Forums

Science an interesting and enjoyable subject for most students. However, having students with learning disabilities could be a challenge as it can be difficult to grasp their interest. What successful strategies should be applied when teaching science to students with learning disabilities?

Start with something that interests the students.  Whether it's building with blocks, creating mazes for marbles, or matching baby animals with their parents, try to find something that the students are inherently interested in doing.  The emphasis here should be doing.  Allow time for the students to 'play' with the materials before inviting them to explore deeper, answer questions, or share their observations. 

Our special needs students would visit the science lab once a week, and I would have tables set up with manipulative materials: blocks, marble mazes, dominoes, and ramps & vehicles.     We would allow the students to gravitate toward whatever area they wished and then provided support as they used the materials.  Sometimes it might be as simple as asking them to choose certain color blocks as they built towers or counting the number of pieces used for a domino structure.