MUKUBA UNIVERSITY

MODULE 3
EDU 410: INCLUSIVE SCHOOLING

Mukuba University
Kitwe-Zambia
Education Department
Copyright
© Mukuba University 2014

No part of this module may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any

means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher.

Mukuba University
Education Department

P.O Box 20382

Kitwe
Zambia

Tel:+260212251346
E-mail: info@mukuba.edu.zm
Website: www.mukuba.edu.zm
Acknowledgements
The Mukuba University, Education Department wishes to thank those below for their contribution to
this Module:

AUTHORS

Chisangano E. N Senior Lecturer-Education Department

Nyirenda J Senior Lecturer- Education Department

 EDU 410 – INCLUSIVE SCHOOLING

Contents
About this Module 1
How this Module is structured .......................................................................................... 1

Module overview 3
Welcome to Inclusive Schooling Module 3 ...................................................................... 3
EDU 410 – Inclusive Schooling, Module 3 ...................................................................... 3
Course outcomes ............................................................................................................... 3
Timeframe ......................................................................................................................... 4
Study skills ........................................................................................................................ 4
Need help? ........................................................................................................................ 4
Assignments ...................................................................................................................... 5
Assessments ...................................................................................................................... 5

Getting around this Module 6

Margin icons ..................................................................................................................... 6

Unit 1 7
Gifted and talented learners .............................................................................................. 7
1.0 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 7
1.1 Factors that influence Giftedness ...................................................................... 9
1.4 Teaching strategies in inclusive schools ......................................................... 14
Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 16
Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 16
Assessment...................................................................................................................... 17

Unit 2 19
Learners with Learning disabilities................................................................................. 19
2.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 19
2.1 Characteristics of learners with LD ................................................................. 21
2.3 Teaching adaptations in an inclusive setting ................................................... 25
Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 27
Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 27
Assessment...................................................................................................................... 27

Unit 3 28
Emotional and behavioural disorders ............................................................................. 28
3.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 28
3.1 Definitions of Emotional & behavioural ......................................................... 29
disorders ................................................................................................................ 29
ii Contents

3.2 Characteristics ................................................................................................. 30

Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 35
Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 35
Assessment...................................................................................................................... 35

Unit 4 36
Working with parents and families of children with special needs ................................ 36
4.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 36
4.1 The impact of a child’s disability on the family .............................................. 39
4.3 Parental involvement into their children’s ...................................................... 43
Unit summary ................................................................................................................. 46
Assignment ..................................................................................................................... 46
Assessment...................................................................................................................... 46
Readings.......................................................................................................................... 47
About this Module
Inclusive Schooling, Module 3 has been produced by Mukuba University.
All Modules produced by Mukuba University are structured in the same
way, as outlined below.

How this Module is structured

The course overview
The course overview gives you a general introduction to the course.
Information contained in the course overview will help you determine:

If the course is suitable for you.

What you will already need to know.

What you can expect from the course.

How much time you will need to invest to complete the course.

The overview also provides guidance on:

Study skills.

Where to get help.

Course assignments and assessments.

Activity icons.

Units.

We strongly recommend that you read the overview carefully before

starting your study.

The course content

The course is broken down into units. Each unit comprises:

An introduction to the unit content.

Unit outcomes.

New terminology.

1
About this Module

Core content of the unit with a variety of learning activities.

A unit summary.

Assignments and/or assessments, as applicable.

Resources
For those interested in learning more on this subject, we provide you with
a list of additional resources at the end of this Module; these may be
books, articles or web sites.

Your comments
After completing Inclusive Schooling Module 3 we would appreciate it if
you would take a few moments to give us your feedback on any aspect of
this course. Your feedback might include comments on:

Course content and structure.

Course reading materials and resources.

Course assignments.

Course assessments.

Course duration.

Course support (assigned tutors, technical help, etc.)

Your constructive feedback will help us to improve and enhance this

course.

2
Module overview

Welcome to Inclusive Schooling

Module 3
This module is designed to equip students with practical skills and
necessary knowledge relevant to teaching children with special
educational needs in an inclusive school setup.

EDU 410 – Inclusive Schooling,

Module 3
This module is intended for people (teachers) who hold secondary school
teachers’ diplomas and wish to upgrade themselves to degree level.

Prospective students will need to have a secondary school teacher’s

diploma.

Course outcomes
Upon completion of Inclusive Schooling, Module3, you will be able to:

Define the terms Learning disabilities, Giftedness & talentedness, and

Emotional & behavioural disorders.

Discuss the causes and characteristics of LD, Giftedness, and Behavioural

disorders.

Demonstrate understanding of the importance of working with parents of

children with SEN.

Identify the various ways of dealing with such pupils in an inclusive setting.

3
Module overview

Timeframe
This module is expected to be covered within a period of 100 hours.

The 100 hours will include studying the actual module including all the
activities.
How long?

Study skills
As an adult learner your approach to learning will be different to that
from your school days: you will choose what you want to study, you will
have professional and/or personal motivation for doing so and you will
most likely be fitting your study activities around other professional or
domestic responsibilities.

Essentially you will be taking control of your learning environment. As a

consequence, you will need to consider performance issues related to
time management, goal setting, stress management, etc. Perhaps you will
also need to reacquaint yourself in areas such as essay planning, coping
with exams and using the web as a learning resource.

