Yotam, a child in a special education kindergarten, has difficulty connecting with other children, as noted by the teacher: “He is often alone and less cooperative. He announced during the first workshop that he wouldn’t be participating. When the facilitator spoke with him, he shared his hobby of drawing. During the activity that followed we focused on drawing. Each child drew on their own and we complimented and shared their drawings with the others. We then divided into pairs. Geffen invited Yotam to draw with her and he agreed but each of the children drew on the page by themselves, not together. The next task was to divide into groups of four. When it came time for the kids to decide what to draw, we were surprised to see that Yotam lead the group, and everyone drew beautifully. After the activity we discussed the importance of working separately and together, and the importance of leadership.”
Yotam’s mother says that he talked about this activity for days and was very encouraged. The kindergarten teacher also said that Yotam chooses to cooperate in kindergarten much more than in the past, even during activities that aren’t his “strength”.
As part of the Kaleidoscope programme for the development of SEL social skills in special education kindergartens, workshops were held in which the children learned in an experiential way the values of self-acceptance, acceptance of others, cooperation, problem-solving, etc.
