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Functional and Community Based Teaching Practices for Students with Special Needs

7th May 2020

To prepare children with special educational needs for their habitual challenges in participating in surroundings independently has always been a tough challenge for the teaching professionals as well as the parents. The “multi-sensory” actions which enhance the possibility of learning the lessons need to be developed among the special children. In order to make it possible, functional and community-based teaching practices support the use of educational and functional skills in the child’s innate situation.

What is Community-Based Teaching Practice?

The Community-Based Teaching method is a practical teaching and learning program that works within the community. Usually, it is being considered as a decisive element of the schooling program for students with special abilities. The background and the tasks performed here emphasize the special child. This technique provides the “real life experiences” to the children with special educational needs. The major objective of the approach is to endow with the special children a range of hands on educational opportunities at all age levels to gain the expertise to live in today’s world. Sometimes, the Community-Based instructional program associates with local businesses to give lifelong vocational skills to the students with special needs.

What is Functional Academic Skills Teaching?

Generally, the basic functional skills mean all those skills which we typically learn in the initial few years of life like walking, self-feeding, self-toileting, and so on. However, students with special abilities frequently need to learn these skills which are being taught through displaying or modelling. The functional academic skills include the basic counting, basic measurement, fundamental understanding volume, recognizing different signs and symbols, or directions, and so on.

The significance of Functional and Community-Based Teaching Practices

The functional and the Community-Based teaching methods help the children with the special educational needs to get their hands on the skills that they need. These aid in gaining independence and benefit the students, parents, caregivers, educational staff and the community as well. The children develop the appropriate behaviour about community settings, and mobility to take a broad view of the skills and knowledge for any kind of new situation.

The functional and the Community-Based teaching strategies help the parents/teachers in developing better communication, assistance, and participation in teaching the special children. Like all the learners, children with special educational needs also have the right to go to regular schools and common learning classes. The educational way of functional and the Community-Based teaching give the prospect for all students to expand the mindsets, principles, and skills which are indispensable to live and work together with others in a miscellaneous society. To develop a sense of belongingness, the instructional strategy of Community-Based teaching encourages positive discipline and post-school ambiance for students of special abilities. The accompanying training opportunities to teach helpful skills, such as helping the special child to understand in following usual daily routines, figuring out problem-solving measures, and communicating successfully, the functional way of teaching helps a lot. With the help of the functional and the Community-Based education, teachers can integrate numerous and flexible means of teaching-learning engagement by planning the stages of educational activities and lessons for special students.

It is extremely important for the teachers to meet the special needs of a range of learners and that’s why, nowadays, teachers provide instruction, resources and evaluations with a broad range of interests, and backgrounds. Moreover, it is also necessary to plan the grade-level instruction resourcefully to meet the needs of special students successfully. The curriculums of the different online special child teaching courses are also the same which are Universally Designed for Learning (UDL). By introducing these kinds of instructional approaches develop the effective learning for the children with special educational needs.