Van Gile M.

Ecleo CPE - 103

Prof. Cherrilyn C. Niez-Mojica

Action Research on Students with Mental Retardation

An intellectual disability of a person is not contagious or inheritable trait instead it is

characterized by having significant limitations in terms of intellectual functioning and adaptive
behaviour. Severity of being mentally retarded is determined by the discrepancy of an individual
from his capabilities and in the expectation of society as they age and grow. Individuals with
mental disabilities includes: those who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),
down syndrome and autism. Common and familiar diagnosed causes of mental retardation are
genetic disorders or conditions, problems during pregnancy and birth of the children and
acquiring health problems during vulnerability stages. Lack of ability to learning, reasoning,
logical thinking and socializing skills shows up in every one of them. Having attention problem
and lack of motivation drives them away to learning that is why there are teaching strategies
made for student with mental disability to help and improve their quality of life and onto success.

All students have different capabilities, especially for those special students and one thing
in common for all students is that they have their own effective teaching methods. One strategy
that are observably and effectively used for mentally retarded or also referred as person with
intellectual disability (ID) is by breaking down the learning tasks into step by step process. One
step at a time practice will help avoid overwhelming to them, and once they mastered one step
then they could proceed to the next step. A progressive type of learning is considered the
fundamental learning approach to people with ID. Another type of learning is commonly referred
in schools as learning by doing or a hands-on type of approach. This strategy is helpful for
students with ID because they are not going to encounter abstract thinking in learning instead
they are on the field where they experience and do example of problems on their own. A similar
approach in teaching students with ID’s is through play-based learning. In play based learning,
the students are active and more lively which is helps them to be participative and also learn how
to communicate and socialize with other better than they were learning alone. Another strategy
in teaching students with ID is through presentations; graph presentations, pictures and charts. It
is to map student’s progress in thinking as a way effective or not, more on presentation-
assessment type of teaching. And the last of these profound strategies is through providing
immediate feedback. The studies expose that children with ID requires an immediate response or
feedback from their questions or statements to develop a connection between their behaviour and
the teacher’s response. A method not teaching but a strategy in enhancing student’s confidence is
through motivating or giving gift to encourage learning and also not to expect much because the
best way to teach students with ID is first learned by understanding them physically and mentally
and understand his/her limitations and abilities.

A girl named Sabrina Kei Maxino, a Filipina with down-syndrome who overcome her
condition and challenges in life and is now currently a teacher. She was 9 years old when she
was diagnosed to have down-syndrome and that she will not live long. Even though down
syndrome is a disability in which the learning process of a child is slower than the other normal
children, she did not let it define herself. Sabrina outlived the expectation and predictions of
society and graduated as an honour student in elementary, studied AB history and now a teacher
in an integrated school in Paranaque. Sabrina also made a history of becoming the first Filipina
to become an ambassador to the Special Olympics and was invited to the White House by the
U.S. president Barack Obama. Sabrina’s strength comes from the support and love of her family,
including doctors, therapist and teachers who keep her safe and healthy all the time.

If there is something that preventing persons with mental disability from improving it is
not their mental status, but the stigma and the stereotyping that they are receiving from the
society and environment. Those negativities and bullying that they felt are reasons why they
cannot easily improve their situation. In order for them to overcome and cope to these
challenges, they should not fight alone they should have support and family. Families and
relatives should no left them feel alone and isolated, always teach them to be positive, always
have patience on them, help them realize that they only have disorder and they are not the
disorder, always give them hope and have your hope, let them do something that other normal
people do and encourage independence in them without being independent alone.
References:
Hunt, N., & Marshall, K. (2006). Exceptional children and youth. Boston, MA: Houghton
Mifflin.
Fey, M.E., Warren, S.F., Brady, N., Finestack, L.H., Bredin-Oja, S. L., Fairchild, M., Sokol, S.,
& Yoder, P. J. (2006). Early effects of responsivity education/prelinguistic milieu
teaching for children with developmental delays and their parents. Journal of Speech,
Language, and Hearing Research. 49, 526-547.
Turnbull, A., Turnbull, R., & Wehmeyer, M. L. (2007). Exceptional lives. Special education in
today's schools. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.