Your most significant considerations will be time and space i.e. the time
you dedicate to your learning and the environment in which you engage
in that learning.

We recommend that you take time now—before starting your self-

study—to familiarize yourself with these issues.

Need help?
Should you require help in the course of your studies, do not hesitate to
contact the following:

- Local resource centre coordinators,

- Course tutors/lecturers

4
Assignments
You will be expected to write at least two assignments in an academic
year. One of the assignments will be given to you during this residential
school.

The assignments should be handed in to the course lecturers during the

residential sessions.

You will be required to submit the assignments in the order in which they
will be given to you.

Assessments
You will be expected to write two tutor – marked tests and three self
marked tests in this course. The tutor – marked tests will be written
during the residential sessions. Each module will carry at least one self –
marked test.

The tutor – marked tests will be released in the proceeding residential

sessions.

5
Getting around this Module

Getting around this Module

Margin icons
While working through this module you will notice the frequent use of
margin icons. These icons serve to “signpost” a particular piece of text, a
new task or change in activity; they have been included to help you to
find your way around this module.

A complete icon set is shown below. We suggest that you familiarize

yourself with the icons and their meaning before starting your study.

Activity Assessment Assignment

Discussion Help Note it!

Outcomes Reading Study skills

Summary Terminology Time

6
Unit 1

Gifted and talented learners

1.0 Introduction
Welcome to Unit 1 which introduces you to teaching Gifted and talented
learners.

You could have come across learners in classrooms who perform

extremely well in both academic and extra-curricular activities in
schools. Did you ever take time to think about what makes such
learners excel in all those areas? This is one of the questions we
will consider in this section as we discuss the education of gifted
and talented learners. But before we do that, let us try to answer the
question below.

In your own words, how can you define Giftedness? Write this in
the space provided below.

………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………

You are only given five minutes to attempt this question.

Well done! Your answer may have been differently framed but has
the same meaning with the explanation below. If not, do not worry.
Well done! Gifted and talented children are those possessing
demonstrated or potential abilities that give evidence of high
performance capability in such areas as intellectual, creative,

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Unit 1 Gifted and talented learners

specific academic or leadership ability, or in the performing or

visual arts. These are learners who are considered to have a
particular talent in specific areas such as chess, music,
mathematics, art, and many other disciplines. These learners
usually feel alienated by their peers and others around them.

Giftedness is usually associated with high intelligence or aptitude

while talent is usually related to a high level of performance in such
areas as music, art, craft, dance, or sport. Giftedness is partially due
to inherited traits of information processing with an integral portion
attributed to the environmental experiences the child encounters to
develop those traits. It is an endowment of natural ability apart
from learning that takes place in the home or at school.

Gifted and talented children usually have Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

score of 140 or more on a test. This would place them in the group
representing about 0.5 per cent in the top part of the population of
IQ scores. Giftedness relates more to aptitude domains (intellectual,
creative, socio-affective, perceptual/motor skills) while talent is
associated more with outstanding achievements in a variety of
fields of human endeavour (academic, technical, artistic,
interpersonal and athletic fields).

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

Define Giftedness and Talentedness.

Examine the characteristics of Gifted and talented learners.

Explain how you would identify and classify Gifted and talented
learners.

Discuss the educational approaches for Gifted and Talented learners.

8
Gifted: Learners who are intellectually or
academically within the superior range.

Talented: Exhibiting special abilities, aptitudes, and

accomplishments in various areas.

Underachiever: A learner who demonstrates a significant

discrepancy between ability and performance.

1.1 Factors that influence Giftedness

Have you taken time to think of how people become gifted? Let us
now look at some of the factors that make people to become gifted.
The following are some of the factors influencing giftedness:

• Heredity and environment.

• Age – As chronological age increases, so does mental age.

However, there are exceptions to this due to individual
differences.

• Coaching and practice – There is usually an overall

improvement in scores as a result of coaching and
practice.

• Effects of home and school – Culture and family size

correlate negatively with measured intelligence, which
suggests that children from large families tend to have
lower IQs than those of smaller families.

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Unit 1 Gifted and talented learners

1.2 Characteristics of Gifted and talented

learners

You will be interested to know that gifted and talented learners

exhibit a wide range of characteristics. However, the major
characteristics with which these learners would be identified are
listed below. A gifted and talented learner may:

• Be a good reader

• Be very articulate or verbally fluent for their age.

• Give quick verbal responses (which can appear cheeky)

• Have a wide general knowledge

• Learn quickly

• Be interested in topics which one might associate with an

older child.

• Communicate well with adults – often better than their peer

group

• Have a range of interests, some of which are almost

obsessions

• Show unusual and original responses to problem-solving

activities

• Prefer verbal to written activities

• Be logical

• Be self taught in their own interest areas

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 • Have an ability to work things out in their head very
quickly

• Have a good memory which they can access easily

• Be artistic

• Be musical

• Excel at sport

• Have strong views and opinions

• Have a lively and original imagination/sense of humour

• Be very sensitive and aware

• Focus on their own interests rather than on what is being

taught

• Appear arrogant or socially inept

• Be easily bored by what they perceive as routine tasks

• Show a strong sense of leadership

• Not necessarily be well-behaved or well liked by others.

