One often comes across parents who complain that their children are herd followers (i.e., the children want to do a thing because his friend or the others are doing it and that the children are poor decision makers). Every parent wants his child to be the leader of the pack. Every parent feels uncomfortable when the child says that he is doing a particular thing because his friends are doing it (peer pressure). In classroom, students with disabilities encounter lots of decision-making when deciding whether to follow the group or become the leader of the group.
Leadership Skills have to be developed in children at a very young age. For a child to learn leadership skills it is necessary that he/she gets the right kind of atmosphere both at the school as well as at home. Let us call this as Leadership Training. The following tips help to inculcate leadership qualities among young children.
Communication
Parent-Child, Teacher-Child and Teacher/Parent communication is very important. The child should feel confident enough to communicate, voice his/her thoughts both at home and at school. This voicing of thoughts cannot be mindless. Teachers and parents can help student think cognitively and analyze what he/she wants to say and how it should be said.
Oftentimes, parents and teachers listen to a child, but may dismiss his/her thoughts considering them childish. Learning to disagree is an art that more often than not parents need to learn in teaching effective leadership skills.
Listening is not all that a parent or teacher need to do with the child. They can share with them their experiences, how and what they did in a particular situation, how they chose to react, where did they go wrong, how something was rectified, why it was wrong. It is like putting the child in simulated situations that can happen in all homes and classrooms and create effective leadership skills for students with disabilities.
Vision
When communication takes place, teachers are able to see and understand the vision of the child. In case a vision for the future is missing in a child, it needs to be given to him/her. Sharing experiences of life, reading success stories of others, asking for the child’s interpretation of the story, sharing one’s own interpretation can help to build up a vision for special needs students.
Team Work
Teaching Leadership skills to a child does not mean that he/she underestimates the importance of his teammates, teamwork, group assimilation and compromise. Talking to the child of the larger, the bigger outcome is important. It helps the child concentrate and channelize his/her energy. If students with disabilities try to do everything in the classroom, no work will be finished by the end, so proper team collaboration is important for effective learning outcomes to happen.
Planning
School and home are the first two places where a child learns leadership skill and time management. A child needs to be taught how to break a larger job into smaller achievable targets. Small targets help to raise his/her self esteem and confidence. Planning at this level is the introduction of the child to time management, resource management and continuous upgrading of already existing skills.
Persistence and Determination
Children need to be taught how to take failures in stride and how failures can be made into stepping stones towards success. They are young people, who can get boggled by the obstacles in the way. They need continuous supervision, motivation and encouragement. They need to be taught that success is not everything in life, but effort towards the goal is success.
To summarize:
- Leadership Skills are essential;
- Leaders are not born but can be evolved with thorough training. Teachers and parents can start early with the young students to help them evolve as leaders;
- No kind of disability or challenge can stop one from being a leader. Names of several famous personalities are mentioned at http://www.disabled-world.com, who fought one or other forms of disability to be successful.