbance and then starts from scratch to develop.

The role of a responsive educator in SEN:

• Responsive educators who are trained with the emotional behavioural disorder courses supports infants in beginning to regulate their emotions.
• The SEN educator helps the child develop a sense of predictability, safety and responsiveness in their social environments.
• Young children’s expression of positive and negative emotions may play a significant role in their development of social relationships.
• Teachers can make the classroom environment a friendlier place for students and increase their willingness to engage in learning.
• Give emphasis and assurance to your child that they have the control of taking charge by not giving up on their unknown emotions and develop positive energies from there.

Making such modifications will allow the SEN teachers to assess whether students are struggling and how it will help to regulate their emotions.