© 2008 mcgraw-hill higher education. all rights reserved. chapter 6 learners who are exceptional

© 2008 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.

CHAPTER 6

Learners Who Are Exceptional


Learners Who Are ExceptionalWho Are Children

withDisabilities?

Attention DeficitHyperactivity

Disorder

Learning Disabilities

Speech and LanguageDisorders

Mental Retardation

Physical Disorders

Sensory Disorders

Emotional andBehavior Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorders


Disability vs. Handicap

A disability involves a limitation on a person’s functioning that restricts the individual’s abilities.

A handicap is a condition imposed on a person who has a disability. The condition could be imposed by society, the physical environment, or the person’s attitude.


Welcome to Holland

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this…

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.”

“Holland?!!” you say. “What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”


Welcome to Holland

But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.


Welcome to Holland

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

The pain of that will never, ever, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Emily Pearl Kingsley


Sensory Disorders

VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS

Low Vision

• Acuity between 20/70 and 20/200 with corrective lens

Educationally Blind

• Cannot use their vision in learning

• Must use hearing and touch to learn

HEARING IMPAIRMENTS

Deafness

• Cannot process linguistic information

Hard of Hearing• Can process linguistic

information with help of hearing aids


Potential Signs of Hearing Impairment

1. Student experiences difficulties following oral presentation and directions.

2. Student watches lips of teachers or other speakers very closely.

3. Student turns head and leans toward speaker.

4. Student uses limited vocabulary.


Potential Signs of Hearing Impairment (con’t)

5. Student uses speech sounds poorly.

6. Student shows delayed language development.

7. Student often doesn’t respond when called from behind.

8. Student is generally inattentive during oral presentations.


Potential Signs of Hearing Impairment (con’t)

9. Student constantly turns volume up on radio or television.

10. Student complains of earaches, has frequent colds or ear infections, or has ear discharge.


Classroom Accommodations

Visual Impairments: Determine the modality (such as touch or hearing)

through which the child learns best Front-row seating Textbooks from “Recording for the Blind” Use of Braille

Hearing Impairments: Speak normally Reduce distractions and background noises Face the student for lip reading and gestures


Physical Disorders

Orthopedic Disorders: Restrictions of movement because of muscle, joint, or bone problems

Cerebral Palsy:

• lack of muscular coordination

• shaking

• slurred speech

Classroom Accommodations:

• computers

• speech and voice synthesizers

• note taking


Physical Disorders

Tonic-ClonicLoss of

consciousness, rigidity, shakes

Absent Seizures(< 30 seconds)

Brief staring spellsTwitching of eyelids

Classroom Accommodations Become acquainted with monitoring procedures Be aware of medications

Seizure Disorders: Nervous disorders characterized by recurring sensorimotor attacks or movement convulsions


Mental Retardation

Low intelligenceDeficits in adaptive

functioning that exist concurrently

Onset before age 18


Levels of Support

Intermittent Supports are provided “as needed.”

Limited Supports are intense and relatively consistent over time.

Extensive Supports are characterized by regular involvement in at least one setting

Pervasive Supports are constant, very intense, and are provided across settings


Mental Retardation


Mental Retardation – Etiology

Genetic factors Down syndrome Fragile X syndrome

Brain damage

Infections

Environmental hazards

Fetal alcohol syndrome


Common Problems

Attention Cognitive Processing Memory Transfer Distractibility


Speech and Language Disorders

Speech Disorders Articulation

pronouncing words incorrectly

Voice hoarse, harsh, too

loud/soft, pitch Fluency

prolongation spasmodic hesitation Repetition

Apraxia

Language Disorders Receptive

difficulty in receiving information

Expressive inability to express

oneself


Children with Expressive Language Disorder may:

Appear shy and withdrawn Delayed responses to questions Difficulty finding words Language disorganized



A general term that srefre toa suoenegoreteh manifested of disorders difficulties in the by significant acquisition and use of lsning, speeking, reding, riting, resoning, or lacitamehtam seitiliba. Intrinsic are these disorders to the laudividni presumed to and due be nervous central to system noitcnufsyd, and may exist interaction social disabilities with learning but do not constitute themselves a lrning dsablity.


National Joint Committee for Learning Disabilities’ Definition

Learning disabilities is a generic term that refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities.



Children with Learning Disabilities Normal intelligence or above Difficulty in one or more academic subjects No other diagnosed problem/disorder

Identified Significant discrepancy between actual and

expected achievement Response-to-intervention

Intervention enhanced by small-group instruction, technology, direct questioning, augmentation, and strategy cueing



Dysgraphia Dyscalculia Dyslexia http://www.angmail.fsnet.co.uk/

jumbltxt.htm http://www.webaim.org/articles/

cognitive/activity.php


Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Intervention includes a combination of academic, behavioral, and medical interventions

Children with ADHD Inattention Hyperactivity Impulsivity


Etiology

Irregularities in brain catecholamines


http://www.webaim.org/simulations/distractability-sim.html

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/attention.html


Autism Spectrum Disorders

Asperger SyndromeAsperger Syndrome Relatively good verbal

language; milder nonverbal language problems

Restricted range of interests and relationships

Engage in obsessive repetitive routines and preoccupations

Autistic DisorderAutistic Disorder Onset within first three

years of life Deficiencies in social

relationships Communication

abnormalities Restricted, repetitive, and

stereotyped behavior patterns


Emotional and Behavior Disorders

Serious, persistent problems that involve relationships, aggression, depression, and fears associated with school and personal matters.


Aggressive, Out-of-Control Behavior

• Have serious emotional disturbance

• Engage in aggressive, defiant, dangerous acts

• Incidence greater in boys than girls

• Occurs more in low-SES students


DepressionSymptoms

• Feelings of worthlessness• Feelings of hopelessness• Behaving lethargically for a prolonged period• Poor appetite• Sleep problems

Incidence• More likely in adolescence than childhood• Higher incidence in girls

Classroom Accommodation • Vigilance in recognizing symptoms• Refer students to school counselor• Cognitive therapy and drug therapy have helped


Anxiety

Anxiety involves a vague, highly unpleasant feeling of fear and apprehension.

— If intense and prolonged, it substantially impairs school performance

— Refer students to school counselor

— Behavioral therapies have been effective


Characteristics of Gifted Children

Children Who Are Gifted Are precocious March to their own drummer Have a passion for mastery (Winner, 1996)


Educating Children Who Are Gifted

Special classes Acceleration and enrichment in

the regular classroom setting Mentor and apprenticeship

programs Work/study and/or community

service programs


Legal Issues

Public Law 94-142 (1975) requires that all students with a disability be given a free, appropriate education.

Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) (1990/1997) Special education services will include: Evaluation and eligibility

determination Appropriate education Individualized education

plan (IEP) “Least restrictive

environment” (LRE)


Strategies for Working with Children with Disabilities

Follow student’s individualized education plan. Participate in in-service education/training. Use available support and seek additional support. Become knowledgeable about the disabilities

represented in your classroom. Be cautious about labeling children with disabilities. Remember all children benefit from similar teaching

strategies. Help children understand and accept children with a

disability Keep up-to-date on available instructional and assistive

technology for educating children with a disability.


Parents as Educational Partners

Let parents know you understand and appreciate their child’s individuality

Place yourself in parents’ shoes Provide information about disability Talk with, not to, parents Avoid stereotyping Establish and maintain effective communication Talk with parents about erroneous media

portrayals of students with disabilities

© 2008 mcgraw-hill higher education. all rights reserved. chapter 6 learners who are exceptional

Documents