CATEGORIES SPECIAL EDUCATION

GLDUENAS

SPECIAL EDUCATION DEFINED

Special education can be defined from many perspectives:

- special education as intervention

a. Remedial intervention

b. Compensatory intervention

-special education as instruction

who, what, how ,where

SPECIAL EDUCATION

A special education is appropriate only when pupil’s need are

such that he or she cannot be accommodated in a general

education program.

Is a customized instructional program designed to met the

unique needs of an individual learner. It may necessitate the

use of specialized materials, equipment, services, and/or

teaching strategies

Special education is not limited to a specific location.

Special education is truly beneficial and meet the unique needs

of who provide related services

CATEGORIES AND LABELS

A category is nothing more than a label assigned to individuals who share common characteristics and features.

PL 105-17 , Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1997 identifies the following thirteen categories of disability:

Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and non verbal communication and social interaction , generally evident before the age of 3, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance.

Deaf and blindness means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.

Deafness means a hearing impairment that is severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Emotional disturbance :

(i) The terms means a condition exhibiting one or more of the

following characteristics over a long period of time and to mark

degree that adversely affects a child’s performance:

(A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual,

sensory, or health factors

(B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal

relationships with peers and teachers.

(C) Inappropriate types of behaviors or feelings under normal

circumstances.

(D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.

(E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated

with personal or school problems

(ii) The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to

children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that

they have an emotional disturbance.

Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness.

Mental Retardation means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance

Multiple disabilities means concomitant impairments ( such as mental retardation –blindness, mental retardation-orthopedic impairments, etc.), the combination of which causes severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness

Orthopedic impairment means a severe

orthopedic impairment that adversely affects

a child’s educational performance. The term

includes impairment cause by congenital

anomaly ( e.g. clubfoot, absence of some

member, etc.) impairment caused by disease

(e.g. poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc)

and impairment from other causes ( e.g.

cerebral palsy, amputations and fractures or

burns that cause contractures).

Other health impairments means having limited

strength, vitality or alertness to environmental

stimuli, that results in limited alertness with

respect to educational environment, that

(i) Is due to chronic or acute health problem such

as asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity

disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition,

hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis,

rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemia and;

(ii) Adversely affects child’s educational

performance

Specific learning disability is defined as follows:

(i) General. The term means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological process involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia.

(ii) The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation , or emotional disturbances, or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage

Speech or language impairment means a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Traumatic brain injury means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or functional disability or psychological impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The terms applies to open or closed head injuries in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition, language, memory, attention, reasoning, abstract thinking, judgment, problem-solving, sensory-perceptual and motor abilities ; psychosocial behavior, physical function, information processing and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

Visual impairment including blindness

means an impairment in vision that, even

with correction, adversely affects a child’s

educational performance. The term includes

both partial sight and blindness

TERMINOLOGY

Exceptional children is used by both general and special education teachers to refer to individuals who differ from societal or community standard of normalcy. These differences may be due to significant physical, sensory , cognitive or behavioral characteristics.

Thus, most of these children may require educational programs customized to their unique.

Disability refers to an inability or a reduced capacity to perform a task in a specific way. A disability is a limitation imposed on an individual by a loss or reduction of functioning, such as the paralysis of leg muscles, the absence of an arm, or the loss of sight. It can also refer to problems in learning.

Handicap refers to the impact or consequence of disability, not the condition itself. It is the problems or difficulties that a person with a disability encounter as he or she attempts to function and interact with the environment.

Developmentally Delayed and at-Risk. These labels are incorporated in federal legislation (PL 99-457 and PL 105-17) and are used when referring to infants and preschoolers with problems in development , learning, or other areas of functioning.

Developmental delay is when a child’s performance on a standardized test is at least 25 percent below the mean of childrenwith similar chronological age in one or more developmental areas such as motor, language, or cognitive ability. ( But in other state, the determination is made when a preschooler ‘s score on an assessment instrument is two or more standard deviations below the mean for youngster of the same chronological age.

SUGGESTION FOR COMMUNICATING

ABOUT INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES

1. Do not focus on the disability

2. Do not portray successful people with disabilities as

superhuman

3. Do not sensationalize a disability

4. Do not use generic labels

5. Put people first

6. Emphasize abilities

7. Avoid Euphemism

8.Do not imply disease

9. Show people with disabilities as active

THE PROS AND CONS OF LABELING

INDIVIDUALS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Advantages Disadvantages

1.Labels serve as a means for funding

and administering education programs

1. Labels can be stigmatizing and may

lead to stereotyping.

2. Teacher certification programs and

credentialing process are frequently

developed around specific disability

categories (e.g. mental retardation,

hearing impairment)

2. Labeling has the potential of focusing

attention on limitations and what a

person cannot do instead of on the

individual’s capabilities and strengths.

3.Labels allow professionals to

communicate efficiently in a meaningful

fashion.

3. Labels can sometimes be used as an

excuse or reason for delivering

ineffective instruction

4. Research efforts frequently focus on

specific diagnostic categories

4. Labels can contribute to a diminished

self-concept, lower expectations, poor

self –esteem.

5. Labels establish an individual’s

eligibility for services

5. Labels are typically inadequate for

instructional purposes; they do not

accurately reflect the educational or

therapeutic needs of the individual

student

6. Treatment, instruction, and support

services are differentially provided on the

basis of a label

6.Labeling can lead to reduced

opportunities for normalized experiences

in school and community life

7. Labels heighten the visibility of the

unique needs of persons with disabilities

7. A label can give the false impression of

the permanence of a disability; some

labels evaporate upon leaving the school

environment

8. Labels serve as a basis for counting the

number of individuals with disabilities and

thus assist governments, schools,

agencies, and other organizations planning

for the delivery of needed services

9. Advocacy and special interest groups,

such as the Autism Society of America or

the National Federation for the Blind,

typically have an interest in assisting

particular groups of citizens