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Personal Skills and Technology Partners in Helping Special Needs Students Survive and Thrive

(by Otto Schmidt, Education Consultant, Accent on Skills Consulting, Toronto, ON 416-226-2332, 416-824-4883 o.schmidt@accentonskills.com [|www.AccentonSkills.com])

As jobs, assets and profits burn unchecked in the global recession, the need for change is inescapable. The education system must take a serious look at what students are learning because so much of current knowledge, facts, methods and processes is becoming outdated and obsolete. Skills, however, don’t get old and obsolete. A difficult question is, “How can special needs students be helped to better fit into the whole scheme of things?” There is a positive answer.

Skills are more valuable than ever in the struggle to help people work more efficiently, rebuilding and revamping our economies, and saving the planet in general. Advanced technology and personal skills become perfect partners in helping special needs students contribute positively despite the demands.  Learning should be a life-long endeavour for young and old who may or may not have special needs. Analytical skills, creativity and problem-solving are strongly empowering and are prized abilities in all areas of the workforce. Having a head full of facts and figures is now of lesser value. Knowing “how to” do things is more important.

Personal skills training produces competency and helps people become independent, self-directed learners. When processing skills are strengthened and applied to knowledge and facts, the result is better products and outcomes. Assistive technology enables and extends the expression of learned skills.

Educators are vital in discovering and nurturing physical and intellectual skill sets. Special education students can use learned skills and technology to achieve many more goals and compete more effectively for their place in the upcoming “new” revamped world. Assistive devices give the most severely challenged students increased mobility and the ability to communicate their ideas more effectively.

The following are some of the personal skills that every special education student needs to ensure he/she can survive and thrive in the future. Technology can assist at all stages of the learning.

· ** Innovation Skills. ** How to: invent new products/services. Canada needs to continue to be a breeding ground for innovative and valuable new inventions and ideas. Everybody can then be an inventor.  · ** Communication Skills. ** How to: speak/present professionally, write effectively, read/use body language. We truly do live in a global village and should be prepared to interface with others anywhere in the world. · ** Higher-Level Thinking Skills. ** How to: analyze, problem-solve, assess little ideas to find the hidden BIG ones, think in an enhanced way, think logically, use inductive/deductive thinking methods · ** Self-Awareness Skills. ** “How to”: increase levels of perception, relax, de-stress, self-motivate, re-energize, recognize success, keep up the spirits despite intense challenges and competition · ** Leadership Skills. ** “How to”: be a leader, develop teams and think tanks, achieve win-win outcomes, handle criticism, improve emotional maturity, determine levels of success 

 **The world is changing dramatically ** and a very positive aspect of the changes is that new technology allows almost everybody to contribute more. The Information Age is being replaced by the Age of Creativity which demands people be producers of new learning, not just consumers. Skills training, assisted by advanced technology is one of the best ways to help special education children strive, survive and thrive.