Precious Mei S.

Rieza

Mr.

Cyrus Dela Cruz

BEEd

2D

ECED-102

CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Are those who have been determined to require special attention and
specific necessities that other children do not. They may have mild learning
disabilities or profound cognitive impairment; food allergies or terminal illness;
developmental delays that catch up quickly or remain entrenched; occasional panic
attacks or serious psychiatric problems. The designation is useful for getting needed
services, setting appropriate goals, and gaining understanding for a child and
stressed family.
Special needs are commonly defined by what a child can't do -- by
milestones unmet, foods banned, activities avoided, experiences denied. These
minuses hit families hard, and may make special needs seem like a tragic
designation. Some parents will always mourn their child's lost potential, and many
conditions become more troubling with time. Other families may find that their
child's challenges make triumphs sweeter, and that weaknesses are often
accompanied by amazing strengths.
Pick any two families of children with special needs, and they may seem
to have little in common. A family dealing with developmental delays will have
different concerns than one dealing with chronic illness, which will have different
concerns than one dealing with mental illness or learning problems or behavioral
challenges. This Parenting Special Needs site devotes sections to the following
specific issues: medical, behavioral, developmental, learning, and mental health.
Medical issues for children include serious conditions like cancer and heart
defects, muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis; chronic conditions like asthma and
diabetes; congenital conditions like cerebral palsy and dwarfism; and health threats
like food allergies and obesity. Children with medical issues may require numerous

tests,

long

hospital

stays,

expensive

equipment,

and

accommodations

for

disabilities. Their families have to deal with frequent crises, uncertainty, and worry.
Children with behavior issues don't respond to traditional discipline. With
diagnoses like ADHD, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, Dysfunction of Sensory
Integration, and Tourette Syndrome, they require specialized strategies that are
tailored to their specific abilities and disabilities. If those strategies are not
developed and used, kids with behavior issues throw their families into chaos and
are seriously at risk for school problems. Their parents need to be flexible and
creative.
Developmental disabilities are some of the most devastating for a family
to deal with, changing visions of the future and providing immediate difficulties in
caring for and educating a child. Diagnoses like autism, Down syndrome and
intellectual disabilities often cause children to be removed from the mainstream,
and parents must be fierce advocates to make sure their children receive the
services, therapy, schooling, and inclusion they need and deserve.
Children with learning disabilities like dyslexia and Central Auditory
Processing Disorder struggle with schoolwork regardless of their intellectual
abilities. They require specialized learning strategies to meet their potential and
avoid self-esteem problems and behavioral difficulties. Parents of learningchallenged kids need to be persistent both in working with their reluctant learners
and with the schools that must provide the help these children need.
A child's problems with anxiety or depression can sneak up on parents;
problems with attachment may smack them right in the face. Living with a child
with mental health issues can put family members on a roller coaster of mood
swings and crises and defiance. Parents have to find the right professionals to help,
and make hard decisions about therapy, medications, and hospitalization. The
consequences of missed clues and wrong guesses can be significant.
Although every special-needs child is different and every family is unique,
there are some common concerns that link parents of challenged kids, including
getting appropriate care and accommodations; promoting acceptance in the

extended family, school and community; planning for an uncertain future; and
adjusting routines and expectations. Parents of children with special needs are often
more flexible, compassionate, stubborn and resilient than other parents. They have
to be.
EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN
Are those children who meet one or more of the following criteria and
need special education services:

Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and

nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age
three but not necessarily so, 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 shall not apply if a child's educational
performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional
disturbance.

Blindness means a visual impairment that requires dependence on tactile and

auditory media for learning.

Child with a disability means the following:

1.

a child evaluated as having mental retardation, hearing impairments

including deafness, speech or language impairments, visual impairments
including blindness, emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments,
autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific
learning disabilities and who, by reason thereof, needs special education
and related services; and

2.

for children ages three through nine, a child who is experiencing

developmental delays and, by reason thereof, needs special education
and related services.

Deafness means a hearing impairment that is so severe that it impairs a

child's ability to process linguistic information through hearing, with or without
amplification, and adversely affects the child's educational performance.

