Sana Abdul Salam Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — The importance of developing innovative methods to teach children with disabilities was highlighted at a special education (SPED) exhibition held at Dar Al-Hekma (DAH) College on Monday and Tuesday. Attended by parents and teachers, the exhibit aimed to showcase the different teaching and learning aids and strategies that SPED students had developed during the course of their study and to encourage visitors to apply them to children at home and school. Teaching children with disabilities, such as dyslexia and dysgraphia (issues with reading and writing, respectively), as well as dyscalculia (issues with understanding the concepts of time and value of numbers), were particularly focused on. The exhibits included those dedicated to different topics like mathematics, science and Arabic. A literacy section displayed aids that helped students acquire linguistic skills through the various sub-elements of phonetic sounds, letters and words. Once students progressed from learning these, they would be trained in reading comprehension and writing. Also, a key element of many projects was positive reinforcement, where children would be rewarded for good behavior or success at learning various concepts. Dima Hallab, an instructor in the SPED department, said: “We are in an era where we are moving away from the idea of using punishment to promote positive behavior. “Instead, we want to encourage the students and make them feel at ease and satisfied for successfully completing tasks. So, positive reinforcement plays a big role in teaching for us.” Mawada Matar, a special education student, said: “Using a system of rewards and encouragement has helped me a lot with my pupils. “They feel really excited for receiving these, and subsequently their performance has shown growth.” Matar holds sessions with children with learning disabilities to supplement their classroom learning. She explained that she has a 12-year-old and an eight-year-old child in the second grade who she took under her wing this year and hopes that they will demonstrate substantial academic progress in the future. Maha Juffali, director of the Help Center and a visitor at the exhibition, said: “I am pleased to see the creativity that the students have shown in developing different techniques, and will send over some of my teachers tomorrow so they can pick up a thing or two.” Students at DAH visit the Help Center and similar institutions to observe children and classrooms and prepare reports as part of their coursework. Amal Al-Yamani, director of the special education program at DAH, said she agrees with visitors who said there needs to be more awareness in the Saudi community about children with special needs. She said: “There has to be a community-wide effort to raise awareness so we can do more, like working with different agencies in the community. “We are already collaborating with schools here, and hope to increase collaborations with other agencies and universities in the future. “We would also like to work with publication houses to publish the activity books created by students.” Participating students stated that after gaining a better understanding of the children's response to the books and games that they have developed, they will approach companies to have these products formally distributed.
