Workshop
The topic of the workshop is “Understanding the challenges and concerns of children with special needs: What can parents do to help?”
Goals
It is expected that the workshop will help parents reach the following goals:
- Understanding what children with special needs face in their everyday life (in class, at home, during interactions with peers, etc.);
- Learning how to provide care and assistance in cases when children need support;
- Knowing how and when to seek the care of a professional (educator, health care provider, etc.) in order to overcome the identified challenges.
Methods of Instruction
Guest speakers, large group discussions, and PowerPoint presentations are the main techniques of teaching. The advantage of using guest speakers will provide parents with different points of view and possible resources for learning (Miller, 2014). Teaching with the help of discussions will help parents explore different perspectives, explore topics deeper, engage in active participation, and encourage everyone to voice their opinions however different they are (Benlulu, 2017). PowerPoint presentations will be used for increasing the visual impact of the new material and improving the focus of the audience (“Effective use of PowerPoint,” 2016).
Workshop Content
In the two-hour time frame, the workshop will cover the following topics:
- Every-day challenges special needs children face;
- Parents’ involvement in providing support;
- Overcoming challenges through collaboration.
Ending the Workshop
The success of the workshop will be evaluated with the help of post-completion surveys given to participants two weeks after the lesson. Parents will be asked questions on whether the strategies presented during learning helped them overcome the challenges their children face (Kemp, Smith, & Segal, 2017), how they collaborated with educators, what they have learned during the lesson, and what areas require additional exploration.
References
Benlulu, R. (2017). Pros and cons of classroom group discussions.Web.
Effective use of PowerPoint. (2016). Web.
Kemp, G., Smith, M., & Segal, J. (2017). Helping children with learning disabilities.Web.
Miller, K. (2014).The blessings and benefits of using guest lecturers.Web.