Would really appreciate any advice on working with special needs kids?

I am an art student beginning a placement at a special needs secondary school.I have to do 100 hours professional practice helping the kids with art.The kids are 11-16 and have ADD and autism and such like.I am not training to be a teacher and would really appreciate any advice on working with special needs kids.Thank you!Would really appreciate any advice on working with special needs kids?
Sometimes parents and others working with youth with learning disabilities are unaware about the disability and may think of the person as lazy, undisciplined, bored, stubborn, spoiled, underachieving, or daydreaming. It is important to remember that an individual with a learning disability usually does not show all the characteristics; likewise, an individual, without a learning disability may exhibit some of the characteristics. Some of the most common characteristics follow.





Short attention span/easily distracted


Poor memory/forgetful


Difficulty following directions


Poor reasoning ability


Inability to set realistic goals


Poor reading ability (e.g., adds, omits, skips words when reading)


Difficulty distinguishing between p, g, b, d, and q


Reads ';on'; for ';no';, ';was'; for ';saw';, etc.


Difficulty with concepts left-right, above-below, up-down, yesterday-tomorrow, in-out, etc.


Difficulty telling time


Difficulty writing


Poor eye-hand coordination


Clumsy/accident prone


Disorganized/loses things


Quick tempered/easily irritated


Impulsive


Gets caught up in details


Childish and bossy behavior


Needs constant recognition


A loner








For an individual with a learning disability the messages to the brain become jumbled. This makes it difficult for them to learn in one or more of the academic areas; however, they can learn and become successful. They learned to compensate for their difficulties by learning in ways that are different from how other people may have learned. The following will be helpful as you work with youth with learning disabilities.





Have the individual's attention before you begin to do activities.





Explain directions carefully, simply, and slowly.





Repeat directions aloud to help the individual remember them.





Encourage children to ask questions. If no questions are asked, review the important points, step-by-step.





Have the child with a learning disability sit close to you so you can give extra help when necessary. He or she may feel more comfortable if he or she can bring a friend.





Try various methods to see how the individual learns best. Determine if he or she learns best by seeing, hearing, reading silently, or reading aloud. If a child is good at remembering what he or she hears, then it might be a good idea to have someone read directions or record the information on a tape for the child to listen to.





If you are reading from a book or manual, point out where you are in the text.





Allow the individual to answer questions or keep records on a tape recorder if he or she has difficulty writing and spelling.





Allow the individual to type if he or she has difficulty writing and spelling.





Be patient. Children with learning disabilities need more time to think and complete projects.





The breaking of any routine produces great anxiety. Provide security and structure.





Look for a spark and encourage the interest.





Tasks may need to be divided into smaller pieces.





Use modeling and demonstrations.





Have youth repeat and rephrase directions to make certain they understand what you want them to accomplish.





Each child is unique. Be sure to look at the whole child: his or her feelings, emotions, opinions, and problems. Be accepting and provide positive feedback. The child needs to know that he or she is ';okay.'; Children with learning disabilities often feel that ';I can't do anything right.'; ';I'm no good.'; ';I'm dumb.'; ';Nobody likes me.'; ';Everybody is picking on me.'; Would really appreciate any advice on working with special needs kids?
Be flexible. Keep directions simple. Model what you want them to do.





Kids with autism have acute sensory awareness.





Do not look them in the eye, its painful. Do not expect them to look at you and don't ask them to.





They may be extremely tactile defensive-messy things like finger painting they would likely avoid. Always use something to paint with a brush, sponge etc.





Many autistic kids are light sensitive and react badly to fluorescent light. If at all possible do not have the lights on.





Many autistic kids are extremely sensitive to smells. You may hear that stinks, stinks, stinks get it away. Try to pick a medium that is not smelly. Things you think are not smelly they may have a different opinion.





Do not rush them. Saying 5 minutes is extremely anxiety provoking and can induce meltdowns.





Many kids with autism have low muscle tone, and fatigue quickly. They would do better with something that didn't require a lot of pressure like a pencil does to write. A marker is much easier.





Very important: don't ask them what the picture is, they will be offended. Ask them to tell you about their picture. Also, autistic kids tend to begin a drawing with an odd detail, so you will see this. My son draws a car and always starts with a wheel instead of the body of the car. Sometimes things will be missing, don't point it out! Cars don't always have 4 wheels, people are missing major bodyparts etc.





You will be amazed at some of the Picasso-esque artwork these students come up with. I have several things from my son that are framed and are really unusual and interesting. We always say its a cross between Matisse/Dali/Picasso. Things are odd colors, things are distored, things are missing








';In every piece of art or science is a little asperger'; Hans Asperger





';You can't rush art'; Toy Story, a favorite delayed echolalic quote of many on the autistic spectrum





Artists speculated to be on the autistic spectrum


Andy Warhol


Vincent Van Gogh
My advice would be to keep an open mind and remain as calm as possible. Remaining calm and even will go a long way with having the students be comfortable and accepting of your presence in their environment. Please know that you may encounter children who not only lack social graces, but may also be non-verbal (they cannot speak at all). Some children may not want you to be there initially as you are not part of their ';normal'; environment. Many of these children thrive on routine and consistency. Try not to take it personally if a child does not initially want you there. It's not you, it's the change in their routine that they are truly balking against.





It is really important to understand that even though some of the students may have strange mannerisms and may appear to be different, that they are really just kids. Some may be very interested in what you are doing, possibly overly so (Children with Downs). While others may not be able to focus long enough for you to complete your lesson (the kids with ADD). But some of the children may appear to not be interested or paying attention (the kids with Autism). With children on the autism spectrum, you may see a wide array of interest and impairment in this area. Some of these kids may not even look at you. But that doesn't mean that they don't hear or understand you. It is difficult to try to talk to someone who won't pay attention to you and so you may feel frustrated in this way. But just know that some of the kids are paying attention in the only way that they know how. Some children with autism suffer from sensory issues and may be hypersensitive to certain sounds and lights and even textures. Other children will love feeling things and making a mess as their sensory processing center needs more stimulation than the average bear.





Good luck to you on this journey! It will definitely be an eye opening experience for you. As an artist, I hope that you find the beauty in these special kids and the goodness of human nature. It may not be the easiest job you've ever done, but you may find it to be the most rewarding.
One thing that you need to do, is to keep your patience, do NOT lose your patience with these kids. They will test your patience, and try to do other things, and will try to do things that they want to do. If they see that you're painting pictures, and stuff like that, then they sometimes will follow. Do NOT negatively critique their art, say that the art is good, and that it looks pretty, even if it looks dismal.
I really don't no much on the subject; but i would just pray sincere4lly about what you are concerned about, and leave it in his hands.