Learning in children is a complex undertaking. Psychologists agree that while the level of learning of the student is a function of a number of factors, the behavioral and instructional strategies employed by the teacher, is singled out as one of the main factors that is majorly ignored. While it's generally agreed in education circles that there are specific instructional and behavioral strategies that would universally work to enhance learning in children, it must be appreciated that such strategies would be unlikely to be all effective in all cases, and especially in cases involving different types of learners, typical, atypical and gifted.
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The following instructors and behavioral strategies are seen to impact on the learning on the above categories of learners, albeit in a different manner. By definition, typical learners are those that demonstrate ‘normal’ growth and development in their continuum, while atypical students are those that are considered abnormal, this may be due to developmental delays, or some forms of mild disabilities that tend to inhibit ‘normal’ learning. Gifted students on the other hand are those that display exceptional abilities in their skills, which is considered above te norm, in their developmental milestone.
The environment that learners interact with, in their learning endeavors has significant impact on their learning, regardless of whether the learner is typical, atypical or gifted. Creating a supportive classroom environment is a behavioral strategy that has been found to be effective in assisting in the learning of students of all types.
A conducive classroom environment would entail having a schedule of activities and curriculum. This has been found to be effective in ensuring that regardless of the challenges faced by the student, at least the student is well aware what needs to be done, when and by whom (LaRocque, & Darling, 2008). This can be done by creating a schedule of time and activities and making it available to all students. This will enable students to be able to plan their time and activities during any given time frame.
Important in the creation of a supportive classroom environment is the grouping of students. Teachers have learnt that grouping of students is not a simple exercise. For such groups to be effective, the teachers must get a proper mix of typical, atypical and gifted students so as to ensure maximum benefits to all involved in the groups.
Creation of routines is also an important aspect of organizing the classroom. Students should understand and be informed of the school and class routine, as this helps in enabling students to know what is expected of them in each particular time. This has the effect of improving their abilities to learn, regardless of whether they are challenged, normal or gifted.
Parental engagement
Parental engagement in the learning of the students is an important behavioral strategy, that fosters learning in children. Sociologists suggest that a closer involvement of the parents in the learning of students, whether gifted, normal or atypical has significant impact on the learning abilities and behavior of the students.
Generally, parents tend to know their children strong areas as well as those that require improvement. Therefore, parental improvement is an important strategy that ensures that learners and parents as well as teachers are able to reach an agreement on how best a given student would get help in the case of weak areas.
Teaching of both social and prosocial skills
Both social and prosocial skills are quite important in ensuring that a student fits best in a classroom as well as in the outside world. Social skills are defined as the ability of one to be able to know what to do or say in given situations .Studies have shown that the possession of good social skills has a great impact on the students' performance, both in and out of the classroom. A strategy that incorporates the teaching of social skills therefore, goes a long way in bettering the behavior and performance of the students regardless of their physical and mental situation
Notably, the effectiveness of the above strategies will mainly be dependent on the nature of the child, whether typical, atypical or gifted, as well as the developmental milestone of the child. We shall evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional and behavioral support strategies in relation to the given milestones.
Kindergarten
For an atypical child, the milestone will depend on the nature and extend of the developmental delay. In most cases, most atypical children will be able to analyze their immediate environment, to identify most of their colleagues outside of the classroom, and generally be in a position to engage in simple games with little difficulties. Such children have also been found to express difficulties in language learning and acquisition(Singler & Aamidor,2005).
Typical children will exhibit ability to understand simple alphabets, counting numbers, learn simple drawings . Such children will be in a position to understand schedules and routines,exhibit accurate memory,mainly receptive rather than expressive of language.
Depending on the level of giftedness, gifted children exhibit unusual ability to learn language and maths. They are mainly able to express language without much difficulty. Gifted children in this age also exhibit unusual vivid memory as well as an almost clear understanding of visual cues and emotions.
The instructor should be in a position to differentiate the teaching strategies so as to be able to reach to the needs of all the students . For instance, the teacher should be able to design teaching activities that engage the three students in a manner that fosters their learning. Designing games, for instance, that engage students in the three categories, taking cognizance of each students abilities and needs could go a long way in enabling learning.
