Special education has received much attention over the years. Researchers and various education stakeholders are always exploring ways to assist learners with special needs better to excel in their studies and life after school. However, most special needs education approaches neglect the “sea of strengths” and overly focus on the “island weakness.”
Focusing on a student's weaknesses naturally establishes a pattern where their shortcomings are prioritized over their strengths. Fortunately, teachers can determine each student’s unique strengths and needs with a responsive, flexible, and diagnostic assessment.
There are various approaches for assessing students’ strengths. One of them is the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS-2), which measures students’ competencies and personal strengths aged five to 18.
Then there’s the Values in action Inventory Strengths (VIA-IS), a survey that screens students aged seven and 17 for things like humility, curiosity, creativity, and humor. Search Institute’s Developmental Assets Framework is another survey-based assessment model for identifying students’ unique strengths and skills.
The choice of an assessment tool depends on the target student’s needs and what you’re screening for. So you might have to use a combination of tools.
What's more, assessment is not limited to the tools discussed here. You could also ask your student’s parents, former teachers, or peers about your student.
To create a learning plan unique to each student’s needs, spend time with them. You could use the 2X10 strategy, which involves spending two minutes a day for 10 days conversing with each student.
Be sure to make the engagement as natural as possible. It also helps to have the dialogue out of the classroom setting while doing something out of the norm.
As you dialogue with the student, be careful not to go in too fast too soon. You want to create a free and safe atmosphere that encourages your student to reveal things about themselves at their own pace. Start with the small talk and progress from there, taking cues from the student.
Asking the right questions will get you the right answers; observing will reveal aspects about your student that words cannot capture. So don’t just ask and wait for responses; observe reactions, body language, non-verbal cues. Take the time to connect with your student.
There’s a goldmine of information about the student you can “stumble” on as you converse with them. Not only will you find out their strengths (and weaknesses), but also uncover barriers to their strengths, as well as reinforcers of their weaknesses.
If one of your students finds it hard to reveal, for example, their creative or curious mind, chances are the learning environment discourages it. Or that the student just can’t seem to find it in themselves.
Find out what limits your students and create a plan to counter those limitations. Most often, though, creating an environment that inspires students to reveal their strengths should fix it. If the learning environment is to blame, create spaces for each student to reveal their interest.
For example, give artistic students the space to demonstrate their prowess. Provide books and other resources to tap into the curious mind.
It’s not enough to accept students for who they are; teachers and everyone involved must be intentional about identifying and leveraging the strengths of students with special needs. Ultimately, the focus should be on strengths and not weaknesses or labels. Focusing on strengths isn't just about being a good teacher; it’s the best practice.
