Lesson 3.

Special Education and Categories of

Children with Special Needs
Pre-Test
Directions: Encircle the letter of the best answer.
1. It refers to those with mental retardation, giftedness and talent, learning disabilities, emotional
and behavioural disorders, communication disorders, deafness, blindness and low vision,
physical disabilities, health impairments, and severe disabilities.
A. Exceptional Children B. Children and Youth with Special Needs
2. It is referred to as Children with Special Needs (CSN)
A. Exceptional Children
B. Children and Youth with Special Needs
3. This means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in
understanding or in using the language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an
imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read and write, spell or to do the mathematical
calculations
A. Specific Learning Disability B. Emotional and Behavioural Disability
4. It refers to high performance in intellectual, creative or artistic areas, unusual leadership
capacity, and excellence in specific Academic Field.
A. Giftedness and Talent B. Mental retardation
5. It refers to the children who have great chances than other children to develop a disability. The
child is in danger of substantial development delay because of medical, biological, or
environmental factors.
A. At Risk B. Handicap

Objectives
At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:
A. define Special Education and explain the meaning of individually planned, systematically
implemented, and carefully evaluated instruction for children with special needs;
B. explain how special; education enables exceptional children to benefit from the basic
education program of the Department of Education;
C. develop positive attitudes towards exceptional children and youth.

Special Education
 Special Education is individually planned, systematically implanted, and carefully
evaluated instruction to help exceptional children achieve the greatest possible personal
sufficiency and success in present and future environment. (Heward 2003)
Key Notes in Special Education
a. Individually Planned Instruction
b. Systematically Implemented and Evaluated Instruction
c. Personal Self-Sufficiency
d. Present Environment/Current Condition
e. Future Environment/Forecast
Exceptional Children or Children and Youth with Special Needs?
The term Exceptional Children and Youth covers those with mental retardation,
giftedness and talent, learning disabilities, emotional and behavioural disorders, communication
disorders, deafness, blindness and low vision, physical disabilities, health impairments, and
severe disabilities.
Exceptional Children are also referred to as Children with Special Needs (CSN). The
mental ability of exceptional children or CSN may be Average, Below or Above Average.

FOUR Points of View About Special Education (Heward)

1. Special Education is a legislatively governed enterprise.
2. Special Education is part of the country’s educational system.
3. Special Education is teaching the children with special needs in thee least restrictive
environment
4. Special Education is purposeful intervention.
a. Preventive Intervention is designed to keep potential or minor problems from
becoming a disability.
b. Primary Prevention is designed to eliminate or to counteract risk factors so that a
disability is not acquired.
c. Remedial Intervention attempts to eliminate the effects of a disability.
e. Secondary Intervention is aimed at reducing or eliminating the effects of existing risk
factors.
f. Tertiary Prevention is intended to minimize the impact of a specific condition or
disability among those with disabilities.
The Basic Terms in Special Education
1. Developmental Disability refers to a severe, chronic disability of a child five years age or
older.
2. Impairment or Disability refers to the reduced function or loss of a specific part of the body
or organ.
3. Handicap refers to a problem a person with disability or impairment encounters when
interacting with people, events, and the physical aspects of the environment.
4. At Risk refers to the children who have great chances than other children to develop a
disability. The child is in danger of substantial development delay because of medical,
biological, or environmental factors.
Categories of Children At Risk
1. Established Risk
2. Biological risk
3. Environmental Risk

Categories of Exceptionalities Among Children and Youth with Special Needs

1. Mental Retardation refers to substantial limitations in present functioning and characterized
by significantly sub-average intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with related
limitations in two or more of the following applicable adaptive skills areas : Communication,
Self-care, home living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional
academics, leisure and work. Mental Retardation manifests before age 18 (American
Association of Mental Retardation)
2. Giftedness and Talent refers to high performance in intellectual, creative or artistic areas,
unusual leadership capacity, and excellence in specific Academic Field.
3. Specific Learning Disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological
processes involved in understanding or in using the language, spoken or written, which may
manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read and write, spell or to do the
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, of mental retardation or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantages.
(US Office of Education)
4. The term Emotional and Behavioural 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. inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory and health factors
b. inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and
teachers
c. inappropriate types of behaviour 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.

5. Speech and Language Disorders or Communication Disorders exist when the impact that a
communication pattern has on a person’s life meets any one of the following
a. 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 a negative impact on the person’s emotional growth
e. the problem causes physical damage or endangers the health of the person (Emerick
and Haynes)

6. 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.
7. Students with visual impairment display a wide range of visual disabilities- from total
blindness to relatively good residual (remaining) vision.
8. Physical Impairments maybe orthopaedic impairments that involve the skeletal system – the
bones, joints, limbs and associated muscles. Or may be neurological impairments that involve the
nervous system affecting the ability to move, use, feel or control certain parts of the body.
9. The term severe disability generally encompass individuals with severe profound disabilities
in intellectual, physical and social functioning.