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Special Education Focus Area with Hanneke van Riel
The Riddle of The Special Child
A Pathway towards Understanding
As an experienced teacher, you have seen them all, the children who cannot sit still long enough to hear your story, the children who fall off their chair, those who avoid participation in movement activities, the ones who cannot find their place in the community of children forming the class. The list goes on with children who have difficulty processing language, or who have significant delays or disabilities in academic areas. Children may have come to you with labels such as "Asperger Syndrome", "dyslexia", ADHD, or ED. Who are these children? How we can meet these children and their special needs in the classroom?
Rudolf Steiner pointed out that education and healing are akin. Our human developmental path is one of continuous striving for a healthy balance between our soul/spiritual needs and our physical realities. Some children will need special attention to find a balance that allows them to fulfill their individual unique destiny in life. In this light, Rudolf Steiner presented insights that give education the power of healing. How can we as teachers develop our art of education into a healing art?
We will study current theory on the subject of special education and deepen it with anthroposophical understanding. We will explore and practice aspects of the Waldorf curriculum that have a health-giving effect: color, movement, story, and form drawing. Certain classes will be shared with the Healing and Visual Arts Group.
It is our hope that teachers will return to their classrooms with renewed enthusiasm for their work, with heart-warmed understanding of their special students, and with a research oriented mindset when it comes to applying suggestions for help.
Hanneke van Riel has many years of experience as a Waldorf class teacher and as a special educator with a specialty in speech and language disorders. She has presented numerous workshops on the subject of special needs to Waldorf faculties and to teacher trainees. She is presently an associate faculty member at Antioch New England.
© 2007 Antioch University New England, 40 Avon Street, Keene, NH 03431-3516 800.553.8920