How to teach severely disabled students in a regular classroom with no help
Expecting a teacher to manage drastically different learning levels at the same time without specialized training or paraprofessional support leaves them isolated and exhausted. This makes it impossible to properly educate the student with severe needs while simultaneously keeping up with grade-level instruction for the rest of the class.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Helping the student make friendship bracelets or color
- 2Sending the student to the library
- 3Giving the student the same grade-level materials to doodle on
- 4Using AI to level down instructional materials
- 5Using retired teachers or extra bodies as temporary support at the beginning of the year
- 6Waiting for 30 days of data collection and going through the standard testing timeline before help can be provided
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“How do I teach this class--all kids at once--while preserving the dignity of this student, meeting their needs at their level, honoring their right to an education; and meeting those same needs of my gen ed students?”source ↗
“I feel like I'm being asked to teach an 11th grade class at the same time as a 1st grade class, and it's unfair to all parties involved.”source ↗
“I have no training and no clue how to teach someone with a 2nd grade reading level.”source ↗
“Otherwise, you leave a teacher in a classroom without para support for your child and the other children in the class also struggle because so much of the teacher's time is having to be used for the spectrum child.”source ↗
“I'm a retired teacher serving as an "extra" body at the beginning of the year because we have a few show up the first day of kindergarten every year and the parents or caregivers act like their child does not struggle.”source ↗
“In reality there shouldn't be any help given and the teacher is left on an island and thoroughly exhausted and at their wits end.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 9How to manage an oversized classroom with no support or SPED training
- 2Why are honors classes full of average students?
- 2What to do when you can't understand a student's speech impediment
- 3How to find a dog that fits a neurodivergent child
- 2How do you teach a combined grade elective without losing control?
- 2How do I ask my job for autism accommodations?