Developmental delay means such a deviation from average development in

one or more of the following developmental areas that special education and
related services are required:
1.

Physical;

2.

Cognitive;

3.

Adaptive behavior;

4.

Communication; or

5.

Social or emotional development.

The deviation from average development shall be documented and

measured by appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures.

Emotional disturbance means a condition exhibiting one or more of the

following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that
adversely affects a child's educational performance:
1.

an inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory,

or health factors;

2.

an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships

with peers and teachers;

3.

inappropriate

types

of

behavior

or

feelings

under

normal

circumstances;
4.

a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or

5.

a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with

personal or school problems.

The term shall include schizophrenia but shall not apply to children who are
socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional
disturbance.

Gifted means performing or demonstrating the potential for performing at

significantly higher levels of accomplishment in one or more academic fields
due to intellectual ability, when compared to others of similar age, experience,
and environment.

Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or

fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance but that
does not constitute deafness as defined in this regulation.

Mental retardation means significantly sub-average general intellectual

functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and
manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child's
educational performance.

Orthopedic

impairment means

severe

orthopedic

impairment

that

adversely affects a child's educational performance and includes impairments

caused by any of the following:
1.

Congenital anomaly, including clubfoot or the absence of a limb;

2.

Disease, including poliomyelitis or bone tuberculosis; or

3.

Other causes, including cerebral palsy, amputation, and fractures or

burns that cause contractures.

Other health impairment means having limited strength, vitality, or alertness,

including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited
alertness with respect to the educational environment and that meets the
following criteria:
1.

Is due to chronic or acute health problems, including asthma, attention

deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes,
epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia,
nephritis, rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemia; and

2.

Adversely affects a child's educational performance.

Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic

psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or
written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak,
read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including perceptual
disabilities,

brain

injury,

minimal

brain

dysfunction,

dyslexia,

and

developmental aphasia. The term shall not include learning problems that are
primarily the result of any of the following:
1.

Visual, hearing, or motor disabilities;

2.

Mental retardation;

3.

Emotional disturbance; or

4.

Environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Speech or language impairment means a communication disorder, including

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 partial functional disability or
psychosocial

impairment,

or

both,

that

adversely

affects

educational

performance. The term shall apply to open or closed head injuries resulting in
impairments in one or more areas, including the following:
1.

Cognition;

2.

Language;

3.

Memory;

4.

Attention;

5.

Reasoning;

6.

Abstract thinking;

7.

Judgment;

8.

Problem solving;

9.

Sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities;

10.

Psychosocial behavior;

11.

Physical functions;

12.

Information processing; and

13.

Speech.

The term shall not include brain injuries that are congenital or
degenerative or that are induced by birth trauma.

Visual impairment means an impairment in vision that, even with correction,

adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term shall include both
partial sight and blindness.

SPECIAL EDUCATION
Is the practice of educating students with special needs in a way that
addresses their individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the
individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching

procedures, adapted equipment and materials, accessible settings, and other

interventions designed to help learners with special needs achieve a higher level of
personal self-sufficiency and success in school and community than would be
available if the student were only given access to a typical classroom education.
Common

special

disabilities, emotional

needs

and

include learning

behavioral

disabilities,

disorders, physical

communication
disabilities,

and developmental disabilities. Students with these kinds of special needs are likely
to benefit from additional educational services such as different approaches to
teaching, the use of technology, a specifically adapted teaching area, or a resource
room.
Intellectual giftedness is a difference in learning and can also benefit from
specialized teaching techniques or different educational programs, but the term
special education is generally used to specifically indicate instruction of students
with disabilities. Gifted education is handled separately.
Whereas special education is designed specifically for students with
special needs, remedial education can be designed for any students, with or without
special needs; the defining trait is simply that they have reached a point of under
preparedness, regardless of why. For example, even people of high intelligence can
be underprepared if their education was disrupted, for example, by internal
displacement during civil disorder or a war.
In most developed countries, educators modify teaching methods and
environments so that the maximum number of students are served in general
education environments. Therefore, special education in developed countries is
often regarded as a service rather than a place. Integration can reduce social
stigmas and improve academic achievement for many students.
The opposite of special education is general education. General education
is the standard curriculum presented without special teaching methods or supports.
An early proponent of education for the blind was Valentin Hay, who
opened a school in Paris in 1784; his efforts were followed by those of Louis Braille.