• They are willing to entertain complexity and seem to thrive

on problem solving.

From the preceding discussion, you have learnt how do identify

gifted and talented learners by observing their characteristics. You
will however need to know that learners have classifications that
they are identified with. This is what we will look at shortly.

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Unit 1 Gifted and talented learners

1.3 Classification of Gifted and talented learners

In seeking to identify gifted and talented learners, you will need to
know that schools have the discretion to decide how best to identify
their gifted and talented learners. How does your school go about
identifying gifted and talented learners? Write down your answers
in the space provided below.

1……………………………………………………………………..

………………………………………………………………………

2…………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………………..

3…………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………………..

Well done! You should however note that schools are likely to
obtain the best results by drawing on a wide range of information
sources, including both qualitative and quantitative information. A
range of popular methods for identification are listed below. As a
teacher, you could therefore find these methods very useful as you
seek to identify gifted and talented learners.

(a) Teacher nomination

(b) Checklists

(c) Testing – achievement, potential and curriculum ability

(d) Assessment of children’s work

(e) Peer nomination

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 (f) Parental information

(g) Discussion with the children themselves

(h) Using community resources

(i) Evidence from out-of-school activities.

When you have identified gifted and talented learners using any of
the methods above, they can then be classified as follows:

(a) Openly able – these are gifted learners who are enjoying
their talent and excelling in all they do;

(b) Concealed able – under-achievers who fade into and hide

in their peer-group;

(c) Creative able – often with unusual divergent thought

patterns;

(d) Talented able – intellectually able but with a particular

talent in one area.

The classifications discussed above will therefore enable you as a

teacher to know the actual category into which to classify gifted
and talented learners in your class. This will consequently make it
easier to design appropriate strategies for handling such learners
effectively.

After you have identified gifted and talented learners in your class,
there is also a greater need that such learners should be assessed
before you can place them in a suitable category. Assessment of gifted
and talented learners will take the following forms:

• Verbal reasoning tests such as the California Verbal Reasoning

Test

• World Class Tests

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Unit 1 Gifted and talented learners

• University entrance tests

• Aptitude tests

• Non-test evidence – independent tests in academic-related

activities out of school such as psychological assessment.

• Talent criteria – Music, national grants or the Dance and Drama

Awards.

After you have identified and assessed gifted and talented learners,
you will need to know the appropriate teaching methods that can be
used to educate such learners. This is what we shall look at next.

1.4 Teaching strategies in inclusive schools

You need to know that every school should have a clear policy for
teaching gifted and talented learners. The teaching strategies that
schools should devise include the following:

• Acceleration – placing a gifted learner in a higher class

• Fast tracking – shortening the duration of study period for

gifted learners.

• Withdrawing the gifted learners for additional adult support

• Separation/Segregation – separation of very able learners

from the general class

• Including more open questioning to allow all learners to

respond at their own level to the same questions

• Gifted learners should be motivated to participate in extra-

curricular activities

• Encourage pupils to explore alternative mental strategies

14
• Variety and newness should be brought into teaching
methods for the education of gifted and talented learners

• Reduce whole class activity, setting stepped tasks,

encouraging able pupils to omit earlier steps

• Reduce amount of time able pupils spend on practice and

consolidation

• Encourage sustained work that able learners may continue

over two or more lessons

• Give more challenging work to gifted and talented learners.

• Teachers have a responsibility to select and implement a

variety of teaching strategies for inclusion in programs for
the range of gifted and talented students in their classes.

These are but just among the many teaching strategies that you
could use to teach gifted and talented learners. You could use
these strategies either in isolation, but it is advisable that they
are best used in combination.

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Unit 1 Gifted and talented learners

Unit summary
In this unit you learnt the definition of giftedness and talentedness,
characteristics of learners who are gifted and talented, the
identification and assessment strategies as well as the teaching
methods used in the education of gifted and talented learners. It is
our hope that you have now been equipped with the necessary
knowledge and skills needed in teaching gifted and talented
learners since this category of learners is found in every school.
The next unit looks at learners with learning disabilities.

Assignment
Tutor – marked assignment:

The assignment question will be given to you during the residential

school.

16
Assessment
There is no assessment item for this topic. Thank you!

17
Unit 2

Learners with Learning disabilities

2.0 Introduction
Welcome to Unit 2 which talks about teaching learners with
learning disabilities.

You could have come across children who have average

intelligence and without any classifiable disability but do not
succeed in school. Such children have been a concern to many
including teachers, parents, researchers and other stakeholders. You
will be amazed to learn that researchers began investigating the
causes of the conditions now known as learning disabilities in the
1800s. This research still rages on today. Many people have ruled
out lack of effort by the learner as a causative factor, but many
questions still remain unanswered.

A number of theories have been floated in an attempt to explain

this disorder. Today, most of the earlier theories about learning
disabilities involving brain damage have been abandoned or
revised, but the causes of the disorder are still largely unknown
(Kirk, et al, 2003).

The label “learning disability” refers to a category of children and

does not describe the specific deficit or dysfunction of the child or
the specific academic or achievement problem of the child. The
label assists persons identifying and classifying children who need
specific help. Many definitions have been coined to refer to
learners with specific learning disabilities. However, for the sake of
this course, the following definition has been adopted:

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Unit 2 Learners with Learning disabilities

“Learning disability” means a disorder in one or

more of the basic psychological processes involved 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. They

include 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, of emotional disturbance, or of

environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. (NICHY, 2000).

