Children With Disabilities Starting Kindergarten

Transition Issues for Kids With Special Needs Into the Kindergarten

Sep 14, 2009 Kimberley Powell

Regardless of functioning levels, children with a developmental disability face significant barriers to participating in the mainstream of life. Children with special needs face a complex transition to kindergarten.

Many children with disabilities will have already experienced a number of preschool learning experiences. Various preschool programs, many of which involve disabled and nondisabled youngsters, provide developmental programming designed to prepare the child for Kindergarten entrance.

The Kindergarten Program

The Kindergarten program, with its emphases on meeting the needs of individual children, basing instruction on observation and diagnosis, and using play as a way of learning can be adapted to accommodate children with special needs.

The inclusion of children with disabilities in regular school classrooms is one of the recognized "best practices" for children with exceptional needs. Involvement with nondisabled peers can be an enriching experience for all concerned.

“While the disability itself is often identified well in advance of school entrance age, the Kindergarten experience will afford the opportunity to determine the extent to which a disabling condition will affect the educational experience,” states the Special Education Unit of Saskatchewan Education in their 1989 handbook entitled Meeting Challenging Needs: A Handbook for Teachers of Students Having Intensive Educational Needs.

These children often require additional support to adjust to the school environment and function at an adequate level for learning. School and school division support staff might include resource teachers, consultants, psychologists, speech and language pathologists, and teacher associates (teacher assistants). Various rehabilitation and social service agencies also may provide personnel for the support team.

Key Program Components

Critical components in supporting children with disabilities in regular kindergarten programs include the following:

• Developing a positive self-image, expressiveness in language, curiosity, imagination, and a sense of humour, need to be broken into small components. Objectives should describe sequentially ordered tasks.
• Success in achieving small steps needs to be recognized immediately so that the child has a sense of achievement. The child's progress should stand on its own, rather than being compared with the group's level of achievement.
• Assessment of Kindergarten children with disabilities should be aimed at identifying strengths and needs so that appropriate intervention can be planned. Little emphasis should be placed on assessment aimed at predicting future school success.
• Existing facilities may need modification for some children with disabilities. Adjustments that might be needed (i.e. special seating arrangements, adjustable easels for children in wheelchairs and braille or other tactile labels for children who are blind).
• Program components that are especially important for children with disabilities include play with other children, excursions and sensory experiences.

• Structured routine is important for children with attention problems.

Most children with disabilities (96.3%) attend school, with 65.1% attending regular schools and 62.4% attending a combination of regular and special education classes. Only 8.5% solely attend special education classes (Special Education Unit of Saskatchewan). Strong support is the best way to improve transition to school outcomes for children, families and schools.