CHAPTER 5: STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

Fair evaluation of performance in spite of disability: Tests or other evaluations should not
assume test-taking skills that a person with a disability cannot reasonably be expected to have,
such as holding a pencil, hearing or seeing questions, working quickly, or understanding and
speaking orally.
Education in the "least restrictive environment": Education for someone with a disability
should provide as many educational opportunities and options for the person as possible, both
in the short term and in the long term.
An individualized educational program: Given that every disability is unique, instructional
planning for a person with a disability should be unique or individualized as well.
Responsibilities of Teacher for Students with Disabilities
Alternative Assessments: assessment refers to gathering information about a student in order
both to identify the strengths of the student, and to decide what special educational support,
the student needs.
Depending on the disability, a student may have trouble with
(a) holding a pencil,
(b) hearing a question clearly,
(c) focusing on a picture,
(d) marking an answer in time even when he or she knows the answer,
(e) concentrating on a task in the presence of other people, or
(f) answering a question at the pace needed by the rest of the class.
Categories of Disabilities and their ambiguities
Disabilities are inherently ambiguous. Naming and describing “types” of them implies that
disabilities are relatively fixed, stable, and distinct, like different kinds of fruit or vegetables.
Stereotypes about disabilities are usually stigmatizing, not complimentary.
A Learning Disability or LD
A learning problem is not considered a learning disability if it stems from physical, sensory, or
motor handicaps, or from generalized intellectual impairment (or mental retardation). It is also
not an LD if the learning problem really reflects the challenges of learning English as a second
language.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (or ADHD) is a
problem with sustaining attention and controlling impulses. The student may shift continually
from one activity to another, or have trouble playing quietly, or talk excessively without
listening to others.
Difference in Perceptions ADHD vs. High Activity
Teachers sometimes mistake a student who is merely rather active for a student with ADHD,
since any tendency to be physically active may contribute to problems with classroom
management. The tendency to “over-diagnose” is more likely for boys than for girls ,
presumably because gender role expectations cause teachers to be especially alert to high
activity in boys.
Causes of ADHD
Research shows that ADHD tends to run in families, with children especially boys of parents
who had ADHD somewhat more likely than usual to experience the condition themselves. The
association does not necessarily mean though, that ADHD is inborn or genetic. On the other
hand, the parents’ strictness may also be a result, as well as a cause of, a child’s restlessness.
Research also shows that ADHD can be reduced for many students if they take certain
medications, of which the most common is methylphenidate, commonly known by the name
Ritalin.
Intellectual Disabilities
An intellectual disability is a significant limitation in a student’s cognitive functioning and daily
adaptive behaviors. The student may have limited language or impaired speech and may not
perform well academically.
Levels of Support for Individuals with Intellectual Disability
Teaching Students with Intellectual Disabilities
3 General Strategies:

● The first is to give more time and practice than usual;

● The second is to embed activities into the context of daily life or functioning where
possible;
● And the third is to include the child both in social and in academic activities, rather than
just one or the other. Let us look briefly at each of these ideas.
Because of the disability though, the student may need more time or practice than most other
students. Giving extra help takes time and perseverance, and can try the patience of the
student. To deal with this problem, it may help to reward the student frequently for effort and
successes with well-timed praise, especially if it is focused on specific, actual achievements.
Adaptive and Functional Skills
One basis for selecting activities is to relate learning goals to students’ everyday lives and
activities, just as you would with all students. This strategy addresses the other defining feature
of mental retardation, the student’s difficulties with adapting to and functioning in everyday
living.
Behavioral Disorders: Behavioral disorders are a diverse group of conditions in which a student
chronically performs highly inappropriate behaviors. Other students with the condition might
behave aggressively, be distractible and overly active, seem anxious or withdrawn, or seem
disconnected from everyday reality.
• They tend to be extreme
• They persist for extended periods of time
• They tend to be socially unacceptable (e.g. unwanted sexual advances or vandalism against
school property)
• They affect school work
• They have no other obvious explanation (e.g. a health problem or temporary disruption in the
family)
Strategies for Teaching Students with Behavioral Disorders
(1) Identifying circumstances that trigger inappropriate behaviors,
(2) Teaching of interpersonal skills explicitly, and
(3) Disciplining a student fairly.
Identifying Circumstances That Trigger Inappropriate Behaviors
A wide variety of factors can trigger inappropriate behavior:
● Physiological effects—including illness, fatigue, hunger, or side effects from medications