You will notice from the above definition that children with
specific learning disabilities have problems in acquiring basic
reading, writing, spelling or number skills although they have at
least average levels of intellectual ability.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

Identify the causes of learning disabilities.

Define learning disabilities

Examine the types and characteristics exhibited by learners with learning

disabilities.

Understand the education approaches implored in teaching learners with

learning disabilities.

Examine the types and characteristics exhibited by learners with learning

disabilities.

20
Dysgraphia Brain dysfunction that causes inability to write
or write legibly.

Dyslexia Severe reading disability involving difficulties

in understanding the relationship between
sounds and letters.

Aphasia Impairment in ability to understand or use oral

language, usually associated with an injury or
abnormality of speech centres of the brain.

2.1 Characteristics of learners with LD

As a teacher, it is important that you acquaint yourself with these
characteristics below so that you don’t face problems in identifying
such learners. The general characteristics include; reading
problems, deficits in written language, underachievement in
mathematics, poor social skills, attention deficits and hyperactivity,
and low self esteem.

Let us focus our attention now to specific learning disabilities. You

will be able to identify learners with specific learning disabilities
by looking out for the following signs:

• They confuse letters such as b and d, and p and q;

• They confuse the order of letters in words (for example was

for saw);

• They do not remember the more common words like ‘the’,

‘is’ and ‘and’;

21
Unit 2 Learners with Learning disabilities

• Learners do not remember steps for multiplying and

dividing;

• The learners use fingers to count items even by grade 3 or

higher;

• They easily reverse numbers, for example, 51 for 15;

• They read slowly and ignore punctuations;

• The learners hold pencils or pens awkwardly;

• They write letters backwards;

• They lose pace when reading.

These are some of the characteristics that learners with specific

learning disabilities are likely to show. Let us now turn your
attention to the causes of learning disabilities.

Activity 2.1.1

In your local community/school, how are learners with the above

characteristics identified?

………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………

22
You are expected to spend not more than 10 minutes on this

activity.

2.2 Causes of learning disabilities

In most cases, the cause (etiology) of a child’s learning disability is

unknown. Many causes have been proposed, a situation that
probably reflects the highly diverse nature of students with learning
disabilities. Just as there are different types of learning disabilities
(e.g., dyslexia, language disabilities, math disabilities), there are
likely to be different causes. Four suspected causal factors are brain
damage, heredity, biochemical imbalance, and environmental
causes.

You could be interested to learn that research into the causes of

learning disabilities in children reveals that there are multiple
causes with focus on subgroups within the larger population of
children with learning disabilities. Studies have identified some
neurological differences and sensory deficits associated with their
learning problems.

Research now clearly supports the rejection of a single cause or a

single deficit clearly in mind. Instruction varies from child to child,
depending on the problems he or she faces. Despite the difficulties
in coming up with the causes of specific learning disabilities, it is
generally agreed that causes may fall under the following
categories:

Biological and Genetic explanations

Researchers have reported biological, hereditary, and genetic

explanations for some subtypes of learning disabilities. Some
learning disabilities have a genetic base and inherited. Hormone
imbalance is a source of learning disabilities. Several researchers

23
Unit 2 Learners with Learning disabilities

have demonstrated relationships between brain damage and some

types of learning disabilities.

Perceptual-motor problems

Some children with learning disabilities will have motor problems.

However, utilizing perceptual-motor integration practices as a
curve for learning disabilities has little research support. Many
remedial activities were suggested to increase perceptual-motor
integration.

Visual processing deficits

Some people assume that visual deficits are the cause of learning
disabilities. Children with visual deficits are observed to have
difficulty moving their eyes from left to right to follow printed text,
and they move their eyes frequently back and forth across a line.
These visual processing deficits were perceived to signal not a
problem in seeing but instead a problem in how visual information
was processed in the brain and how the children used their eyes to
gain information. Visual processing deficits should not be ignored.

Auditory processing deficits

Auditory processing is slower in children with language delays.

Language delays are common in children with learning disabilities.
These children take longer to process auditory as well as visual
information.

Memory disorders

A deficit in auditory processing affects storage in short-term

memory. The slower auditory processing does not allow enough
time for information to be entered into short-term memory. So
much of what is presented to the learner is lost, does not enter
short-term memory, and therefore is not transferred to long-term
memory.

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Attention Deficits and Hyperactivity

It has long been thought that most children with learning

disabilities have attention deficits and are easily distracted,
impulsive, hyperactive, or poor listeners. Some of the professionals
who identify children as having learning disabilities prefer to
regard the condition to regard the condition as an attention-deficit
hyperactive disorder (ADHD). The basic assumption was that attention
deficits and hyperactivity were the source of academic problems.

2.3 Teaching adaptations in an inclusive setting

Having discussed the likely causes of specific learning disabilities
in the previous section, let us now turn to the strategies that can be
used to teach such learners. The approaches that we have presented
here can be adapted to subject matter including mathematics,
writing, spelling, and reading or dealing with dyslexia. These
techniques can be used in the general classroom, resource room, or
special class.

