foundation of special education lecture intro
TRANSCRIPT
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