This week on the podcast Heather and I chat about best practices for teaching students with different abilities. Heather, a parent of three adorable kiddos, two with Down Syndrome, shares her experience in the education system and what she would like to see change. Heather gives us valuable advice on how we can best serve kids with different abilities.
Serving Students with Different Abilities
I initially heard about Heather on The Happy Hour Podcast with Jamie Ivey (which is how I got into podcasts and podcasting in the first place!) and I have been following her and her family ever since. As a former Special Education teacher and now a momma to two kiddos with different abilities, Heather has a lot to share with us about how we can best support students who may learn differently.
Most of our conversation is geared towards talking about Down Syndrome because that is her knowledge and experience. But the principles and things she shares can apply to any student in our classroom. Her reminder that even our ELL kids, behavior students, and kids receiving additional reading support are all students with different abilities. They all need specialized instruction, which we are already giving them!
Heather’s encouragement is to be open to students (and their parents!) with different abilities. Let’s be willing to learn from them instead of assuming that they won’t “fit” in our classroom or will provide more struggle for us. I love her challenge to work with parents as a team instead of a “parents vs. teacher” mentality.
I hope you will listen and share this episode with a teacher friend. This is a conversation that we can all benefit from! What Heather and I talk about is related to the classroom, but y’all, this can be applied to the real world as well.
I’d love for you to listen HERE!! I would also love it if you shared it with a teacher friend by sending it to them, positing it on your social media accounts, or saving it to Pinterest!
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