Teaching for Every Student
General
Strategies
Students at martial arts schools come in all types,
and many will have characteristics that set them apart from
the 'typical' students. I am often asked by fellow martial
arts instructors for advice in teaching non-typical
students, as I work at a private non-profit school for
students with severe special needs, and have experience
teaching many different kinds of students. What I find when
I give general advice, is that it is the same advice I
would give to anyone who would like to be a good teacher.
• Assess your student's strengths and
weaknesses.
This is more likely to be an informal assessment, based on
your judgement and experience, but if you find yourself
presented with a student with needs well outside those of
the typical student, you may wish to look into a more
specialized or formal assessment.
• Adjust the goals of the program, and
your goals for the student.
Choose realistic, achievable goals in small steps for the
student. As you reach each interim goal, assess the
progress. Depending on the student, the goals may have to
be adjusted to continue to provide the milestones of
progress you are looking for.
• Assess the motivation of your
student.
Make it your priority to find out what motivates your
student from day to day. Once you figure this out, progress
will follow, but motivation isn't a one time deal. You will
have to figure this out on a regular basis.
Based on what you find, you may have to tailor what
you teach to meet the physical and cognitive needs of your
students. This is called differentiated instruction. You
aren't necessarily going to change what you teach, but how
you deliver it to each of your students. You still will be
teaching your art.
In order to provide some ideas on
how to address these adjustments, I'm going to provide some
examples based on students that I have had. These are
reflecting different individuals, but are grouped by
similar cognitive or physical problems.
Cognitive
Disabilities:
I have had students with Developmental disabilities,
mental retardation, and traumatic brain injury in both my
Kempo and Tai Chi classes. Strategies to use would include
pairing the student with a peer, and breaking the content
of the class into small chunks. Address one correction at a
time, and provide plenty of opportunities for practice. If
your student performs a technique or kata and needs to work
on balance, extension on strikes and stances, pick one
aspect to correct. If you give feedback on all of these
flaws, the student will get overwhelmed and will have a
hard time making any corrections. If you address them one
at a time, each aspect can be a goal, and will serve as
milestones of progress for your student. For self defense
situations, take into account that these students will
require additional reaction time and plan their distancing
and strategy accordingly. Also, your student might have
'developmental' problems, such as difficulty following
models, mirroring an instructor's movements, or difficulty
crossing their midline with their arms. Progress for these
students may be slow, but with patience, they will find
pride in their accomplishments.
Physical
Disabilities:
Many
students have physical limitations of one sort or another.
Some limitations are from birth, and some are acquired
along their lifetimes. The effect these limitations have
can impact two areas, function and safety. Although often
primarily associated with cognitive issues, Down Syndrome
can pose a safety risk with atlantoaxial stability and
circulatory issues. Most often the circulatory issues are
taken care of surgically when the person is young, but
prior to serving a student with Down Syndrome, as part of
the assessment process it is imperative to find out if the
student has been tested for atlantoaxial instability. This
is a weakness in the neck that affects a percentage of
people with Down Syndrome, and can lead to catastrophic
injuries. Tumbling, falling and contact sports are huge
risks for someone with this atlantoaxial instability, but
people with Down Syndrome who have been cleared by their
doctor using x-rays are free to engage in these activities.
Essentially, these things are really important to know to
properly serve your students.
In one of my Tai Chi
classes, I had a student with achondroplasia, commonly
referred to as dwarfism or 'a little person.' There were
differences in limb length with his lower body, and
differences in cartilage. In his case, most of the
adjustments were to the stances to suit his particular
measurements, but apart from that, few other adjustments
had to be made. The difference in appearance was much
bigger than his difference in ability.
Conditions
that Affect Many Areas:
Some
conditions affect a student's physical, mental and social
areas. As with Down Syndrome, conditions like Autism and
Asperger Syndrome or Cerebral Palsy can affect every area
of the students' lives. Cerebral Palsy may or may not
affect a student cognitively, but will affect the muscles
in some or all of the student's limbs. That student will
need to concentrate on stretching much more than the other
students. Students with Autism will have communication
issues, will have trouble picking up on non-verbal cues,
and may really have issues with people touching them.
Pairing them up with an assistant instructor 'buddy' will
ease these issues, but these students will require a lot of
extra care.
The
Answer to Everything:
Essentially, the answer to all of these issues is
the same:
Know your students. I have found that what
works for the student with special needs, works for the
typical learner. As an instructor, find out what their
needs are, set realistic, achievable goals, and find out
how to motivate them to keep them working toward these
goals. A key revelation that made a difference for me was
that my art was a means to an end. The point of studying
with me was not to perform the perfect kata. The
techniques, skills, moves, and all the rest are merely
tools to help the students achieve goals and improve the
quality of their lives. Self-defense, fitness, not falling
and breaking a hip; these are important ends. The art is
the means. If you get a student who has a particular
condition, educate yourself about their condition, and
their needs in order to make them safe and successful at
your school. What you teach will affect their lives outside
the dojo, whether or not they ever use a single technique
you teach in self-defense.
About the
author:
Matthew Barnes holds a 5th dan with the Kempo
Jutsu-kai, and is a Kempo and Tai Chi instructor with Cape
Cod Martial Arts Academy. He has a BA in Psychology from
the University of Connecticut, and has worked for the last
13 years at a private non-profit residential school for
students with severe special needs. This fall he will begin
a practicum to complete a Post-baccalaureate certificate in
Physical Education.
