My special needs students are included in the general education classrooms in our urban public Montessori school. They range from preschool to grade 3. The third graders spend their days doing a variety of works from improving their writing to researching animals from different continents to improving their reading comprehension.
Some of the students have disabilities that make it hard for them to focus with all the movement and sounds of a Montessori classroom.
The younger students are learning how to be students with visual picture schedules on the wall that tell them what to expect during the day. They are learning letters and letter sounds. The preschool and kindergarten students especially love songs about the letters. The first and second grade students enjoy working with the Montessori math materials and are learning how to use the colored beads.
The goal for all the students is to show the most growth possible. All of the students strive to meet this goal.
My Project
Students with various disabilities are trying to do their work in the regular classrooms during the day. Their peers around them are also doing their work. The classroom teachers and the assistants are either circulating the room and helping students individually or holding small groups. There is a lot of activity in a busy Montessori classroom.
Noise reducing headphones and visual timers would help special needs students focus on their work.
The headphones reduce the noise of whatever else is going on the the classroom. Visual timers give students a goal for when their work needs to be completed. The headphones and timers that were in my closet are already loaned out and there are more students who could benefit from them.
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