Classroom Integration: From Identification to Safety and Belonging
Written by Miss. Aibatphida Nylla Lyngdoh
Psychologist, PMR Centre
Every teacher knows the child. The one who cannot sit still. The one who never follows instructions. The one who melts down at transitions. The one who plays alone.
Red flags are easy to spot. The harder question is always: Now what?
As part of the School Outreach Programme on Disability, a session for primary teachers and administrators, offered by the Centre, focused on moving beyond identification to meaningful classroom integration. The framework is simple, practical, and rooted in the daily reality of the classroom.
It begins with one child.
Teachers are asked to choose one student—someone who puzzles them, worries them, or who they see struggling and in need of a different kind of support. That child becomes the lens through which every strategy is considered. Inclusion stops being theoretical. It becomes personal.
Two bridges.
For that child, teachers must build two parallel bridges. The learning bridge provides access to the curriculum through adjusted environment, instruction, materials, and assessment. A wobble cushion for the wobbly child. A visual timetable for the child who cannot follow verbal directions. A chunky pencil for the child who cannot grip. A "First, Then" card for the child who cannot sustain attention.
The belonging bridge provides socio-emotional safety through predictability, structured friendship opportunities, and co-regulation. The five-minute warning before transitions. The play buddy rotation. The calm voice that says, "I see you are frustrated. That is okay." All this keeping in mind that a child who does not feel safe cannot learn.
Three tiers.
Universal Design for Learning benefits everyone. Visual schedules, gestures with instructions, choice in how to respond. Differentiated Instruction supports some students who need more. Focus spots, adapted tools, small-group teaching. Individualized Education Plans provide intensive support for a few—built on top of strong foundational practices, not separate from them.
The classroom teacher is not a therapist. But the classroom teacher is the architect of the learning environment.
One promise.
The session closes where it began: with that one child's name. Because every child's seat in a classroom is not just a physical space. It is a promise. A promise that here, they will be seen, heard, and challenged to grow. Not in spite of who they are, but because of it.
That promise is kept not in grand gestures, but in the daily, intentional work of building classrooms where every child belongs.