Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tomato]

There is a new kid who is 12 years old, looks to be 6 years old, and has some sort of a handicap.
They put him in the 6-year-old class, but even that's not good enough.

He spends most of the classtime meddling in the teacher's files trying to leave the classroom, and wreaking all manner of mischief.
I usually manage to restrain him, but that's not all I'm expected to do.
I'm also expected to teach him.

I've tried everything I can think of.
One would think that a teacher with kindergarten experience can comfortably teach a handicapped 12-year-old, but it's not that simple.
I use activities which I have used oodlums of times in kindergarten, but they don't work with 종우.
When I ask for a volunteer to spell a word, draw a picture, or play a musical instrument, the other kids jump out of their chairs and yell, "저요! 저요!"
But not 종우.

I thought that gross motor activity was the magic answer for working with any hyperactive kid.
So I tried marching to the rhythm of page 1, jumping to the rhythm of page 2, and running to the rhyhm of page 3.
Once again, all the other kids participated.

I have tried watching 종우's misbehavior and adapting the picture book to
his misbehavior.
On Monday, he was rocking his desk back and forth.
So we all rocked our desks once for every syllable.
We rocked 5 times for "Hi, guys, here I come!" and 4 times for "I feel silly."
The other kids participated, but not 종우.

There is only one activity in which I win 종우's cooperation, and that is in playing cards.
Whether the game is bango, go fish, or old maid, 종우 is a willing participant.

But I can't play cards the whole hour.
I wish I could figure out what the decisive factor is, harness that factor, and consider that factor in designing five or six more activities.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Obviously he's handicapped and shouldn't be in any sort of regular class. I have a grade 1 middle school girl who fits that exact description. They tried her in regular classes before concluding that it was better just to send her off doing activities with our two retarded grade 3 students.

I can't imagine what an English hogwan teacher would do with someone like that. Cute kid, but clearly not able to do regular education.

[oldfatfarang]

Clearly the kid is handicapped. Such is life. The whole 'mainstreaming' philosophy is a nice idea, but almost impossible to achieve successfully in a public classroom situation. I have some experience with de-institutionalisation and I think these kids (and their peers) are better served with individual instruction/teaching.

I would explain the KID'S problem to your Director in pyschobabble. Koreans seem to respect this sort of stuff (although most haven't a clue what you are talking about). I've successfully moved 2 students using this strategy - one left the school (major loss of face for parents) and another now has an individual class (better for his attention defecit disorder).
If that strategy fails to remove him from the class - then tell the other kids parents THEIR CHILDREN'S EDUCATION IS SUFFERING because you are spending too much time/attention with the handicapped child. A few phone calls and the problem will disappear.

[saw6436]

I had the same problem. I gave-up trying to discipline/teach the boy. I made him my assistant and everything went swell. I had him passing out/collecting papers, doing photo copying, cleaning the board, etc. I just kept him busy with odd jobs. The parents were aware of his limitations and just wanted him to do the same things other kids were doing. They didn't care if he learned English or not.

[ChopChaeJoe]

I've got a retarded kindergarten student. I used to have him 2 days a week, now 3 days a week. He tries very hard. His pronunciation is horrible so I'm thinking about not correcting it any more. If he understands what I'm saying and can respond appropriately, I guess that will have to be enough.

[yospeck]

Handicapped (like down syndrome), learning difficulties or autistic? They're varying degrees of problems and different ways to handle them all. If you want to try and help him, or are being forces then check on some specialised websites. Not saying people here wont have have some experience, but you'd probably be better asking professionals if you're going to be playing any part in the kids teaching life.

A good start might be by asking the parents exactly what is wrong with the kid so you can see how far you can go with helping. The fact he's in a 6yr olds class is a telling sign and as suggested if you cant teach him, then I think getting him involved as your personal helper (but always letting other kids do stuff) wont do him any harm and might help you a little.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[SirFink]

I was hanging out last night at the local university and met several "special education" majors. If Korean universities offer this major, surely there are special classes/schools for the learning-disabled?

Yet after reading this thread I see I'm not alone in having several learning-disabled kids. Do they just chuck them all into the same education meat-grinder and hope for the best?

[ilovebdt]

[atlhockey]

I had a kid with textbook ADHD presentation in my beginner 9-y/o class. There was no mention of the problem, except for "sometimes he is difficult student". He was a smart kid, but he just couldn't focus at all, couldn't finish any work, couldn't even finish writing a word on his spelling test, even when he could spell it aloud. He wasn't back for September, so hopefully his parents found a better option for him.

And perhaps some medication.

