TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page Titles
PRELIM
Module 1 – Special Education in the Philippines
1 Lesson 1 – Vision, Policy, Goal and Objectives of Special Education
11 Lesson 2 – Special Education Programs and Services
15 Lesson 3 – Foundations of Inclusive Education
Module 2 – The Essential Concepts of Special Education
Lesson 4 – Meaning of Special Education and Components of Special
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Education and Inclusive Education
40 Lesson 5 – Categories of Children with Special Needs
49 Lesson 6 – Typical and Atypical Development Among Children
Module 3 – Learners with Special Needs
56 Lesson 7 – Learners with Additional Needs
MIDTERM
ICONS

Throughout each module, you will find the following icons or graphic symbols that alert
you to a change in activity within the module. Only the icons that are required are used in each
module.

Introductory Activity: requires you to focus on the content that will be

discussed

Self – Assessment: enables you to check your understanding of what you

have read and in some cases to apply the information presented in the
lesson to new situations

Practice Activity: encourages you to review and apply what you have
learned before taking a unit test

Reflection: asks you to relate what you have learned to your work
 MODULE 1
SPECIAL EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

LESSON 1:
VISION, POLICY, GOAL AND
OBJECTIVES OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
1. Explore the term special education and the role of special education in the Philippines
2. Identify the different categories of children and youth with special needs
3. Explain the vision for children with special needs
4. Discuss the policy of Inclusive Education for All
5. Enumerate the goals and objectives of special education
6. Cite important events relevant to the implementation of special education in the
Philippines and
7. Discuss the legal bases of special education in the country

Introduction:

Children and youth with special needs have always been

recognized as legitimate beneficiaries of the Philippine
government’s reforms in basic education. For almost a
century now, the Department of Education through its
Special Education Division has been providing the broad framework and standards in establishing
and maintaining special education programs in both public and private schools all over the country.

Special education also known as Special Ed or SPED, is a set of educational programs or

services specially designed to meet the unique needs of learners with disabilities that cannot be
sufficiently met using traditional educational programs or techniques. Special education services
and programs may be provided individually or in a group with other learners with similar
educational needs.

Special Education is the design and delivery of teaching and learning strategies for
individuals with disabilities or learning difficulties who may or may not be enrolled in regular
schools. Students who need special education may include students who have hearing impairment
or are deaf, students who have vision impairment or are blind, students with physical disabilities,
students with intellectual disability, students with learning difficulties, students with behavior
disorders or emotional disturbance and students with speech or language difficulties.

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 Introductory Activity

 What do students know about special education?

 Who is special education for?
 Who teaches special education?

What is special education?

Special Education is the design of teaching

and learning strategies for individuals with
disabilities or learning difficulties. It is also
about attitude, because teachers need a positive
attitude to be effective special educators. This
is also about understanding the different needs
that students have, including the different types of disability and learning difficulties. Put simply,
whenever a teacher makes any kind of adaptation to their usual program so that they can assist a
student with special need, that teacher is implementing special education.

A special education is appropriately only when a pupil’s needs are such that he pr she
cannot be accommodated in a general education program. Simply stated, a special education is a
customized instructional program designed to meet the unique needs of an individual learner. It
may necessitate the use of specialized materials, equipment, services and/or teaching strategies.
For example, an adolescent with a visual impairment may require books with larger print, a pupil
with a physical disability may need specially designed chairs and work tables; a student with a
learning disability may need extra time to complete an exam. In yet another instance, a young adult
with cognitive impairments may benefit from a cooperative teaching arrangements involving one
or more general educators along with a special education teacher.

Finally, if a special education is to be truly beneficial and meet the unique needs of students,
teachers must collaborate with professionals from other disciplines who provide related services.
Individuals with disabilities are more like their typical peers that they are different from them.
Always remember to see the person not the disability, and to focus on what people can do rather
than what they can’t do. It is our hope that as you learn about people with disabilities, you will
develop a greater understanding of them, and from this understanding will come greater
acceptance.

Who is special education for?

Special education is for students with special education needs. These may be students who
have a general difficulty with some part of their learning at school or who seem to have difficulty
with all kinds of learning. They may be students with a particular disability, such as hearing
impairment, a vision impairment, a speech impairment, a physical impairment, or intellectual
disability. They may be students with behavior disorders, emotional problems or a medical

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condition of one kind or another. Their special need might be permanent or it might be temporary;
this depends on the nature of the need and, to some extent on what action is taken by their parents,
teachers and other community members. Any student can have a special educational need at some
time or another, and any student can develop a special need. This is why it is sometimes said that
special education is for all students.

Special Education Terminology

The World Health Organization (1980) determined the following definitions which
have been generally accepted throughout the world:

 Impairment – an abnormality in the way organs or systems function (e.g. medical

condition, eye disease, a heart problem
 Disability – the functional consequence of an impairment (e.g. an intellectual
disability due to brain impairment; low vision; deafness)
 Handicap – the social or environmental consequence of a disability (e.g. a person
with a wheelchair is not handicapped when paths and buildings are wheelchair
accessible)

In writing and speaking about, and with, people with disabilities, whether they are young
or old, it is important to use appropriate terminology. Firstly, it demonstrates to all that we value
people with disabilities as members of our society. Secondly, it educates those who read and hear
what we say, about appropriate terminology, and therefore gives them an opportunity too, to help
develop and promote positive, inclusive and equitable values.

