WBT & Inclusive Classrooms

Well day two of semester two is officially here and gone and one of the classes that I have been most looking forward to is “Inclusive Education & Exceptionalities”. For the past three summers I have worked as a Child Development Worker with the Manitoba government and have loved every moment of it! So I am really hoping that I can use this class to solidify my prior knowledge, learn new information and learn how to best address exceptionalities in my future classrooms.

One of our major assignments includes a research project on a specific exceptionality; my topic being the Autism Spectrum. Through my summer job I have worked with several children who were on various places on the Autism Spectrum so I am excited to learn even more information on the topic.
    With this project in mind I started thinking about how a student on the Autism Spectrum would engage in a WBT classroom. Although every child is an individual, from what I know and have experienced with the children in my summer program, I could see WBT being a difficulty for students on the Autism Spectrum. I am specifically thinking about the “Class-Teach” component that requires students to share information and teach their peers. Do you think that this could be a difficulty for some students? On the other hand, this could provide the perfect opportunity for students to practice social skills with their peers!
    I know that there are so many different components to this topic and its not easily answered but what are your thoughts? If you are a teacher, have you had any students with exceptionalities in your WBT classrooms? What were the challenges/opportunities? If you are a parent of a child with an exceptionality, how do you think your son/daughter would react to a WBT classroom?