7 Tips for Teaching Adults with Special Needs
1) Ask questions. Just as it is necessary to ask a person who uses a wheelchair if you may help them, it is necessary to ask your adult students with special needs how they learn best. Don’t assume you know what they need.
2) Use varied teaching styles. Visual aids help people with hearing impairments better understand the parts of the lesson their ears might have missed. Passing out notes of your lesson for people with learning disabilities can turn a tough subject into one that can be more easily processed.
3) Watch for areas of interest. Find out about your adult students’ interests and suggest how they might serve the Sunday School class or the church as a whole using their gifts and interests. There is a place for everyone to serve in the body of Christ. (I Corinthians 12)
4) Break up long lectures. Adults with ADHD and other adults as well need time to “rest” from sitting quietly in one position. Break up your class into segments of teaching with group discussion times in between. Also, beginning and ending the class with informal fellowship or prayer time will be a relief for people who need to get up and move.
5) Give opportunities for friendship-building. Companionship is important and inclusion imperative in the body of Christ. Make your classroom a place where everyone is loved and extends love to one another in tangible ways. (James 2)
6) Make your classroom accessible. Is there enough space between chairs for a person who uses a wheelchair to navigate? Can a person who is visually impaired see the tiny transparency you want to use for Sunday’s lesson? Think from their point of view and make the needed changes—without drawing attention to them.
7)Extend appreciation. Make sure each of your students knows why you appreciate and love them. Be specific when you let them know why each of them shines. Even adults need to hear why they are significant to their friends, peers— and teachers.