● Physical features of the classroom—such as the classroom being too warm or too cold,
or the chairs being exceptionally uncomfortable for sitting.
● instructional choices or strategies that frustrate learning—including restricting students
choices unduly, giving instructions that are unclear, choosing activities that are too
difficult or too long, or preventing students from asking questions when they need help.
Teaching Interpersonal Skills Explicitly
Simple courtesies (like remembering to say please or thanks) may not be totally unknown, but
may be unpracticed and seem unimportant to the student, as might body language (like eye
contact or sitting up to listen to a teacher rather than slouching and looking away). teachers can
arrange for contingency contracts, which are agreements between the teacher and a student
about exactly what work the student will do, how it will be rewarded, and what the
consequences will be if the agreement is not fulfilled.
Disciplining a Student Fairly
consulting with everyone involved in the case especially parents, other specialists, and the
student himself and reaching an agreement before adopting new strategies that differ
significantly from the past.
Physical Disabilities and Sensory Impairments
A few students have serious physical, medical, or sensory challenges that interfere with their
learning. The sensory challenges are usually a loss either in hearing or in vision, or more rarely
in both. Whatever the specific problem, it is serious enough to interfere with activities in
regular classroom programs and to qualify the student for special educational services or
programs.
Hearing Loss
A child can acquire a hearing loss for a variety of reasons, ranging from disease early in
childhood, to difficulties during childbirth, to reactions to toxic drugs. Students with only mild
or moderate loss of hearing are sometimes called hearing impaired or hard of hearing; only
those with nearly complete loss are called deaf.
Signs of Hearing Loss
Students with a mild hearing loss sometimes have somewhat depressed (or lowered) language
and literacy skills though not always, and in any case, so do some students without any loss.

● Delayed language or literacy skills, both written and oral.

● Some ability (usually partial) to read lips

● Less worldly knowledge than usual because of lack of involvement with oral dialogue
and/or delayed literacy
● occasionally, tendency to social isolation because of awkwardness in communication.

Teaching Students with Hearing Loss

● Take advantage of the student’s residual hearing.

● Use visual cues liberally.

● Include the student in the community of the classroom.

Visual Impairment
Students with visual impairments have difficulty seeing even with corrective lenses. Most
commonly the difficulty has to do with refraction (the ability to focus), but some students may
also experience a limited field of view (called tunnel vision) or be overly sensitive to light in
general. Legal blindness means that the person has significant tunnel vision or else visual acuity
(sharpness of vision). Low vision means that a person has some vision usable for reading, but
often needs a special optical device such as a magnifying lens for doing so.
Signs of Visual Impairment
They may complain of itchiness in their eyes, or of headaches, dizziness, or even nausea after
doing a lot of close eye work. The difference between the students with visual impairment and
those with “ordinary” nearsightedness is primarily a matter of degree: the ones with
impairment show the signs more often and more obviously.

Teaching Students with Visual Impairment

● Take advantage of the student’s residual vision.

● Use non-visual information liberally.

● Include the student in the community of the classroom.

The First Special Education in the Philippines

● SPED in the Philippines started in 1908 where the school for deaf (in Harrison, Pasay
City) was established and marked the official government recognition of obligations
towards the education of the handicapped children.
● Special Education was formally started in the country by establishing the Insular School
for the Deaf and Blind in Manila. The Philippine Association for Deaf was founded. The
government established the Welfare Ville Children’s Village, a school for people with
mental retardation in Mandaluyong.
Republic Act No. 3562 (June 1963)

● An Act of Promote the Education of the blind in the Philippines which established
teacher training course and Philippine National School for the Blind.
● Philippine Normal College offered courses in Sped for teaching the blind in 1964
wherein 14 elementary teachers were selected for training.
● In 1952, a pilot school for the Sped (at the Phil. Women’s University) of mentally
handicapped children was started. All children from this school were transferred to the
Special Child Study Center in Cubao Q.C. in 1957.
Republic Act No. 7277

● An act providing for the rehabilitation, self-development and self-reliance of disabled

● An act establishing a ten-year training program for teachers of special and exceptional
children in the Philippines and authorizing the appropriation of funds thereof.
History of Special Education in the World
One of the first special schools in the world was the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles in
Paris, which was founded in 1784. It was the first school in the world to teach blind students.
The first school in U.K, for the Deaf was established 1760.in Edinburgh by Thomas Braidwood,
with education for visually impaired people beginning in the Edinburgh and Bristol in 1765.