EDUCATION | DOWN SYNDROME | INCLUSION
How Is My Child With Special Needs Doing in a Private Christian School?
Teachers of children with special needs face unique challenges. The following article gives a small insight into the everyday school life of a boy with Down syndrome.
My youngest son is 13 and has been attending a private school for mentally disabled children for several years. Enrolling him there was one of the best decisions we ever made for him!
For today’s occasion, I would like to tell you about this wonderful place, located in the middle of a picturesque landscape and run by lovely people who care deeply about the well-being and happiness of children with disabilities.
One question remains: what is today’s occasion?
In the USA, the so-called Special Education Day is celebrated every year on December 2. This does not only include classical mental disabilities, as is the case with my child with Down Syndrome but also learning disabilities and the like.
Whatever the circumstances, one thing is certain: teachers are faced with unique challenges.
Just a Typical Day?
It is not unusual for children with special needs to have particularly long journeys to school. Especially in the countryside, you can’t always find a suitable educational institution on the next corner.
🚕 My son Brian is picked up at the front door every morning by a cab bus and then has a 40-minute ride ahead of him.
He often falls asleep again, especially during the half of the tour that he spends alone on the bus before other children get on, or when they have already gotten off on the way back.
Our driver is an elderly retired man and has known Brian since he started school over 6 years ago.
The school is an all-day school, which was very unusual in Germany for a long time, but has become more common in recent years. However, for children with special needs, all-day classes are rather the norm. And only two days a week does school end around noon.
Classes remain very small. On average, there are only about 5 students, attended by 2 teachers. For comparison: a “normal” school class in Germany usually consists of about 30 students with one teacher.
Since these children need a lot of attention and the teachers have a huge responsibility, this is necessary. It’s not called “special needs” for nothing.
Brian is in a class where all the children are mobile, meaning they can walk. However, during the past years, he also had classmates in wheelchairs. Only this school year the students were distributed differently because forest days were introduced.
You can see this in the photo of the timetable. 👉 Tuesday (Di) as well as Wednesday (Mi) have a small picture of a forest with them as a marker. This means that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the children of this class are outside with their teachers the whole day.
A really great thing, in my opinion!
Also in other details, the timetable consists of symbols so that the children can read it. Thus, there are the following lessons or activities:
- ✍️ German
- 📐 Math
- 💬 English (new this school year as a foreign language)
- 💻 UK (Augmentative and Alternative Communication, where the children learn how to use their Talk Pad).
- 🍁 Science (they mainly learn about nature and the environment)
- 🎵 Music
- 🏅 Sports
- 🎨 Art
- ⛪ Religion
- 🙏 Prayer (Friday mornings with the whole school)
- 👨🍳 Cooking
- 📺 Watching the news
- 📰 Reading the newspaper
In addition, Brian has speech therapy once a week at school. The speech therapist visits the facility, which makes things easier for us.
When we enrolled Brian in school back then, there was still swimming and horse riding. Neither was possible during the pandemic.
- The swimming pool near the school had to close for good in the meantime.
- Horse riding is now only available to a few children who have a special need for it.
This is a pity, but not the end.
As mentioned, the forest days are new, and also otherwise, the teachers put a lot of effort into the students.
Annual Highlight
Every year in the summer, just before the summer vacation, the annual festival takes place. And this year (2022) it was the 186th festival! That’s how old this tradition is. Only during the pandemic, it had to be canceled.
This annual festival is a highlight for the whole school. The children prepare for months for their performance, which is usually in the style of a musical. So there is singing and dancing with a central theme that runs like a thread through the event.
But this day is not only significant for the students.
For that occasion, the latest projects of the local “Open Help” organization are also presented. These can be the construction of new homes for adults with disabilities or a new playground for the school. There is never a lack of need. And since the school itself is largely financed by donations, support is more than welcome.
This video shows 1:01 onwards clips from the last annual festival before the pandemic, so from 2019. And between 1:46 and 1:48 you can see a little boy in a bear costume. 👉 That’s Brian!
The performance back then was about the so-called “Milky Way Gang”. A group of aliens who involuntarily crash-land on Earth and then go in search of oxygen!
In the process, the aliens travel to many countries on different continents and learn about all kinds of cultures and customs. The event finally ends with all the children and teachers on stage singing “We are the world”.
Apart from the performance, there is always a lot going on that day. So there is of course food and beverages as well as cakes, ice cream, fruit, and other treats. Furthermore, there are many activities such as a bouncy castle or “tattoos” for children.
👆 For weeks, Brian was extremely proud of this “tattoo” of a mermaid.
Augmentative and Alternative Communication
“UK” stands for “Unterstützte Kommunikation” or in English: Augmentative and Alternative Communication. And it is now part of the school timetable.
For years, the school has been helping parents of children who have difficulty speaking to obtain a Talk Pad through the long-term care insurance program. Few would probably be able to afford this device without state care insurance because the price of the iPad from Apple with this program is almost 4,000 euros.
Like many other people with Down syndrome, Brian cannot speak understandably despite being 13 years old. In fact, it is only a few single words. And even those are usually only understood by the people who know him well, as he pronounces them very unclear. 👉 But thanks to the Talk Pad, Brian can actually communicate complete sentences.
During “UK”, the children learn to handle the program accordingly, so that they can navigate quickly and conveniently to the desired keys. The sentences are then prepared more or less like shown in the photo and can be played back so that a voice audibly reproduces what is being requested.
In the photo, Brian typed that day:
“bored | waiting | when will we be there? | what time is it?”
Things he would otherwise never be able to communicate in a comprehensible way, which can then be very frustrating for the child. After all, children have a need to communicate just like we adults do — rather, even more so, since they depend on others.
⏩ This device helps Brian to be happy and content, as it ensures one of his basic needs.
Unfortunately, this solution is not an option for all children.
For example, one of Brian’s classmates cannot use such a Talk Pad because he lacks the motor skills to do so. There are alternatives that he has been able to try out at school, but these cost multiple times more than the already expensive Talk Pad and have little chance of being approved by the care insurance companies.
Being More Than “Just” a Teacher
The people who work at Brian’s school are by no means “just doing their job.” At his facility, a lot of emphasis is placed on a family environment. Comforting or even cuddling is just as much a part of it as teaching.
Many of the kids can’t understand that there are boundaries with adults outside the family. They have to learn that when they are old enough to do so — and, if possible, without getting the feeling that they are being rejected as a person.
An undertaking that is not so easy for children with Down syndrome.
Brian would probably also like to hug everyone who crosses his path. And it took consistent cooperation between parents and teachers to teach him to keep a distance from strangers. Since his teachers have always played a special role in his life as well, I felt I was not alone in this responsibility.
During the pandemic, on the other hand, it was easier to explain. However, consistency was more important than ever because of the risk of infection.
Furthermore, Brian senses when someone doesn’t want to deal with him. And then he reacts accordingly with frustration when he feels rejected — or he worries about the person because he thinks they are sad.
This in turn means that, as a teacher, having a bad day will have a different effect on these children, who cannot understand the behavior, than on kids and young people at a “normal” school.
I have now told you quite a bit about our school in Germany. But in fact, Special Education Day was created by Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
💬 Do you have experience with children with disabilities?
Please, share your experience in the comments!