Applied behavioural analysis

This is frequently called behaviourism because it grew out of

earlier work on the modification of challenging behaviour and
emotional disturbances. Behaviourism is based on the work of
Skinner (1953) and has been used widely to control or modify
unacceptable behaviour in school. The same techniques are used to
teach academic skills and subjects. Applied behaviour analysis is
concerned with the causes of disorder only in so far as they help
teachers to formulate a treatment plan.

Cognitive Strategy instruction

The cognitive strategy model is designed to remediate executive

functions, metacognitions, or organisational strategies. The model
which focuses on the teacher’s behaviour as well as the learners,

25
Unit 2 Learners with Learning disabilities

can be applied to all academic areas and to children with and

without learning disabilities. The approach uses many behavioural
principles and includes teaching children strategies for approaching
learning problems. Learning strategies are techniques, principles or
rules that help learners learn how to solve problems, complete
tasks, self regulate, and use past learning. A learning strategy
programme teaches the learners strategies that can be used in a
variety of content areas as well as with specific content; for
example, mathematics or reading.

Mnemonic devices

A mnemonic device is a very effective teaching strategy. It is a

technique for putting difficult-to-remember facts into an accessible
form; that is, a device or rhyme that helps people to remember
words or concepts. An example of a mnemonic is BODMAS
(Brackets of Division, Multiplication and Subtraction).

Others are; Cooperative learning, and Mastery learning. (Find

out more)

These strategies we have discussed above are the ones you could
use as a teacher to present lessons to the learners with specific
learning disabilities, and could be used in combination at times. As
we mentioned in the previous section, you should not rely on a
particular method to deliver lessons.

26
Unit summary
In this unit you learnt the definitions of specific learning
disabilities, characteristics of learners with specific learning
disabilities, causes of learning disabilities as well as the teaching
methods used in delivering lessons to learners with learning
disabilities. We hope this unit has presented to you valuable
information in as far as teaching of learners with specific learning
disabilities is concerned. In the unit that follows, we discuss the
education of learners with Emotional and behavioural disorders.

Assignment
Assignment for this module will be given during the residential school.

Assessment
Self –marked assessment

From your own experience in your local community, identify at least

one form of learning disability that is common in the area (school). Try to
come up with solutions on how such pupils can be helped?

You will answer this question in your own study material.

27
28 Unit 3 Emotional and behavioural disorders

Unit 3

Emotional and behavioural

disorders

3.0 Introduction
Welcome to Unit 3 which is on Emotional and behavioural disorders. A
child with social problems may be unable to behave appropriately
with peers and in social situations. You will be interested to know
that behaviour disorders in children are usually characterized by
difficulties in their interaction with others. Most definitions of
emotional and behaviour disorders are based on the criteria that
children with behavioural disorders will exhibit consistent age-
appropriate behaviour resulting in social conflict, personal
unhappiness and social failure. Scholars usually disagree on which
definition to adopt. Such disagreements have resulted in widely
varying estimates of prevalence of behaviour disorders among
school children (Kirk and Gallagher, 1983).

There is no single, standard way of measuring social emotional

functioning. What may be considered as deviant behaviour in one
culture may actually be the norm in another. But have you ever
taken time to think about what emotional and behaviour disorders
constitute in as far as classroom behaviour is concerned? Let us
now focus our attention to the definitions.

28
Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

Define Emotional and behavioural disorders.

Understand the causes, types and identification of EBD’s.

Discuss the strategies used in identification and assessment of learners

with EBD.

Explain how disruptive behaviour is dealt with.

Hyperactivity Excessive movement or motor restlessness

generally accompanied by impulsiveness and
inattention.

Scaffolding A strategy in which the teacher models the

expected and guides the learning of the
learner.

Neurological This involves the brain, spinal cord, and

system nerves.

3.1 Definitions of Emotional & behavioural

disorders
You will be interested to know that children with behaviour
disorders are referred to by a variety of terms. These terms include
emotionally disturbed, socially maladjusted, psychologically
disordered, emotionally handicapped, or even psychotic or autistic
if their behaviour is extremely abnormal or bizarre (Heward and
Orlansky, 1988).

29
30 Unit 3 Emotional and behavioural disorders

The Council of Exceptional Children (U.S.A) defines the term

emotional behavioural disorders (EBD) as, a condition in which
behavioural or emotional responses of an individual in school are
so different from his/her generally accepted age-appropriate,
ethnic, or cultural norms that they adversely affect educational
performance in such areas as self-care, social relationships,
personal adjustment, academic progress, classroom behaviour, or
work adjustments. (The Council of Exceptional Children is a US
organization that looks at education and health issues related to
exceptional children).

Graubard (1993:323) on the other hand, defines behaviour

disorders as:

“…a variety of excessive, chronic, deviant behaviour ranging

from impulsive and aggression to depressive and withdrawal

acts which violate the perceiver’s expectations of appropriateness

and which the perceiver wishes to see”.

Children with behaviour disorders will exhibit characteristics

which are common in schools but which people including teachers
usually dismiss as not requiring the services of special education.
These children exhibit behaviour which makes them not to function
effectively at school or disrupt the education of other pupils. These
learners therefore need special education and related services.