Attempts to educate deaf children predate Hay, but not until Friedrich Moritz Hill
(180574) developed an oral method of instruction did teaching to the deaf become
established. The development of standardized sign languages further advanced
instruction of the deaf. Scientific attempts to educate mentally retarded children
began with the efforts of Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard (17751838) to train a feral child
known as the Wild Boy of Aveyron; Itard's work influenced such later theorists as
douard Sguin (181280) and Maria Montessori. Children with motor disabilities,
once considered subjects for special education, are usually integrated into the
standard classroom, often by means of wheelchairs and modified desks. Children
with learning

disabilities and speech

problems

usually

require

specialized

techniques, often on an individual basis. For children with behavioral and emotional
disorders, special therapeutic and clinical services may be provided.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF IMPAIRMENT

Physical Impairment
A physical impairment affects the ability to move or to coordinate and control
movement when performing tasks. A physical impairment may also affect the ability
to use or feel certain parts of the body.
Different body systems may be involved:

musculoskeletal -- involving the joints, limbs and associated muscles;

neurological -- involving the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord or
peripheral nerves).

There is a wide range of conditions that may result in a physical impairment

including:

cerebral palsy
spina bifida
muscular dystrophy
arthritis
osteogenesis imperfecta
congenital malformation of the limbs
some acquired brain injury
some orthopaedic conditions.

Some chronic health and/or medical problems such as burns or cancer may
also affect a student's physical development, resulting in impairment.
A physical impairment may be:

present from birth (congenital) or acquired later (e.g. through an accident

or illness); and
progressive or non-progressive (this refers to whether or not the condition
increases in extent or severity).

Sensory Impairment
Visual impairment represents a continuum, from people with very poor
vision, to people who can see light but no shapes, to people who have no perception
of light at all. However, for general discussion it is useful to think of this population
as representing two broad groups: those with low vision and those who are legally
blind. There are an estimated 8.6 million people with visual impairments (3.4% of
the U.S. population). In the elderly population the percentage of persons with visual
impairments is very high.
A person is termed legally blind when their visual acuity (sharpness of
vision) is 20/200 or worse after correction, or when their field of vision is less than
20 degrees in the best eye after correction. There are approximately 580,000
people in the US who are legally blind.
Low vision includes problems (after correction) such as dimness of vision,
haziness, film over the eye, foggy vision, extreme near-or farsightedness, distortion
of vision, spots before the eyes, color distortions, visual field defects, tunnel vision,
no peripheral vision, abnormal sensitivity to light or glare, and night blindness.
There are approximately 1.8 million people in the US with severe visual impairments
who are not legally blind.
Many diseases causing severe visual impairments are common in those
who

are

aging

(glaucoma,

cataracts,

macular

degeneration,

and

diabetic

retinopathy). With current demographic trends toward a larger proportion of elderly,

the incidence of visual impairments will certainly increase.
Hearing Impairments make it difficult or impossible to hear lecturers,
access

multimedia

materials,

and

participate

in

discussions.

accommodations for students who are deaf or hard of hearing include:

Examples

of

Interpreter, real-time captioning, FM system, notetaker.

Open or closed-captioned films, use of visual aids.
Written assignments, lab instructions, demonstration summaries.
Visual warning system for lab emergencies.
Use of electronic mail for class and private discussions.