[poet13]

"I've got a retarded kindergarten student. I used to have him 2 days a week, now 3 days a week. He tries very hard. His pronunciation is horrible so I'm thinking about not correcting it any more. If he understands what I'm saying and can respond appropriately, I guess that will have to be enough."

Don't give up on that one. On top of some strange birth defects, and an obvious mental disability (I'm not qualified to even GUESS at what flavor), I had a kid with a cleft palate that they had fixed with an ax (or so it seemed).

He butchered Korean so badly that the other kids didn't even understand him, but eventually his english was such that he was understandable.

Even a little progress is rewarding. You just have to remember not to measure him or her with the same ruler.

[EH]

Hi tomato. Feel free to PM me with specific questions as they arise. I'm a speech-language pathologist, so if I had a little more info on the kid I might be able to help you figure out what sort of disability the kid has and steer you toward a website or two that might help you with lesson planning with that in mind.

In the meantime:
1) How about doing more with cards? I use cards for prepositions and for rhyming, for example. For prepositions, 'hide' the cards around the room and say, "everyone, find the *** card." Whoever finds the card must say where they found it ("The *** card was next to the door") in order to keep the card. For rhyming, write an easy to rhyme word on each card. Students take turns drawing one from the pile. If they can come up with a word that rhymes with the one on the card, they get to keep the card. If they mess up, then someone else gets a try at that card. The winner is the one with the most cards. You can do a whole bunch of different games with cards. Maybe not a card game every day, but if the games were truly diverse and educational then every other day probably wouldn't hurt.

2) Get more of a routine in place. The other kids may thrive on new stuff, but if he's really that impaired then he's probably not understanding what you want him to do until the activity is already finished. If he practices the same sort of activity/routines every class, though, he may become more compliant as he figures out what exactly he's expected to do.

3) Definitely talk with his parents, if possible. If they're really interested in having the boy learn, then you could send home a preview of your lessons ahead of time so they could practice with him at home and help him be more on the ball during class. Homework, too, would be a useful thing if they were willing to do it with him. Not annoying, busy-work homework. I mean like actual practice speaking and hearing the words you are teaching in class. Oh, and it would be a really great idea to make sure you, the parents, and the wonjangnim are all on the same page as to how much this kid is expected to learn, and how much he's expected to keep up with his classmates.

4) Try more visuals and manipulatives. If cards are appealing, then maybe he's more motivated by non-auditory stimuli? I don't know. Just a guess.

5) Get the kid a toy to play with. Sometimes if distractible kids have an "attention toy" to fiddle with they actually pay attention better because they're not searching out other objects to destroy. Squishy little balls are good for this (but if he throws the toy, he loses it until next class). Also, if possible, sometimes it helps to stretch an elastic cord or bungee cord at foot-rest level between the legs of the kid's desk. Then the kid can kick the cord and nudge it with his toe--and it's all silent and not distracting to the other kids.

6) Assign one other student per class session to be this boy's buddy for the day. It's that's student's job to help keep the kid on task, explain directions, and get your attention if needed.

Good luck!
-EH

[poet13]

"5) Get the kid a toy to play with. Sometimes if distractible kids have an "attention toy" to fiddle with they actually pay attention better because they're not searching out other objects to destroy. Squishy little balls are good for this (but if he throws the toy, he loses it until next class). Also, if possible, sometimes it helps to stretch an elastic cord or bungee cord at foot-rest level between the legs of the kid's desk. Then the kid can kick the cord and nudge it with his toe--and it's all silent and not distracting to the other kids."


Very cool. Wish that had been posted a year and a half ago. Question though. How do you respond if EVERY child wants an attention toy or an elastic? Doesn't it send a mixed message in a classroom where no toys are allowed?

[EH]

"Very cool. Wish that had been posted a year and a half ago. Question though. How do you respond if EVERY child wants an attention toy or an elastic? Doesn't it send a mixed message in a classroom where no toys are allowed?"

You'd have to play it by ear. Some classes are full of very mature kiddos who understand that one of their classmates is really different is therefore gets different treatment. But in a class full of more normal kids... well, you could always have one extra toy of the same sort to award/lend to the kid who deserved it most that day. So there would be one toy for the child with extreme distractibility and one other for whomever deserved a treat that day--and that'd be it, no toys allowed other than that.

As for elastics under the table, personally I don't place many limits on that. As long as they're not visibly or auditorily distracting to the rest of the students, any student can have one of those. They're pretty fun. But you have to put them on the desks before class time, and be able to leave them there. It's a waste of class time to put them on and take them off all the time. And before you install them you might want to talk about them with the class so they know what they're for, and what sort of behaviors are okay/not okay. Oh, and be sure the elastics are not going to snap easily, come off easily, or otherwise be disruptive. Their silence and invisibility is their reason for existence.

-EH