Supporting Learners
As an Education Assistant we should support and help the students to identify their talents, build their strengths, and develop their self-image. We need to collect information beforehand about the child’s medication, therapies required, and their strengths and difficulties. Periodic reports on any changes to the class teachers and the parents are recommended.
We ourselves should be acting as a role model by displaying positive attitudes on our perspectives that we teach with encouragement. We also should not be judgmental of children who have Duchenne – we need to act with empathy rather than pity. A more effective practice is to make sure that the students are placed within the rest of the class, instead of the back of the room.
There are ways that can be used at different timelines for children at different ages. The ways to help their challenges at different stages are showed below:
Early Phase (5-6 years)
- For children who are slow moving, difficulty in running and climbing steps:
- We have to be patient; and allow students a little bit more time such as time back to class after lunch or PE classes.
- For those who often fall:
- Assign a buddy
- When the children are becoming tired in the afternoon, and when we observe that there are changes in strength during the week, we can:
- Make learning easier – structure daily activities so that most of the new material is covered in the morning, and leave less difficult activities which require less concentration for the afternoons.
- Allow child to have a rest towards the afternoon.
- Arrange a suitable place for the child to rest, but make sure that during this time the child is not missing out on anything important or fun.
- For children with poor balance and shaky movements due to enlarged calf muscles, we can:
- Provide suitable seating will help. A school chair that is adjustable and provides back, arm and foot support is good. If the chair is too high, placing a block on the floor, will enable the ankle at right angles to the foot.
- Delays in speech and language are happening to most of the DMD children. We should:
- Have a buddy partner to them.
- Allow in-class assignments to be completed out of class with the use of assistive equipment with extended testing time.
- Spread writing activities out over the day encourage them to complete their assignments.
- For children with weak grip, we should use assistive equipment:
- A tape recorder or laptop is helpful.
- Pencil grips or thicker pencils with sloping desktops do solve this insufficient mechanism.
- Most of the time, the children will have difficulty participating in PE and other physical activities. We should:
- Discuss with the child’s parents or therapists to participate specific PE lessons that stretch his muscles like swimming, substitute hard balls with soft foam ones, reduce the size of the playing field.
- Set realistic goals for example allowing student to walk one length in relays while other children are running two lengths.
- In larger games give him other tasks such as referee or score keeper.
- Cognitive weaknesses just like weakness in memory happened on the children can be helped by:
- Breaking down the information or concepts into smaller chunks for them to understand what is being taught.
- Be patient when speaking or asking your student questions.
- Do not give too many instructions at any one time.
- Use visual representations when explaining concepts and ideas.
- When the children are at a more serious condition, they will have difficulty getting up from the floor. We should:
- Let the student sit on the chair rather than on the floor when his Gower’s Manoeuver (pictured at top of page) gets worse.
Transitional Phase (6-12 years)
- At this stage, walking may become more limited – boys make the transition to a wheelchair at the end of this stage. To assist them in their continuous learning, we need to:
- Be aware of the school building’s emergency evacuation plan,
- To be supportive, we do not assume the child in the wheelchair requires assistance, always ask the child if he would like your help before giving it.
- Keep the wheelchair within reach of the child so that the child is able to get back into it without too much difficulty.
- Rearrange the classroom furniture.
- Another obvious characteristics is their upper body strength declines. We can:
- Provide a seating plan with environment that enables the children to be as independent as possible.
- Make sure that the desks or work stations are raised to the children’s height.
- Behavioral issues will occur. We should:
- Have open communication and approach class teachers, parents and supporting agents within the school like school counsellor about any concerns that arise.
- The children will have trouble keeping up with writing due to decline in skills such as handwriting and grasping. We can:
- Make use of visual patterns, puzzles and pictures for them to learn and express themselves.
- Concentrate more on their strength like problem solving and abstract thinking instead of grasping the pens.
- Use technology and computer applications will maintain their learning spirit.
‘A Teacher’s Guide to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in Primary Schools by Muscular Dystrophy Association of New Zealand Inc.’