Speech and Language Impairment

A speech-language impairment involves the neurological, cognitive and/or
physical structures and functions specific to speech-language processing. The
impairment relates to a student's capacity in speech/language comprehension
and/or production that significantly impacts on the student's educational progress
compared with their age cohort.
The diagnosis and its educational impact must be substantiated by data
provided by the speech-language pathologist and the educational team. The
diagnosis and impact must be verified by the appropriate speech- language
pathologist-in-charge and senior guidance officer.
Speech and language disorders refer to problems in communication and
related areas such as oral motor function. These delays and disorders range from
simple sound substitutions to the inability to understand or use language or use the
oral-motor mechanism for functional speech and feeding. Some causes of speech
and language disorders include hearing loss, neurological disorders, brain injury,
mental retardation, drug abuse, physical impairments such as cleft lip or palate, and
vocal abuse or misuse. Frequently, however, the cause is unknown.
Specific Learning Difficulties
The symptoms of learning disabilities are a diverse set of characteristics
which affect development and achievement. Some of these symptoms can be found
in all children at some time during their development. However, a person with
learning disabilities has a cluster of these symptoms which do not disappear as s/he
grows older.

Most frequently displayed symptoms:

Short attention span

Poor memory
Difficulty following directions
Inability to discriminate between/among letters, numerals, or sounds
Poor reading and/or writing ability
Eye-hand coordination problems; poorly coordinated
Difficulties with sequencing
Disorganization and other sensory difficulties

Other characteristics that may be present:

Performs differently from day to day

Responds inappropriately in many instances
Distractible, restless, impulsive
Says one thing, means another
Difficult to discipline
Doesnt adjust well to change
Difficulty listening and remembering
Difficulty telling time and knowing right from left
Difficulty sounding out words
Reverses letters
Places letters in incorrect sequence
Difficulty understanding words or concepts
Delayed speech development; immature speech

Dyslexia is a disorder manifested by difficulty learning to read, despite

conventional instruction, adequate intelligence and socio-cultural opportunity. It is
dependent upon fundamental cognitive disabilities which are frequently of
constitutional origin.
Dysgraphia (or agraphia) is a deficiency in the ability to write, regardless
of ability to read. People with dysgraphia often can write on some level, and may
have a higher than average IQ, but lack co-ordination, and may find other fine
motor tasks such as tying shoes difficult (It often does not affect all fine motor
skills). They can also lack basic spelling skills (having difficulties with p,q,b,d), and
often will write the wrong word when trying to formulate thoughts (on paper).
Dyscalculia was originally identified in case studies of patients who
suffered specific arithmetic disabilities as a result of damage to specific regions of

the

brain.

Recent

research

suggests

that

dyscalculia

can

also

occur

developmentally, as a genetically-linked learning disability which affects a person's

ability to understand, remember, and/or manipulate numbers and/or number facts
(e.g. the multiplication tables). The term is often used to refer specifically to the
inability to perform arithmetic operations, but is defined by some educational
professionals and cognitive psychologists as a more fundamental inability to
conceptualize numbers as abstract concepts of comparative quantities (a deficit in
number sense).
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (sometimes referred to as
ADD when only inattentiveness and distractibility are problematic) is a neurological
disorder initially appearing in childhood which manifests itself with symptoms such
as hyperactivity, forgetfulness, poor impulse control, and distractibility. In
neurological terms, ADHD is currently considered to be a persistent and chronic
syndrome for which no medical cure is available. ADHD is believed to affect
between 3-5% of the United States population, including both children and adults.
Cognitive Impairment
Includes memory, perception, problem-solving, conceptualization and
attention deficits. This may result from a range of conditions such as mental
retardation, autism, brain injury, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and old
age.
A person is considered mentally retarded if they have an IQ below 70
(average IQ is 100) and if they have difficulty functioning independently. An
estimated 3% of Americans are mentally retarded. For most, the cause is unknown,
although infections, Down Syndrome, premature birth, birth trauma, or lack of
oxygen may all cause retardation. Those considered mildly retarded (80-85%) have
an IQ between 55 and 69 and are considered educable, achieving 4th to 7th grade
levels. They usually function well in the community and hold down semiskilled and
unskilled jobs. People with moderate retardation (10%) have an IQ between 40 and
54 and are trainable in educational skills and independence. They can learn to
recognize symbols and simple words, achieving approximately a 2nd grade level.
They often live in group homes and work in sheltered workshops. People with severe
or profound retardation represent just 5-10% of this population.