3.2 Characteristics
These children have the following characteristics related to their
personality and behavior:

• Theft of items and money

• Not reaching school or truancy

• Tease and irritate others

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 • Tendency for physical and mental torture to others

• Affected by mental conflicts

• Withdrawn behaviour

• They become victims of inferiority complex

• Disobey discipline, bad conduct and cheating

• Creators of problems at home and in school

• An inability to learn which cannot be explained by

intellectual, sensory, and health factors

• An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal

relationships with peers and teachers

• Inappropriate types of behaviour or feelings under normal

circumstances

• A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression

• A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears

associated with personal or school problems.

3.3 Causes and effects of Emotional &

behavioural disorders
Emotional & behavioural disorders can come about through the
following ways:

• Biological factors (genetic or neurological) - If the central

nervous system is not intact and not maturing in a normal
manner, disturbances in motor and perceptual development
lead to dissatisfaction with one’s self.

• Environmental factors - Failed attempts at mastering tasks

induce feelings of frustration rather than feelings of
accomplishment. Instead of building self-esteem, the
thwarted attempts produce an attitude self-derision and at
the same time fail to stimulate the parent’s normal
responses of pride.

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32 Unit 3 Emotional and behavioural disorders

• Family - When parents become anxious and disheartened,

there are reactions that can result in either rejection or
overprotection. Interactions between parents and their child
influence the child’s opinions, behaviours and emotions. A
good example is child abuse, which might lead to
aggression and anger.

• Society – Societal problems can have impact on a pupil’s

emotional and behavioural status. For example, and
impoverished environment, a disrupted family, and poor
nutrition can lead to frustration, hopelessness and may also
lead to aggression.

• School – Teacher expectations and actions greatly affect a

pupil’s behaviour.
These may take many forms, including conscious refusal to learn,
resistance to pressure, clinging to dependence, quick
discouragement, fear of success, and withdrawal into a private
world. If the problems are so severe that they interfere with the
learning the student may be referred for psychological or
psychiatric counselling.

Activity 3.3.1

Briefly describe the teachers’ attitude towards learners with EBD’s

in the community where you come from.

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………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………

You will answer this in your work book in 10 minutes.

3.4 Dealing with disruptive behaviour in an

inclusive classroom
There are several strategies used in dealing with such children,
including the following:

Classroom Management

Models of behaviour management can only be used as only part of

comprehensive management frameworks. The teacher should be a
proactive facilitator who exercises a facilitative stance. This stance
supports co-learning in a meaningful context, with mutual
negotiation between teacher and the learner with greater
opportunities to interact. Behaviour problems in the classroom can
be addressed by providing a rationale for rules and rewards, or
modifying attitude and activity. All these strategies occur with the
teacher remaining in charge.

Token economy

This is an exchange system that provides individuals or groups

whose behaviour is being changed with immediate feedback cues
of the appropriateness of their behaviour. These cues (tokens) are at
a later time exchanged for backup reinforcers (items and activities).
When developing a token economy, the teacher must first select the
specific behaviour to be changed. This behaviour, referred to as
target behaviour, must be discussed and clarified with the
individual or group whose behaviour is to be changed.

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34 Unit 3 Emotional and behavioural disorders

Self management programmes

Self management through self-evaluation has been demonstrated to

reduce the learner’s off-task and disruptive behaviour in the
classroom. However, even when trained to make judgment about
their own behaviour and to solve social problems, the learners still
show difficulties applying these skills in the classroom. In an
attempt to increase generalization, strategies such as the group
meeting have been used. The teacher works the child to improve a
series of self-awareness skills whereby the child can increase his or
her own control of hyperactivity or distractibility.

Behaviour modification

Here, the teacher and the child agree on very specific goals which
appear to be within the child’s capacity to attain. This approach
may include such techniques as operant conditioning and task
analysis. Operant conditioning functions through controlling the
stimuli that follow responses. Task analysis on the other hand,
involves establishing goals and organizing the tasks in small steps
so that the child can then receive positive reinforcement for each
step or part of the total task as it is completed.

Counselling

The teacher should make considerable effort in getting to know the

children well, talking with them, studying them, discussing them
with parents and colleagues and trying to seek out some of the
reasons for their behaviour. This leads into counselling.
Counselling involves helping the child find solutions to his/her
problems.

These are some of the strategies you would use as a teacher to deal
with disruptive behaviour in the classroom. We hope you will try
them out on your pupil.

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Unit summary
In this unit you learnt about teaching learners with emotional and
behavioural disorders. You further learnt the identification and
assessment of such learners by looking at their characteristics, as
well as dealing with disruptive behaviour that learners with
emotional and behavioural disorders are likely to exhibit. It is our
hope that you found this unit educative. The unit that follows looks
at working with parents and families of children with SEN.

Assignment
The assignment will be given to you during the residential school.

Assessment

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36 Unit 4 Working with parents and families of children with special needs

Unit 4

Working with parents and families

of children with special needs

4.0 Introduction
Welcome to Unit 4 which looks at working with parents of children
with special needs. You might be interested to know that regular
collaboration and good relationship between school staff and
parents can assist a child’s educational progress. Collaboration may
take a variety of forms including these stated below:

(a) Parents’ views should be sought through appropriate

methods before their child begins school and at regular
intervals throughout the school years,

(b) There is a great need to keep track of the child’s activities

both at school and home,

(c) Teachers need to regularly give progress reports (written

and verbal) on children to the parents of children with
Special Educational Needs. This should be clear and
detailed enough to allow parents make certain decisions on
the progress of their children. It could, for instance, indicate
areas in which work at home could compliment that being
done at school.

