Understanding the Needs of Diverse Learners (and what to do about them)
Speech, Sensory, and Stress, oh my. In any given day, educators are perfecting the art of meeting student need. Long gone are the days of simply teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. As educators we now have many more tools we can add to our toolboxes. The focus of the EARCOS weekend workshop hosted at the International School Bangkok was: Practical solutions for supporting students with diverse needs such as: speech language, sensory integration, executive functioning and stress/anxiety.
This EARCOS session was co-hosted by Dr. Keith Collins, Kate Kersey, Ryan Ruhl, and Elizabeth Sauers, all educators at the International School Bangkok during the weekend of November 11th and 12th.
Some of the key ideas shared during this weekend workshop were:
Sensory Integration ● Awareness around causes of sensory integration disorder and how to support sensory integration for all students. Supporting Stressed and Anxious Students at School ● Understand what Stress & Anxiety are, the causes of stress and anxiety for our students, and how the brain is affected by stress and anxiety Executive Functioning ● Working definition of executive functions and executive skills and practical solutions Speech Language ● Background and ideas for supporting students with language needs in the classroom
Participants were able to look at these four complex puzzle pieces: Speech/Language, sensory integration, social emotional and executive functioning. While each of these pieces were explored individually, by the end we were able to dig deeper into the research around what helps students feel successful. During this exploration some topics such as sleep, movement, and the use of visuals were common traits that supported students across all areas. Participants explored those topics by having deep conversations, brainstorming ideas through new lenses, and generating ideas that could be implemented the next week.











