The children with special educational needs (SENs), who were included in general education institutions, must be helped to adjust themselves in society and the learning support teachers play an important role in this process. These must have communication, mediation and flexibility abilities. Such opinions were formulated by specialists in a seminar staged by the Psychical-socio-pedagogic center of Chisinau, which is managed by the General Division of Education, Youth and Sport and the public association “Lumos Foundation Moldova”, IPN reports.
According to the center’s acting director Svetlana Gorea, the learning support teachers provide assistance to the children with SENs in integrating into society and in obtaining education. “These children need a special approach. I mean not only the children with disabilities, but also the orphans or children coming from socially deprived families, with behavioral difficulties, etc. The children with learning difficulties benefit from support during classes and within the activities carried out at resource centers for inclusive education. They are assisted by learning support teachers who help them study based on an adjusted curriculum. To help these support teachers, a series of activities are organized regularly, including the given seminar, where the specialists present recommendations and good practices,” she stated.
Agnesa Eftodi, coordinator within the project “Development and promotion of inclusive education” implemented by Lumos, said studies show the learning support teachers find it difficult to work with children with behavioral difficulties and with autistic children. The analysis of behavior is one of the factors that can help achieve success in this work. ‘The causes for a certain behavior should be identified. The behavior is a form of expression of the capacities or experiences. This way the children show their previous experiences and if they agree with a situation or not,” he stated.
The specialists said that sometimes the support teachers do not manage to work efficiently because they underestimate the influence of the environmental factors on the child’s motivation and behavior. This happens because of the pessimistic attitude to the change or, on the contrary, because of the wish to change everything, everyone and at once. To avoid such situations, appropriate training and specific techniques are needed.
Currently, there are not enough learning support teachers in the schools of Chisinau municipality. In the 45 schools where such teachers are needed, the demand is only 80% satisfied.
