We’re nearing the start of a new school year and children are beginning to return to the classroom. This can be a time of anxiety for children. And for children of special needs, this is an especially anxious time. Not only will they have to meet new teachers and adjust to a new classroom, they also have to worry about making friends and being accepted among their peers. 

Making friends in school can be difficult, and every parent wants to set their children up for success. Educating your child about inclusion and acceptance is one of the best ways to help prepare your child to make amazing friends!

Teaching your child about disabilities, and how to include and accept their peers who have special needs, benefits everyone! Whether you’re a teacher or a parent, we’ve compiled a few tips on how to teach children to interact with, accept, and include children with disabilities in the classroom.

Educate Your Children About Disabilities

Millions of Americans live with disabilities, both invisible and visible, and it’s important to educate your children on both. Educating your child on disabilities doesn’t have to be a difficult conversation, nor does it require you to become an expert on the subject. There are many resources available that can help you teach your child about disabilities. 

Videos are a great way to introduce your child to various disabilities. You can watch television shows that feature characters with disabilities, such as Sesame Street, or YouTube videos.

Some of the resources available include children’s books about disabilities that can be found at your local library. Here are a few children’s books about disabilities:

• Looking Out for Sarah by Glenna Lang
• All the Way to the Top by Annette Bay Pimental
• Benji, the Bad Day, and Me by Sally J. Pla and Ken Min
• Together Things by Michelle Vasiliu and Gwynneth Jones

It’s important to both read books about disabilities, and to read books that feature characters with disabilities! An individual is so much more than their disability, and reading books that don’t focus on someone’s disability, but rather treat the individual like anyone else, exemplifies how everyone should treat people with disabilities. Here are a few children’s books that feature characters with disabilities:

• King for a Day by Rukhsana Khan
• Hello Goodbye Dog by Maria Gianferrari
• Arabella by Wendy Orr

After viewing or reading materials that feature individuals with disabilities, speak with your children about their thoughts and how they can apply what they have learned in the classroom.

Follow The Golden Rule

Every child should be familiar with the golden rule: treat others how you wish to be treated. Teach your children that even when people are different from them, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, kindness, and respect. 

Teaching your child this goes beyond just telling them to be kind to others. It also means acting as an example to your kids by practicing what you teach. Being nice and accepting of others in front of your child, whether it be to colleagues, your family, or other children, will exemplify how they should treat others. 

Reiterate that no matter someone’s abilities or physical differences, everyone wants to have friends. 

Bond Over Similarities

Many children think that because someone looks differently than them they have to change their own personality in order to interact with them. This isn’t true! Making friends with those who have disabilities is like making friends with any other neuro-typical or able-bodied person. 

Instruct your child to just be themselves! Find what they love and share it with others. Finding similarities with others - like finding a shared love of sports, music, video games, television shows, animals, etc. - is the key to making friendships! Making friends with children who have disabilities is no different!

Respect Boundaries

While children with disabilities will have likes and dislikes - just as any other child - they also have certain healthy boundaries that your child will have to be aware of! If a child is living with a sensory, developmental, or physical disability, they may have different boundaries than a neurotypical or able-bodied individual. 

It’s important for your child to recognize that their new friend may have to take more breaks, or will prefer quieter environments, etc., that they may not experience themselves. Make sure that your child knows that if their friend uses a service dog, the service dog should be ignored while it is working! 

 Essentially, just teach your child to understand that different people have different abilities - and that’s okay! Just respect boundaries, abilities, and what makes other people comfortable!

Stand Up For Others

Educating your child on disabilities will help them challenge stereotypes and misconceptions. Your child will likely notice that not everyone treats those who are different with kindness that they deserve. 

When others make hurtful comments towards their peers that have disabilities, instruct your child that it is okay to stand up for others. Treat moments like this as opportunities for education, and that others deserve to be treated with kindness! 

Creating A More Inclusive, Accepting World

Remember that by teaching your kids to accept others and appreciate differences, that you’re helping to contribute to a more inclusive, friendlier, and more loving world. 

If you would like to learn more, https://enablingdevices.com/blog/how-to-include-classmates-disabilities/ is a helpful resource!