The Benefits of Teaching Chess to Special Education Students
Chess has been said to improve the cognitive skills of children and teenagers. I wanted to know if chess would also help improve the cognitive skills of children and teens with special needs. I could not find any recent official studies on the matter, but I found some personal testimonials from teachers that it helped their students.
The first link I found, http://chessineducation-chessteacher.blogspot.com/2008/01/chess-helps-learning-disabled.html , describes some of the social benefits of playing Chess. If a student is enrolled in a chess program it allows them to meet others and even encourages those without disabilities to help those with disabilities. It is also a fun activity that can be a reward for learning disabled children. Being enrolled in chess would also let students play with their own skill level.
Another teacher described some more of the cognitive benefits and describes how well her students have improved. http://chessineducation-chessteacher.blogspot.com/2008/12/its-our-move.html . From what I’ve read in these articles I feel that teaching children to play chess in their spare time would be beneficial for the, social, concentration, and learning skills of the student.
I found one study that had been found on the effect of chess on special education students. Educators at the Roberto Clemente School (C.I.S. 166) in New York report that chess has improved not only academic scores, but social performance as well. In 1988, Joyce Brown, an assistant principal and supervisor of the school’s Special Education department, and teacher Florence Mirin began studying the effect of chess on their Special Education students. When the study began, they had 15 children enrolled in chess classes; two years later they had 398-
“The effects have been remarkable,” Brown says. “Not only have the reading and math skills of these children soared, their ability to socialize has increased substantially, too. Our studies have shown that incidents of suspension. and outside altercations have decreased by at least 60% since these children became interested in chess.”(http://www.knowledge-first.org/Chess%20Improves%20Academic%20performance.pdf )
Do you think that chess would benefit special needs children? If so, do you think teachers should teach it in the classroom? Or should there be programs outside of school that students can enroll in? If you don’t think chess would be any more beneficial than regular schooling, why not?
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Chess as a learning tool sounds like a great idea. It could help develop critical thinking skills that so many children with special needs lack. I feel that if it was proven to be beneficial to these children then the implementation of it should be encouraged. I do not feel, however, that it should be taught as a subject in the classroom. I could be taught in the classroom in free time or as a regular weekly lesson but not as an everyday subject. The question I have is at what IQ does this become ineffective? I do not feel that most of the students in my class would understand the high level of strategy required to play the game at any level. They would enjoy moving the pieces and pretending to play but I do not feel that they would move them in accordance with the rules required for appropriate play.
ReplyDeleteI can see how learning chess and being part of a club or organization can improve the cognitive, social and concentration skills of special needs children. I don’t know if it is solely the strategy and rules of chess itself that affected the children or the benefits of being in a club and working together with other students that improved their abilities. Working alongside classmates in an effort to learn and master a common goal most likely will bring them together and improve social skills no matter what the game or subject is. But I do think that the strategy and turn-taking in chess may contribute to increased concentration skills. I think that it would be more beneficial to have the program outside of school that students can enroll in because then they would have to be more dedicated and the social environment would definitely broaden because it is not just students in your classroom, but rather a collection of students of different ages and classes that are working towards the same goal. I don’t think that it is anymore beneficial than regular schooling but it would be an interesting and motivating complement to the student’s education.
ReplyDeleteWhen I am teaching in a special education classroom I know it will be a beneficial motivator to play games when work is finished, and I understand the viewpoint of the teacher from the first article to use chess in this aspect. I also agree with Kate however, and I believe that chess will be too challenging for many sever special education students. The skills learned in this game are beneficial, and it will be useful to find other games at ability levels my children can play to learn the same skills. Although good for motivation I do not think it is appropriate to dedicate all of class time to chess, or any other game. There are other skills more important to be learned in class time, and games can be reserved for rewards that have the plus of developing great skills while being fun! If the students come to really enjoy chess, or any other game for that matter, a club can be created for them. This out of school activity could develop skills that would be a wonderful benefit to in school activities as well. Activities like this should be encouraged by teachers, but not placed as part of the curriculum.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting idea and I really like it. I can see why chess would be so beneficial because as a game, it is a motivator for students to think critically, but then while they play they use those different parts in their brain and develop their critical thinking skills further. I think it would be a great idea to have this as an option for students to play in their free time during class, maybe as a club during lunch time, or as an after school activity because I don’t think it would be a good enough activity to replace the many other things students should be working on. I also think the social aspect of chess would be great, because as I’ve observed with the students I’ve worked with, any chance to play with the other kids who aren’t in special education is quite a treat and they love it. So if they could team up with the school chess team or simply have peer tutors play with them, it would be probably one of the favorite activities. I do agree with Kate as well in that the students we will be working with probably won’t have the skills to understand the game, and would just want to play around with the pieces. However chess pieces and the board could be a great tool for other activities, like counting, and so I think having a chess board in classrooms is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteI think that chess is a great tool for teaching children with disabilities. It has many different skills that children can learn by playing. Just a few examples are critical thinking, cause and effect, memory, strategy and fine motor skills. I think that this is a great way for students to have fun and to learn skills that will be beneficial for their everyday life. I would never have thought of using this as a teaching tool as it is a difficult game for me to even be good at but it seems to work well in the special education environment. And it can bring unity among fellow students. It should be encouraged in the educational fields.
ReplyDeleteI think that teaching students with special needs how to play chess can and will be beneficial to some students, but not all. Like stated previously, for some severe students chess will be too challenging for them to understand. However, for those students who are capable of understanding the concept I agree that chess will help in social, cognitive, and concentration skills. Personally, if I were a teacher now, I would use chess for students as a reward. It's a game they could have fun with and it teaches them vital skills. I would use it at most once a week, but maybe only once every other week. I think there are other activities that could help strengthen social, cognitive, and concentration skills more so than chess. So, yes, chess is a great tool to use in a classroom, but not as part of the core curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI find this an interesting topic. It amazes me how excited both teachers were about the success of playing chess in the classroom. Of course, playing chess in the younger grades of elementary school is not possible, but for those in middle school and above, it seems to be working. I would agree with the authors of the blogs that we should incorporate chess into our schools because of the success they are are seeing in their own classrooms. How we incorporate it is tricky. To me, it seems that kids already have tons of options for both elective credits and extra curricular activities, so chess might just get lost in all the other options. It's hard to say what is best, so that would depend upon each school or school district to incorporate as they can. As an administrator, I probably wouldn't try to turn chess into a class because that would be too difficult. However, as an after school club, that would be great. The only problem with after school clubs is that they don't reach everyone and usually are only effective if the students themselves are excited about it. However, since we are in special education, we have the ability to adapt the curriculum to the needs of the students, so using chess might be something we can use if we can tie it back to the curriculum. That would be an excellent way of helping build the social ability of our students and increase their cognitive ability. If it works well and increases our students capacities, then let's use it as special educators.
ReplyDeleteI think chess is a great motivator for children of all types. I like the social aspect of it for children with disabilities. The article said that on the chess board, everyone is viewed as equal. This is a big deal for children with disabilities and I can see how chess can really provide a sense of community for these kids. I also like that it helps with problem solving skills. Having a game that is entertaining and also improves their mind capacity is a wonderful find. I think there are many activities that are qualified to do this, chess is not the only one. However, i think it's great that chess has been working in schools and in special education classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI think chess is a great idea for students with or without disabilities. I definitely agree that chess can help the cognitive, social, and physical skills of students with disabilities. If learning and playing chess will benefit students with disabilities, then it should be apart of their lives or any other games that can help them. These activities can be learned in school or in any after school time.
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