Teaching Students With Special Needs

Teachers meet students with different characters, learning abilities and on different learning levels. I teach a student who is diagnosed with autism. The student is one of the most successful in his class. The improved relationship among peers has also been recognized. This is the result of a strong parent-teacher cooperation in and outside of the classroom. The student's mother contacted the school counselling service at the beginning of her son's education at our school. The school counsellor helps and ensures that the teachers, family, the student and his classmates have the appropriate professional support in order to adjust the activities, individualise approach to the student with autism and to achieve the results in a school environment. At the start of the student's secondary education the pedagogical meeting was held with purpose to introduce the differences between an autistic student and his classmates. The information about the student, autism, his strengths, weaknesses and the potential help was shared with his classmates. Teachers have regular meetings and have developed an individual education plan, which is based on the unique needs and abilities of the student. The results and observations are regularly reported to the parents. The parents are aware of the challenges and issues their son is facing in the future, but they also emphasize the importance of knowledge which can serve on the way to his independence.