ED 104: Foundation of Special and Inclusive Education

Topic 3: Categories of Children with Special Needs

This material is derived from Inciong (2016) which starts with the definition and basic
terms in special needs education.

A: Definition and Basic Terms in Special Needs Education

Basic Terms:

● The term exceptional children and youth covers those with intellectual disability,
learning disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, gifted and talented, emotional and
behavioral disorders, speech and language disorders, physical disabilities and health
impairments, visual impairment, hearing impairment, and those who are part of the
emerging special groups. They differ from regular children in terms of mental
characteristics, sensory abilities, behavioral, neuromuscular, or physical areas. They
are also called Learners with disabilities or Children with Special Needs (CSN).

● Impairment – loss and reduced function, body part, or organ.

● Disability – exists when impairment limits the person’s ability.

● Handicap – refers to a problem with a disability or impairment encounters when

interacting with people, events, and the physical aspects of the environment.

● At-risk – refers to children who have greater chances than other children to develop
a disability. The child is in danger of substantial developmental delay because of
medical, biological, or environmental factors if early intervention services are not
provided. Down syndrome occurs during the early phase of pregnancy when one
parental chromosome fails to separate at conception resulting in the child having
forty-seven chromosomes instead of the normal forty-six or twenty-three pairs. At
birth, the infant has abnormal physical characteristics and intellectual disability. If a
pregnant woman contracts German measles or rubella during the first three months
of pregnancy, the fetus is at risk for blindness, deafness, or intellectual disability. The
fetus in the womb of a woman who consumes alcohol heavily and chain-smokes, or
takes prohibited drugs is at risk for brain injury that causes disabilities. If a disability
runs in the family, the fetus may inherit it and the infant will be born with a
 disability. Children may meet accidents, and suffer from certain diseases,
malnutrition, and other environmental deprivations that can lead to disabilities.

Children with established risk are those with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome,
and other conditions that started during pregnancy. Children with biological risk are
those who are born prematurely, underweight at birth, whose mother contracted
diabetes or rubella during the first trimester of pregnancy, or who had bacterial
infections like meningitis and HIV. Environmental risk results from extreme poverty,
child abuse, absence of adequate shelter and medical care, parental substance
abuse, and limited opportunities for nurturance and social stimulation.

Special Needs Education as an intervention

● is designed to prevent, eliminate, and overcome obstacles in order for the CSN to
achieve learning with the full and active participation of school and society. Its
function as an intervention is 1) preventive - it keeps potential problems from
becoming a disability 2) remedial – it eliminates specific effects of disability 3)
compensatory – it teaches special skills such as the use of a device to enable the CSN
to obtain successful functioning despite their disability.
● Literature in Heward (2003). defines special education as individually planned
systematically implemented, and carefully evaluated instruction to help exceptional
children achieve the greatest possible personal self-sufficiency and success in
present and future environments.

Individually planned instruction. In the United States, the law on Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that an individualized education program
(IEP) be developed and implemented for every special education student between
the ages of 3 and 21. The basic requirements of IDEA for all IEP’s include statements
of: (1) the child’s present level of performance, academic achievement, social
adaptation, prevocational and vocational skills, psychomotor skills and self-help
skills; (2) annual goals describing the educational performance to be achieved by the
end of each school year; (3) short-term instructional objectives presented in
measurable, intermediate steps between the present level of educational
performance and the annual goals; (4) specific educational services; and (5) needed
transition services from age 16 or earlier before the student leaves the school
setting.

Systematically implemented and evaluated instruction. Each type of children with

special education needs requires particular educational services, curriculum goals,
 competencies and skills, educational approaches, strategies and procedures in the
evaluation of learning and skills.

Personal self-sufficiency. An important goal of special education is to help the child

become independent from the assistance of adults in personal maintenance and
development, homemaking, community life, vocational and leisure activities and
travel.

The present environment refers to the current conditions in the life of the child with
a disability. The present environment includes the family, the school, the community
where he/she lives, the institutions in society that extend assistance and support to
children and youth with special education needs such as the government,
nongovernment organizations, socio-civic organizations and other groups.

The future environment is a forecast of how the child with a disability can move on
to the next level of education, from elementary to secondary school and on to
college or vocational program, and finally, to the workplace where he or she can be
gainfully employed. Special education helps the child in the transition from a student
to a wage earner so that he or she can lead a normal life even if he or she has a
disability.

B: Who are Exceptional Children or Children and Youth with Special Needs?

The term exceptional children and youth covers those with intellectual disability,
learning disabilities, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Emotional and Behavioral
Disorders, Autism Spectrum Disorder Students who are gifted and talented, with Visual
Impairment, with Hearing Impairment, with speech and language disorders, and with physical
disabilities, health impairments and severe disabilities. These are children and youth who
experience difficulties in learning the basic education curriculum and need a modified or
functional curriculum as well as those performance is so superior that they need a
differentiated special education curriculum to help them attain their full potential.

Exceptional children are also referred to as children with special needs (CSN). Like the
children and youth in elementary and secondary schools, the mental ability of exceptional
children or CSN may be average, below or above average.

