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All students need motivation to succeed. Some find it easily while others struggle. For students with special needs, a safe and welcoming classroom environment can make a big impact on their sense of safety, comfort, and willingness to actively participate in their education. When they feel comfortable, seen, and accepted, they are more likely to take risks necessary for learning. And we can more effectively bridge the gap between their potential and performance. A classroom with desirable alternative seating like Sofa Sacks invites students in. It encourages them to be comfortable, relax, and to associate reading and storytelling with comfort, choice, and freedom. Lining the walls of my class library with youth novels from multicultural perspectives that tells them that they too have a voice that matters. Their stories matter. And sensory equipment lets students with special needs know that their needs are seen, acknowledged and valued. Students with special needs often struggle with shame and fear in education. They are well aware of the differences in their learning, and yet they often do not have a positive regard for those differences. I want to create a classroom that communicates their worth, value, and potential visually, kinesthetically, and academically. Help me to let my students know that they are powerful, creative, vital. Help them to understand that they are intelligent, capable and that they have something magical to contribute to the world. Help them to feel safe in my class so that they will begin to move from survival mode to curiosity mode, begin to take risks, ask questions, and maybe, eventually, believe in themselves enough to take giant leaps of faith in themselves!
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