Atypical children will at this age be in a position to do most of the things that kindergarten children do, with significant ease. Teachers experience difficulties in keeping atypical children abreast with others in the class especially due to the slow pace of learning especially languages and maths.
Typical children will be identified by their ability to exhibit a normal growth and development continuum especially with regard to learning. Typical children are able to remember the activities of prior months, or even years. Children are able to understand rules, schedules and routines and adhere to them as they understand what is right and wrong.
Normally, gifted children will easily be identified by their exceptional abilities either in class or out of the class. Most gifted children will exhibit exceptional abilities to perform quite well in tests, regardless of the level of preparedness. Research indicates that in most cases, gifted children have been found to exhibit challenging behavior in the classroom
In this grade, the instructor has at their disposal, quite a number of strategies that can be employed to enhance the learning of these three categories. As explained before, the teacher has the option of designing learning activities that are engaging to the different categories. Its also possible to group the three categories of students in the same group and engaging them in an activity that ensures that learning and ideas flow within the group, say a game for instance. This should be done, with instructions to ensure that the the students move at the same pace, as this ensures that the atypical child’s needs are catered for.
Incentives and positive behavior supports in place
Scholars in the field of sociology and child psychology have noted that positive behavior in children can be supported and influenced(Allen & Cowdery,2012). In a classroom setup, teachers can influence behavior by punishing undesirable behavior or rewarding positive behavior. It's noted, in these studies that children tend to foster and enhance the behavior that catches the attention of the parent caregiver or teacher. This is because, conventionally, teachers tend to ignore well mannered children and pay most attention to the challenging behaviors. This has been found to enhance such behaviors.
Instructors at both kindergarten and grade 3 could support children's positive behavior by actively taking note of good behavior and actually rewarding and praising such behavior. On the other hand, challenging behavior can easily be eliminated by being ignored. Once a child notes that the children portraying a given behavior are rewarded, he or she is likely to adopt such good behavior that is attended to and rewarded.
Involving the parents in addressing the child's behavior is another significant step towards addressing the issue of challenging behavior in children. When children are aware that their parents would be informed of their challenging behavior in school, they are likely to desist from engaging in such behaviors (Alter, & Conroy,2009)
Lastly, as discussed previously, in order to foster positive behavior, the curriculum should be designed in such a way that there are specific schedules and timings for each activity. Having a specific schedule for each activity is known to instill a sense of discipline among the students. Children will have knowledge of what to do, where and when and this goes a long way in enhancing positive behavior.
Ongoing assessments
In order to determine a student's progress in terms of behavior, it's important that the concerned instructor employs several assessment strategies taking cognizance of the fact that some forms of challenging behavior may be as a result of the child's developmental stage or even disability.
Manifest determination
In determining how to address causes of challenging behaviors in children, it's important for the instructor to determine whether the particular form of behavior is occasioned by the particular physical or mental challenge on the part of the child. This is because, its conventional that a child who engages in challenging behavior as a result of physical or mental challenges needs to be treated differently, when addressing such a behavior.if the child breaks a code of conduct due to a disability,then it's imperative that the IEP team implements a behavior intervention plan that ensures that such a behavior is well addressed in the school, after a thorough functional behavior assessment.
Normally, when the misbehavior is not as a result of a disability, then the instructor may decide to determine each case independently or administer a blanket punishment regardless of the disability status.
References
Allen, K. E & Cowdery,G.E (2012) The Exceptional Child: Inclusion in Early Childhood Education Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
LaRocque,M & Narling,S.M (2008) Blended Curriculum in the Inclusive K–3 Classroom Teaching ALL Young Children,Pearson publishers
Alter, J.P & Conroy,M.A(2009) ‘‘Preventing Challenging Behavior in Young Children:
Effective Practices’’ Center for Evidence based practice. Young children with challenging behavior.
Singler,A.E & Aamidor, S (2005)‘‘From Positive Reinforcement to Positive Behaviors: An Everyday Guide for the Practitioner’’Early childhood education journal.