There are four points of view about special needs education (Heward, 2003).
1. Special needs education is a legislatively governed enterprise.

This point of view is expressed in the legal bases of special education that are
discussed in module 1. Article IV, Section 1 and Section 5, Article XIII, Section 11 of the
1987 Philippine Constitution guarantee that the State shall protect and promote the
rights of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take appropriate steps to
make such education available to all. The State shall provide adult citizens, the disabled
and out-of-school youth with training in civics, vocational efficiency and other skills. The
state shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health and other social
services available to all people at affordable costs. There shall be priority to the needs of
the underprivileged, the sick, the elderly, the disabled, women and children.

R.A. 7277 – The Magna Carta for Disabled Persons – provides for the
rehabilitation, self-development and self-reliance of disabled persons and their
integration into mainstream society.

R.A 11650 - Instituting a Policy of Inclusion and Services for Learners with
Disabilities in Support of Inclusive Education Act"

The Philippine Policies and Guidelines for Special Education provides that every
child with special needs has a right to an educational program that is suitable to his/her
needs. Special education shares with regular education basic responsibilities of the
educational system to fulfill the right of the child to develop his/her potential.

There are many other laws, memoranda and circulars that have been enacted
through the years in support of special needs education.

2. Special education is a part of the country’s educational system.

Special education is a part of the Department of Education’s basic education

program. With its modest historical beginning in 1907, special education is now a major
part of the basic education program in elementary and secondary schools. The Special
Education Division of the Bureau of Elementary Education formulates policies, plans and
programs, develop standards of programs and services. There are special education
programs in public and private schools in all the regions of the country. The government
continues to grant scholarships to deserving school administrators and teachers to
pursue the graduate degrees at the Philippine Normal University and the University of
the Philippines. In-service education programs are conducted to upgrade the
 competencies of administrators, teachers, and non-teaching personnel. Networks and
linkages in the country and overseas are sustained.

3. Special education is teaching children with special needs in the least restrictive
environment.

In the final analysis, teaching is what special education is all about. From this
perspective, special education is defined in terms of the who, what, how, and where of
its implementation.

Who: The exceptional children or the children and youth with special education
needs are the most important persons in special education. Then there are the school
administrators, the special education teachers, the regular teachers, the
interdisciplinary teams of professionals such as the guidance counselors, the school
psychologists, the speech therapists, physical and occupational therapists, medical
doctors, and specialists who help provide the specific services that exceptional children
need.

What: Every exceptional child needs access to a differentiated and modified

curricular program to enable him/her to learn the skills and competencies in the basic
education curriculum. The individualized education program (IEP) states the annual goal,
the quarterly objectives, the strategies for teaching and evaluation of learning and the
services the exceptional child needs.

How: Children with intellectual disabilities are taught adaptive skills and basic
academic content that are suitable to their mental ability. Gifted children are provided
with enrichment activities and advanced content knowledge so that they can learn more
than what the basic education curriculum offers. Most of them are in accelerated
classes where they finish elementary education in five years instead of six. Children who
are blind learn braille and orientation and mobility or travel techniques. Children who
are deaf learn sign language and speech reading.

Where: There are several educational placements for these children. The most
preferred is inclusive education where they are mainstreamed in regular classes. Other
types of educational placements are special schools, residential schools, self-contained
classes, and home-bound and hospital instruction.

4. Special education is purposeful intervention.

 Intervention prevents, eliminates and/or overcomes the obstacles that might
keep an individual with disabilities from learning, from full and active participation in
school activities, and from engaging in social and leisure activities.

Early intervention. (See R.A. 11650)

C: Categories of Exceptionalities among Children and Youth with Special needs

● Intellectual Disability refers to substantial limitations in present functioning. It is

characterized by significantly sub-average intellectual functioning, existing
concurrently with related limitations in two or more of the following applicable
adaptive skill areas: communication, self-care, home living, social skills, community
use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure, and work.
Intellectual disability manifests before age 18.

● Learning Disabilities means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological

processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which
may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or
to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual
handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental
aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems which are
primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor handicaps, intellectual disability or of
environmental, cultural or economic disadvantages.

● Emotional and Behavioral Disorders means a condition exhibiting one or more of

the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree,
which adversely affects educational performance: (a) an inability to learn which
cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory and health factors; (b) an inability to
build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers;
(c) inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; (d) a
general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or € a tendency to develop
physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. The term
includes children who are schizophrenic. The term does not include children who are
socially maladjusted unless it is determined that they are seriously emotionally
disturbed.

● Autism Spectrum Disorder means a developmental disability significantly affecting

verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, usually evident before
age three, 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.

● Giftedness and talented refers to high performance in intellectual, creative or

artistic areas, unusual leadership capacity and excellence in specific academic field.
Giftedness refers to the traits of above-average general abilities, high level task
commitment, and creativity. Giftedness emphasizes talent as the primary defining
characteristic. Giftedness shows in superior memory, observational powers,
curiosity, creativity, and ability to learn.