It is important for you to note that the adaptation of families with

special educational needs (SEN) has been perceived as the
progression through a series of psychological stages: shock, denial,
bargaining, anger, depression and acceptance (Shea and Bauer,
1994). Parents of children with disabilities are understood to
experience chronic sorrow, a grieving process that persists

36
throughout the life of the parent and the child. Grieving is viewed
by some professionals as necessary for parents in order to free
themselves of the dream of the “perfect” child.

You will therefore agree with us that successful collaboration

involves helping family members in their efforts to develop more
effective ways of managing stress. Mothers and fathers vary in
their needs and perceptions of the child with disabilities. Successful
collaboration programmes must then be designed to respond to the
unique needs of both mothers and fathers. Collaboration between
parents and teachers on behalf of the child with disabilities is
enhanced when professionals consider the interaction of personal
characteristics and environmental influences, family characteristics
may change and those which are not likely to change.

Programmes should be designed to respond to an individual

family’s issues and concerns. Meeting the needs of individual
parents should be the goal of any collaborative programme. The
impact of the child with disabilities on family relationships and the
family, itself, needs to be carefully assessed if professionals are to
successfully assist the family.

GUIDELINES THAT REFLECT FAMILY-CENTERED

PRACTICE

• Recognizing the family as a constant in the child’s life;

caregivers and service systems may come and go

• Facilitating collaboration between families and

professionals

• Honoring and respecting family diversity in all

dimensions (cultural, racial, ethnic, linguistic, spiritual,
and socioeconomic)

• Recognizing family strengths and the different

approaches that families may use to cope

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38 Unit 4 Working with parents and families of children with special needs

• Sharing unbiased and honest information with family

members on an ongoing basis

• Encouraging family-to-family support and networking

• Acknowledging and incorporating the developmental

needs of the child and other family members into your
practice

• Designing and implementing services that are

accessible, culturally and linguistically respectful and
responsive, flexible, and based on family-identified
needs

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

Explain the impact of a child’s disability on the family.

Describe the parent/teacher partnership.

Discuss the importance of parental involvement in their children’s

education.

Genetic A source of information for parents about the

counselling: likelihood of their child being born with
genetically based disabilities.

Collaboration: The participation of equal partners in the solution

of problems.

Individual A written plan for the education of an individual

Education student with learning disabilities.
Programme:

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4.1 The impact of a child’s disability on the family
You will agree with us that when a child is first diagnosed as
having a serious disability, most parents feel shock, denial, guilt,
anger, and sadness before they finally adjust. Worse still, other
parents may not even come to terms with this situation for as long
as the child lives. They fail to accept the situation of giving birth to
a child with a disability since their expectation was to have a
bouncy and healthy child. They begin to blame themselves and
other people for that and tend to wonder why it had to be them.

The failure by some parents to accept having a child with a

disability, if not well handled can lead them into depression. Such
parents tend to even conceal the child from other people and by so
doing prevent themselves from receiving help from others. This
situation leads to a guilt feeling on the part of such parents each
time they look at the child. The failure to accept having such a
child and the unwillingness to share their feelings with other people
eventually leads them into depression.

Naturally, anything that happens to one member of the family will

have an impact on all the other members of the family. The
family’s daily routine of activities change to accommodate the
added responsibility of caring for the child with a disability. This
responsibility can consequently lead to the family being financially
overstretched resulting into poverty in the home. Some family
members may even be forced to withdraw from economic activities
in order to concentrate on the caring of the child with a disability.

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40 Unit 4 Working with parents and families of children with special needs

Parents and families who have children with disabilities undergo a

lot of psychological trauma which when not handled well could
lead to depression. You could therefore agree that the impact of
having a child with a disability weighs heavily on the family
throughout the child’s life.

Many parents of children with disabilities face the problem of daily

care for the children. This is even more pronounced if both parents
are in gainful employment and have other children to look after.
The result of this unfortunate situation could be that the family
might be forced to have one parent quit employment so as to look
after the child. This means reduced income for the family. The
family will also have an option of employing somebody to care for
the child with a disability. This option however, also has serious
financial implications.

The realization that the child will not go through the normal
developmental process or may never become an independent adult,
often weighs heavily on the parents as they blame themselves for
the birth of a child who cannot fulfill their dreams. This has serious
implications for the family. It is in view of the foregoing that
parent/teacher partnerships become very important in helping
alleviate the many problems that families with children who have
special needs experience. This is what we will discuss in the
following section. But before we go into this discussion, attempt
the activity below.

Activity 4.1.1

Imagine that one of your neighbours has given birth to a child who
is severely disabled. What kind of advice would you give them?

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You are expected to answer this in your workbook.

Let us now focus our attention to parent-teacher partnership.

4.2 Parent – Teacher partnership

Think about some of the partnerships your school has with the
outside community. Have you ever taken time to think of the value
that partnership has? You might also be interested to know the
meaning of partnership before we go into discussing the
parent/teacher partnership in detail. Partnership implies equality. It
implies the willingness and ability of each party to learn from each
other. That means teachers’ willingness and ability to talk as equals
with parents whom they may consider responsible for their
children’s problems, accepting that these parents may have
valuable advice to offer on their children’s management and
motivation.

