Teaching the Special Needs Child .... and Maintaining Your Sanity in the Process!

Teachers of today encounter students with a variety of problems, including Autism, ADHD, Anxiety, Oppositional Defiant Disorders, and Depression. Most teachers are not prepared to deal with these disorders, which leads to frustration for the student, teacher and parent. Tips for recognizing the more common problems, and teaching these students effectively will enhance the student’s learning, and make the experience more rewarding for everyone involved.

Children with special needs are becoming more common in the classroom. Many times you have several different students, all with different types of problems. Most people do not really know what to do with these students, and often just try to get them to stop coming to lessons or drop band. While there is a myriad of different problems students can have, there are some that are becoming more and more prevalent. These same problems can, and will, wreck havoc in the classroom if those in charge are not aware of what is happening. All teachers need to become versed in recognizing children with special needs, and how to approach teaching them. Music has been proven to help many of these problems, and kicking them out does not help them, and oftentimes closes a door to the child’s dealing with whatever problems they might have. Having a checklist of problems, with the symptoms, and preliminary ways to handle some of the situations you might encounter will be helpful to teachers on all levels.

In this session, I will give insight into some of the more commonly seen problems (ADHD, Autism, Anxiety, Oppositional Defiant Disorders, Depression) encountered in the classroom, providing tips to recognize, how to approach, and management techniques.