● Students with Visual Impairment display a wide range of visual disabilities – from
total blindness to relatively good residual vision. There is a visual restriction of
sufficient severity that it interferes with normal progress in a regular educational
program without modifications. A child who is blind is totally without sight or has so
little vision that he or she learns primarily through the other senses, such as touch to
read braille. A child with low vision is able to learn through the visual channel and
generally learns to read print.

● Hearing Impairment is a generic term that includes hearing disabilities ranging from
mild to profound, thus encompassing children who are deaf and those who are hard
of hearing. A person who is deaf is not able to use hearing to understand speech,
although he or she may perceive some sounds. Even with a hearing aid, the hearing
loss is too great to allow a deaf person to understand speech through the ears alone.
A person who is hard of hearing has a significant hearing loss that makes some
special adaptations necessary.

● Speech and language disorders exist when the impact that a communication pattern
has on a person’s life meets any one of the following criteria: (a) the transmission
and/or perception of messages is faulty; (b) the person is placed at an economic
disadvantage; (c) the person is placed at a learning disadvantage; (d) there is
negative impact on the person’s is placed at a learning disadvantage; (e) there is
negative impact on the person’s emotional growth; (f) the problem causes physical
damage or endangers the health of the person.

● Physical disabilities, health impairments, and severe disabilities generally

encompass individuals with severe and profound disabilities in intellectual, physical
and social functioning. Because of the intensity of their physical, mental or
emotional problems, or a combination of such problems, they need highly
 specialized educational, social, psychological and medical services beyond those
which are traditionally offered by regular and special education programs in order to
maximize their potential for useful and meaningful participation in society and for
self-fulfillment. Children and youth with severe disabilities, with autism, profoundly
and severely disabled, and deaf-blind.

D: Is it Correct to Use Disability Category Labels?

There are two points of view regarding the use of labels to describe children and youth
with disabilities. The first point of view frowns on labeling these children as intellectually
disabled, learning disabled, emotionally disturbed, socially maladapted, blind, deaf, or
physically disabled. The use of disability labels calls attention to the disability itself and
overlooks the more important and positive characteristics of the person. These negative labels
cause the “spread phenomenon” to permeate the mind of the able-bodied person. The
disability becomes the major influence in the development of preconceived ideas that tend to
be negative, such as helplessness, dependence, and doom to a life of hopelessness. The truth is,
person with disabilities are first and foremost human beings who have the same physical and
psychological needs like everybody else. They need to belong, to be loved, to be useful.

The second and less popular point of view is that is necessary to use workable disability
category labels in order to describe the exceptional learning needs for a systematic provision of
special education services.

Nevertheless, decades of research and debates on the issue have not arrived at any
conclusive resolution of the labeling problem. A number or pros and cons have been advanced
by various specialists and educators.

● Pros and Possible Benefits of labeling

− Categories can relate the diagnosis to specific types of education and treatment.
− Labelling may lead to “protective” response in which children are more accepting
of the atypical behavior by a peer with disabilities that they would be if that
same behavior were emitted by a child without disabilities.
− Labelling helps professionals communicate with one another and classify and
assess research findings.
− Funding of special education programs is often based on specific categories of
exceptionality.
− Labels enable disability-specific advocacy groups to promote specific programs
and to spur legislative action.
 − Labelling helps make exceptional children’s special needs more visible to the
public.

● Possible Disadvantages of Labelling

− Because labels usually focus on disability, impairment and performance deficits,
some people may think only in terms of what the individual cannot do instead of
what he or she can or might be able to learn to do.
− Labels may cause others to hold low expectations for and to differentially treat a
child on the basis of the label, which may result to a “self-fulfilling prophecy”.
For example, in one study, student teachers gave a child labeled “autistic” more
praise and rewards and less verbal correction for incorrect responses than they
gave a child labeled “normal”. Such differential treatment could hamper a child’s
acquisition of new skills and contribute to the development and maintenance of
a level of performance consistent with the label’s prediction.
− Labels that describe a child’s performance deficit often mistakenly acquire the
role of explanatory constructs. For example, “Sherry acts that way because she is
emotionally disturbed.”
− Labels suggest that learning problems are primarily the result of something
wrong within the child, thereby reducing the systematic examination of and
accountability for instructional variables as the cause of performance deficits.
This is especially damaging outcome when the label provides educators with a
built-in excuse for ineffective instruction. For example, “Jalen hasn’t learned to
read because he’s ________”).
− A labelled child may develop poor self-concept.
− Labels may lead peers to reject or ridicule the labelled child.
− Special education labels have a certain permanence; once labelled, it is difficult
for a child to ever again achieve the status of simply being “just another kid.”
− Labels often provide a basis for keeping children out of the regular classroom.
− A disproportionate number of children from diverse cultural, ethnic and linguistic
groups have been inaccurately labelled as disabled, especially under the
category mind intellectually disabled.
− Classification of exceptional children requires the expenditure of a great amount
of money professional and student time that could better be spent in planning
and delivering instruction.