You will also need to know that partnership brings about

accountability. Effective collaboration requires that various parties
feel accountable to their colleagues as well as to their clients.
Parents’ observations of the child are a valuable source of

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42 Unit 4 Working with parents and families of children with special needs

information to the professionals (teachers). Parents often take an

active part in the teaching process. They may be trained to teach
specific skills (such as living skills, pre-academic skills, and
communication skills) to their child. With training, parents are able
to reinforce learning. They are able to see that the functional skills
the child learns in school are applied in the home.

Study the picture below:

The picture shows a parent and a teacher discussing the progress

of a child with special educational needs within the school
premises.

You also need to know that being clear about what parents expect
from the school is not as simple as it sounds. How much the
individual class or subject teacher can do to foster an effective
partnership with parents will depend to some extent on the school’s
senior management. They can make the school ‘parent friendly’, or
provide hidden messages that deter parents even more effectively
than a printed notice reminding the parents not to go beyond a

42
certain point. One significant point you need to remember is that
parents are more likely to believe teachers’ protestations about their
importance in their children’s education if these are accompanied
by practical suggestions.

Part of the teachers’ expectations of their work now require that

they should be available to discuss the learners’ work with parents.
Annual or termly; open days remain one of the most frequent ways
of meeting this requirement. Open days may not be very
satisfactory either for teachers or for parents, but in the absence of
more effective and less formal arrangements for parents and
teachers to meet, they will undoubtedly continue. The question you
might want to pose, then, is how to make the open days as
satisfactory as possible. You will agree that it is only schools
themselves that will work at having these open days successful.

It is also important to note that parents hold key information and

have a critical role to play in their children’s education. They have
unique strengths, knowledge and experience to contribute to the
shared view of a child’s needs and the best ways of supporting
them. It is therefore essential that all teachers actively seek to work
with parents and value the contribution they make. The work of
schools and teachers can be more effective when parents are
involved and account is taken of their wishes, feelings and
perspectives on their children’s development. This is particularly so
when a child has special educational needs.

4.3 Parental involvement into their children’s

Education

You may wish to know that one of the reasons for the teachers’
meeting with parents in their own classrooms whenever possible is
that this gives both teacher and pupils an incentive to review the
general appearance of the room. Moreover, by listening to their

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44 Unit 4 Working with parents and families of children with special needs

children reading from books they bring home from school, parents
help to overcome problems of transfer of learning which the
children face. Parents also demonstrate the importance they attach
to their progress at school and therefore increase their motivation to
succeed at school. There is also friendly encouragement to
cooperate with the school, which in essence leads both parents and
children to view school attendance in a positive manner.

You will also note that children are usually sensitive to their
teachers’ attitude. However, a sense that their parents and teachers
are working together seems likely to contribute to a climate of
security favourable to successful learning. Working in the school
with the pupils, parents (or other adults) can help improve
behaviour of their children in school. The idea of teachers meeting
parents in their own classrooms whenever possible, also gives both
the teacher and pupils an incentive to review the general
appearance in the classroom. A climate of trust and confidence can
also be achieved when parents visit the school and realise that their
views about children are highly valued and appreciated. You will
also agree that teachers will greatly benefit from the presence of
parents or guardians in school as the latter will bring with them the
weaknesses and strengths of their children to the discussion table.
Through such opportunities, teachers may learn certain attributes of
the children which they otherwise would not have known about. It
is therefore very important that teachers encourage parents of
learners with special educational needs to visit schools as often as
they can. As we pointed out earlier, the important thing for teachers
to do is to remove the mistrust which they might have had towards
the parents’ desire to visit school. Parents should feel welcome to
the greatest extent possible. Only when this is done, will they feel
they are part and parcel of their children’s education.

Picture from David Werner’s book (Disabled Village)

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46 Unit 4 Working with parents and families of children with special needs

Unit summary
In this unit you learnt the impact of a child’s disability on the
family, the importance of parent/teacher partnership as well as the
need to involve parents in their children’s education. You should
bear in mind that parents are very instrumental in their children’s
education and that partnerships with them are critical for their
children’s education.

We also hope you found the module interesting and educative.

Your comments and recommendations are very welcome.

Assignment
The assignment will be given during the residential school.

Assessment
Self-marked assessment

In your local community where you come from, briefly describe

society’s attitudes on children with disabilities. What are some of
the local names you know given to these children?

You are expected to answer this question in your own study material.

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Readings

Heward, W.L. & Orlansky, M.D. (1988) Exceptional Children, (Third

Edition), Columbus, Merrill Publishing Company.

Kasonde-Ng’andu, S. and Moberg, S. (2001) Moving Towards Inclusive

Schooling: A baseline study on the Special

Educational Needs in the Western and North-Western

Provinces of Zambia, Lusaka, Ministry of Education.

Kirk, S.A., Gallagher, J.J. & Anastasiow, N.J. (2003) Educating

Exceptional Children, (Tenth Edition), New York,

Houghton Mifflin Company.

Ministry of Education (MOE), (1996) Educating Our Future: National

Policy on Education, Lusaka, MOE.

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