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Chattanooga: Teachers hear techniques to deal with special needs students

By: Emily Bregel
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Ginger Green

Born with a broken arm and half of her ribs broken, Ginger Green was not supposed to survive childhood.

Growing up, her condition, osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as “brittle bones disease,” made any activity — even coughing — a danger to her weak bones. Nevertheless, her parents wanted her included in a mainstream school system.

“Having handicapped children in public schools in 1962 was not very common,” said Ms. Green, speaking Thursday to an audience of about 30 teachers at Siskin Children’s Institute.

But once she got into the classroom, her teacher and fellow classmates treated her like any other child, Ms. Green said during a panel discussion that included panelists with disabilities such as autism, Down syndrome and visual/hearing impairment.

“My condition was never a big deal. ... I thrived and learned,” said Ms. Green, who now has been a teacher herself for almost 30 years. “You as teachers have much power in your classroom. You set the tone. It’s important that you view each child’s differences not as inconveniences or impossibilities, but as gifts from God.”

Chattanooga area elementary and middle school teachers attended the discussion at Siskin to hear firsthand about the challenges of living with disabilities.

More than ever, children with special needs are being mainstreamed into traditional schools, bringing new opportunities to students who decades ago may have been institutionalized.

At the same time, inclusion presents challenges to general educators, said Deborah Luehrs, director of marketing for Siskin Children’s Institute.

“Teachers need new skills that they may not have picked up when they were going through school, because they’ve never had to deal with children with special needs in their classroom before,” Ms. Luehrs said.

The panel was part of an annual three-day teacher workshop to help educators learn about teaching children with special needs, she said.

Special education teacher Carmen Socarras said Thursday that her school, Apison Elementary, is in the process of integrating special education students into general education classrooms. She hopes the workshop at Siskin will help her share her knowledge of teaching special needs children with other teachers at the school, Ms. Socarras said.

“We’re moving toward making everyone learn in the least restrictive environment,” she said. “You have to be creative and come up with different ways to present your lessons, and those are the challenges that the general ed teacher would encounter.”

Panelists spoke about their own struggles and successes in living with disabilities, as well as ways teachers can improve the lives of children with special needs who are in their classrooms.

Panelist Julie Duff, who has autism, emphasized that teachers should treat all students with respect.

“When you have a child with autism or any other disability, do not make them feel stupid,” said Ms. Duff, who graduated from high school in 1968. “All through elementary school and high school, as they passed me on to the next level just to get rid of me, I felt so stupid.”

“Our norm may be different than your norm,” said panelist Tommy Gates, who uses a wheelchair, and is a fitness technician at Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation’s Fitness Center. “Include (special education students) in everything that you do. ... If they have trouble with it, help them with it and find out, ‘How can I help you?’ You’ll do wonders for kids with disabilities of all kinds.”

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