In this blog post, we want to share the most important points that Cristina addressed in her last Webinar, with the name of: "How to care for our children with special educational needs in preschool and kindergarten: the VICON Method as an integration tool"
For all those who didn't see it, you can visit the profile of the Facebook, where they have the entire thing. However, as we've said, we're going to share the most important points through this post. We hope it serves as a helpful reference. to many professionals who are dedicated to education and special education.
To begin we have to clarify concepts, such as:
What is the VICON Method?
We have said it on many occasions but we remind you. It is a learning program structured intensive program aimed at children with a visual and musical profile that addresses from early development, step by step all the evolutionary stages up to the most elaborate stages of language and learning. It is a therapeutic tool in video format, which is used as a complementary resource in the classroom with the aim of including these children with special educational needs in the class group, acting on these two prisms.
Being a motivating and natural learning tool as principle of change, use Music as a vehicle for learning and repetition as the integration of this process. Always under the watchful eye of emotion.
But Why is emotion so important in learning? Well, because our brain is lazy... "Yes it is! Have you ever seen how much effort it takes to read a book for an hour in this visual world without your brain wandering off to thoughts 50 times per page? And to overcome our brain's laziness—in this case, our students' brains—we must excite them, we must teach by excite-ing them.
As professionals, we must awaken curiosity and surprise our students.
In this way, another of the fundamental elements of the method is the music. Because the benefits of Music as a therapeutic tool that is already proven as a scientific discipline. You should know that music is a means of expression and communication with a specific language that inspires action and enjoyment at an individual and social level. Children with communication difficulties respond to musical stimulation more than to any other type of stimulus. One of the main problems for some children with special educational needs is difficulty in expression and communication, and the Music can be that means of communication to establish new channels of expression and socialization.
Listening to music is an action that involves practically all the cognitive functions involved in learning: attention, imitation, memory, concentration and learning.
How to implement the VICON Method in the Classroom?
As we have explained and as you can see in the Method website, its methodology incorporates the Video modeling. In this way, we must keep in mind that to implement the VICON Method in the classroom, we must have that visual support.
In this way, the Videos are integrated into the dynamics of the classroom, Finding three times a day as far apart as possible to view the video with the entire class.It's incredibly important to have the support of the family at home, where they can enhance these videos, and even professionals who work with the child, sharing the same username so they can all follow the same program and the same sequence of videos.
The time has come to Provide advice and/or tips to promote the inclusion of these children with special educational needs using the VICON Method tool.
These tips are going to focus on five sectionsThese five parts respond to a natural process of inclusion from the first news when a child with special educational needs actually arrives. We remind you of the pathologies the VICON Method addresses. here.
First things first What we have to do when we receive a case of a child with special educational needs is to do equipment, We have a family and professionals who always come hand in hand with the child and who are now going to be our shortcut for everything that adapting to him entails.
Establish monthly team meetings at the beginning to be very connected with the objectives and interventions, then they can be spaced out when everything is more controlled but at the beginning have contact for a WhatsApp group For all moments of difficulty, moments of achievement, sharing objective materials and ideas about activities will be strictly necessary.
Do not be afraid of bother all professionals Because in the end, they are the ones who are going to give us the best information, they are with the child one on one and this situation for us is going to be very difficult because we are always going to be with the entire class group.
We move on to the second point. The adaptation process is one of the most important moments for children, for their families, and for us as professionals, because we must nurture those first impressions. We must ensure a positive entrance into the classroom, with confidence and respect... The fact that the child arrives in the classroom with a reference person, who can acclimate to the space without classmates, but who also gives them enough time to familiarize themselves with the entire environment, the materials, for example.
During the adaptation, that person will read a book or do a boring activity so that the space and we as teachers can capture the attention of that child who turns to the adult, but the adult doesn't point out anything, but is present. It's also very helpful to let them bring a personal object from home, a toy, a doll to keep them company and give them security in case we don't have that reference adult. It will also be very helpful to have the space prepared differently the first few days, one day with fabrics. During the adaptation period, we don't need to do too many activities, but they should be very engaging. Given my profile, I recommend musical ones because of the emotional component they unleash on the communication level.
The adaptation period has two meanings: the child has to adapt to the group, but the group also has to adapt to the child. It's also very important to assess daily aspects such as sleep and appetite, which will be indicators of how the adaptation is going. We should also record everything we can to share with the family and then provide feedback, showing them how we did the initial feedback. As comprehensive as possible.
On the third point, we're going to materialize this entire process we've begun. We're now entering the child. Now we're going to filter all that information through what we see, with our eyes and our environment, because with us it will be different, and in our environment and with our class group it will generate a different or identical child profile. It's very important that we make time to be with them and bond so we can be their role model, their guide, and their anchor.
If we have the opportunity to have a shadow master We have to build an internal team within the classroom, especially during the first few months, so that nothing escapes us. It is necessary to make an extra effort to learn how we are going to present this new piece in our class group.
When we talk about what they like, we need to write everything down, check the topics they've told us, the materials, the games, the music. We need to have a good set of music, and everything else they like ready to have all those motivators ready. We need to assess whether the difficulties they've mentioned in other settings also transfer to the classroom or, on the contrary, don't arise.
On the other hand, we have the group, which also has its process and must also be respected, but it is very important to know how to define the profiles of children we have, There will be profiles of children teachers, children friends… . Because they will be the network we have to play with integration. It's very important to know that in a classroom, we often have a glimpse into what society is like, and our work is immensely important for each of them.
Fourth point. This exercise is the richest and the one you will find the most resources with, and you have done these phases well. Everything that What we do has to be focused on autonomy, we have to try to activate our children with special educational needs, make them responsible and participative, with or without help, and to do so, we need to try to introduce as many visual aids as possible. Use as many visual aids as you can, such as folders, colors, hangers, chairs, and depending on the child's abilities, try to provide as much help as possible in the first few days so they feel comfortable, welcomed, and oriented. It's very important to sequence all the work and know in which part of the sequence our child has their role, and the entire group knows what their role is, including the child. But to do this, we need to do a lot of prior work with these sequential visual aids.
And as a fifth point, are very important: the Group dynamics, all the games, all the spaces with music are very enriching and greatly reduce anxiety.. Spend time engaging in group cohesion activities, strengthening the sense of belonging to a group, not only for your child but also through the example of others. This is one of the most effective strategies for integration. is to make directed and semi-directed patiosIn the guided playgrounds we try to establish a small group, we try to teach social skills in a small group, integrating our special education children, these activities can have several objectives, integrate other children into our child's play, generate healthy relationships in children who have difficulty.
We know that the world of preschool and early childhood education is a world of routines, and that's why it's very appropriate for our children with special educational needs, where the anticipation and the process of knowing what's coming next gives them security, they enjoy it, and it makes them learn again and again. Try to integrate your children into your routines; this will greatly influence the profile of your child and their preferences.
The child and more specifically his brain needs repeat things in order to learn them. We can say that play is a form of expression of experiences without oral language, and it helps children develop concepts or resolve conflicts. All emotional and social capacities, creativity and imagination, and physical abilities, even the development of the senses, come into play here. Today, sight and hearing are primarily stimulated, leaving aside smell, touch, taste, and all kinesthetic aspects.
So I try to enrich all classroom activities, even trying to integrate activities that don't require verbal language. Children learn a lot from experiences without language, and communication is enhanced when I remove the verbal part and keep only the nonverbal part.
We hope these tips have helped you. However, you can always ask Cristina at the following email address: cristina@metodovicon.com and I tell you about everything we do with professionals.