SPED 200 Inclusionary Education of Exceptional Students

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SPED 200 Inclusionary Education of Exceptional
Students

• Learner Characteristics

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• Definitions and Prevalence Rates

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At Risk Students

• Teachers Need to Be Prepared
  to Work with all
  Types of Diverse Learners

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Defining Learner Characteristics

• All people are unique and
  certain abilities or disabilities
  are attributes
• But do not define who
  individuals are

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Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA)

• Children between 3 and 9 may be identified as
  developmentally delayed in one or more of the
  following areas
• Physical
• Cognitive
• Communication
• Social/Emotional
• Adaptive Development

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After Age 9 - Students Qualify for Special
Education

• If diagnosed with one or more of the following
• Specific learning disability
• Speech or language impairments
• Mental Retardation (Intellectual Disability)
• Emotional Disturbance
• Multiple Disabilities

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Additional Categories

• Hearing impairments
• Orthopedic impairments
• Other health impairments
• Visual Impairment
• Autism
• Deaf - Blindness
• Traumatic brain injury

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Cross-Categorical Approach

• Mild
• Moderate
• Severe

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High-Incidence Disabilities

• High Incidence Disabilities are those that occur
  in more than 100,000 people in USA
• Speech or Language Impairment
• Learning Disabilities
• Emotional Disturbances
• Mental Retardation (Intellectual Disability)

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Low-Incidence Disability

• Mild and Moderate Disabilities
• Learning Disabilities (LD)
• Behavioral/emotional disorders (E/BD)
• Mental Retardation (MR)
• Intellectual Disability (ID)
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

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Categorical vs. Cross CategoricalClassification
of Disabilities

Level of Severity Learning Disability (LD) Mental Retardation Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (EBD)
Mild Mild LD Mild MR Mild EBD
Moderate Moderate LD Moderate MR Moderate EBD
Severe Severe LD Severe MR Severe EBD
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Number of Students Ages 6-21 Served under IDEA
Disability 1991-1992 2000-2001 Percentage Change
Learning Disability 2,247,004 2,887,217 28.0
Mental Retardation 553,262 612,978 10.8
Emotional/Behavioral Disorder 400,211 473,663 18.4
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Incidence

• Learning Disabilities (LD) are the most prevalent
• Represent over one-half of students
• Defining and Identifying LD is difficult

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LD - Discrepancy Marker

• Students are expected to achieve better
  academically than they do
• Expected Achievement is based on IQ Score
• Students scoring below expectations that cant be
  explained by socioeconomic factors, cultural
  differences, inadequate instruction, and
  disabling condition
• They are assumed to have a Learning Disability

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LD Identification is Problematic

• Many are Advocating if a Student Responds to
  Scientific Research-Based Intervention
• Response To Intervention (RTI) is defined as a
  change in behavior or performance attributable to
  appropriate instruction
• A student would be identified as having a
  Learning Difficulty only if they do not improve
  satisfactorily after receiving intensive
  instruction
• Critics say RTI doesnt distinguish between low
  achievement and a Cognitive Processing Disorder

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Specific Learning Disability

• The term means a disorder in one or more of the
  basic psychological processes 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 mathematical calculations,
• Including conditions such as perceptual
  disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain
  disfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia

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Specific Learning Disability

• Disorders not included
• The term does not include learning problems that
  are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or
  motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of
  emotional disturbance or of environmental,
  cultural, or economic disadvantage.

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Emotional/Behavioral Disabilities (EBD)

• Represent about 8 percent of Students with
  Disabilities
• Represents 0.9 percent of Total school population
  
• But prevalence rates are estimated to be 2 to 3
  time higher

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Emotional Disturbances (EBD) Defined

• The term means a condition exhibiting one or more
  of the following characteristics over a longer
  period of time and a marked degree that adversely
  affects a childs educational 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 relationship with peers and
  teachers

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(EBD) continued

• C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings
  under normal conditions
• D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or
  depression
• E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or
  fears associated with personal or school problem
• 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

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Mental Retardation (MR)

• 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 childs educational
  performance
• Movement to replace the term Mental Retardation
  with terms such as Intellectual Disability or
  Developmental Disability
• New research on genes and brain imagining may
  soon replace the IQ test for identifying Mental
  Retardation

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ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

• ADHD is a persistent pattern of inattention
  and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that is more
  frequently displayed and more severe than is
  typical
• Must be clear evidence of interference w/
  developmentally social, academic, or occupational
  functions
• Occurs in 3-5 percent of children (3 times more
  likely in boys)

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ADHD Characteristics

• On others being inattentive to work or play
  activities
• Inattention to detail or careless mistakes
• Not completing assigned tasks
• Not listening to others when spoken to
• Not following directions at home or school
• Losing or misplacing materials
• Being disorganized
• Blurting out answers
• Difficulty awaiting turn or failing to take turns
• Interrupting or intruding

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Motivation

• Motivation affects the learning process without
  motivation students are unlikely to learn
• Even motivated students may find it very
  difficult to learn if they dont have the
  prerequisite skills
• Motivation only encourages students to persist in
  doing something they are capable of doing
• Students with mild and moderate disabilities may
  be prone to discouragement (given their record of
  poor academic performance)

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Attribution

• Students who attribute their success to internal
  factors such as effort and ability demonstrate a
  positive attribution style
• Students who attribute success to external causes
  (luck or the teacher likes me) demonstrate a
  negative attribution style
• Teachers need to help students connect knowledge,
  effort and achievement by linking success or
  failure to effort and application of skills and
  strategies

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How Teachers can Help

• Design classrooms to be positive supportive
  environments
• Teach at the students appropriate level of
  understanding
• Engage students in their own learning
• Make school fun and interesting
• Design for errorless learning
• Use natural consequences that lead to failure as
  a teaching opportunity
• Teach self-management and self-determination
  skills so students become responsible for their
  own learning and behavior
• Connect effort and knowledge or skills to outcomes

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Summary Statements

• Understanding disability characteristics and
  definitions help teachers better understand the
  students they are teaching
• Focus on the individual not the disability - A
  disability does not define a person

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Summary Statements

• The categorical approach refers to identifying
  and serving students based on their ability
  category (e.g., LD, EBD, MR).
• The cross categorical approach refers to the
  severity of the disability (e.g.,
  mild-to-moderate disabilities)
• approach refers to the severity of the
  disability (e.g., mid-to Moderate.

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Summary Statements

• Most service delivery and teacher liscensing
  programs follow the cross-categorical approach
• Whereas, identification for students under IDEA
  still remains categorical

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Summary Statements

• The four major disabling conditions under mild
  and moderate include LD, EBD, MR, AND ADHD,
  although ADHD is not a disability category under
  IDEA
• All four categories of disability have been and
  continue to be difficult to define

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Summary Statements

• Most students with mild/moderate disabilities
  have common learning characteristics including
  poor attention, memory, concept formation,
  academic skills and social competence
• They may have low motivation for learning
• LD students may attribute school failures to
  themselves but successes to factors outside
  themselves

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A Smile from Heaven for Students w/ Disabilities