Vision for Children with Special Needs

The Department of Education clearly states its vision for children with special needs in
consonance with the philosophy of inclusive education, thus:
“The State, community and family hold a common vision for the Filipino child with special
needs. By the 21st century, it is envisioned that he/she could be adequately provided with basic
education. This education should fully realize his/her own potentials for development and
productivity as well as being capable of self-expression of his/her rights in society. More
importantly, he/she is God-loving and proud of being a Filipino.
It is also envisioned that the child with special needs will get full parental and community
support for his/her education without discrimination of any kind. This special child should also be
provided with a healthy environment along with leisure and recreation and social measures”.
(DepEd Handbook on Inclusive Education, 2000)

Policy, Goals and Objectives of Special Education

The policy on Inclusive Education for All is adopted in the Philippines to accelerate access
is adopted in the Philippines to accelerate access to education among children and youth with
special needs. Inclusive education forms an integral component of the overall educational system
that is committed to an appropriate education for all children and youth.

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 The goal of the special education programs of the Department of Education all over the
country is to provide children with special needs appropriate educational services within the
mainstream of basic education.
Special education aims to:

1. Provide flexible and individualized support system for children and youth with special
needs in a regular class environment in schools nearest the students’ home
2. Provide support services, vocational programs and work training, employment
opportunities for efficient community participation and independent living
3. Implement a life-long curriculum to include early intervention and parent education,
basic education and transition programs on vocational training or preparation for
college, and
4. Make available an array of educational programs and services: the Special Education
Center built on “a school within a school concept” as the resource center for children
and youth with special needs; inclusive education in regular schools, special and
residential schools, homebound instruction, hospital instruction and community-based
programs; alternative modes of service delivery to reach the disadvantaged children in
far-flung towns, depressed areas and underserved barangays.

Brief History of SPED in the Philippines

SPED in the Philippines started in 1908 where the School of the Deaf (in Harrison, Pasay
City) ws established and marked the official government recognition of its obligations towards the
education of the handicapped children.
R.A No. 3562 (June 1963), An Act to Promote the Education of the Blind in the
Philippines which established teacher training course and Philippine National School for the Blind.
Philippine Normal College (PNC) offered courses in SPED for teaching the blind in 1964 wherein
14 elementary school teachers were selected for training. In 1952, a pilot school for the Special
Education (at the Philippine Women’s University) of the mentally handicapped children was
started. All children from his schools were transferred to the Special Child Study Center in Cubao,
Quezon City in 1957.
In 1957, the Bureau of Public Schools (BPS) of the Department of Education and Culture
(DEC) created the Special Education Special Education Section of the Special Subjects and
Services Division. The inclusion of special education in the structure of DEC provided the impetus
for the development of special education in all regions of the country. The components of the
special education program included legislation, teacher training, census of exceptional children
and youth in schools and the community, the integration of children with disabilities in regular
classes, rehabilitation of residential and special schools and materials production.
In 1958, the American Foundation for Overseas Blind (AFOB) opened its regional office
in Manila. In 1960, some private colleges and universities started to offer special education
courses in their graduate school curriculum. In 1962, the Manila Youth Rehabilitation Center
(MYRC) was opened. In the same year, DEC issued Circular No. 11 s.1962 that specified the

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“Qualifications of Special Education Teachers”. Also, in 1962, PFRD sponsored the Second Pan
Pacific Rehabilitation Conference in Manila that convened international experts in the
rehabilitation of handicapped persons. Another milestone in 1962 was the experimental integration
of blind children at the Jose Rizal Elementary School in Pasay City in 1962. It was also in 1962
when the St. Joseph of Cupertino School for the Mentally Retarded, a private day school, was
founded. The training of DEC teacher scholars at the University of the Philippines commenced in
1962 in the areas of hearing impairment, mental retardation and mental giftedness under R.A5250.
The year 1965 marked the start of the training program for school administrators on the
organization, administration and supervision of special education classes. In 1967, BPS organized
the National Committee in Special Education. General Letter No. 213 regulating the size of
special classes for maximum effectiveness was issued in the same year. In 1969, classes for
socially maladjusted children were organized at the Manila Youth Reception Center.
The training of teachers for children with behavior problems started at the University of
the Philippines in 1970. In the same year, the School for the Deaf and the Blind established in 1907
was reorganized into two spate residential schools: the School for the Deaf (PSD) and the
Philippine National School for the Blind (PSNB).
DECS issued a memorandum on Duties of the Special Education teacher for the Blind in
1971. In 1973, the Juvenile and domestic Relations Court of Manila established the Tahanan
Special Schools for socially maladjusted children and youth. In 1974, the first National Conference
on the Rehabilitation of the Disabled was held at the Social Security Building in Quezon City.
In 1976, Proclamation 1605 declared 1977 to 1987 as the Decade of the Filipino Child.
In 1977, MEC issued Department Order No. 10 that designated regional and division
supervisors of special education programs. In 1978 marked the creation of the National
Commission Concerning Disabled Persons (NCCDP), later renamed National Council for the
Welfare of Disabled Persons or NCWP through Presidential Decree 1509. MEC Memorandum
No. 285 directed school divisions to organize special classes with a set of guidelines on the
designation of teachers who have no formal training in special education.
In 1979, the Bureau of Elementary Education Special Education Unit conducted a two-year
nationwide survey of unidentified exceptional children who were in school. The School for
Crippled Children at the Southern Island Hospital in Cebu City was organized in 1980. In 1981,
the United Nations Assembly proclaimed the observance of the International Year of Disabled
Persons.
In 1982. three special schools were opened: Cebu State College Special High Schools for
the Deaf, the Siaton Special Education Center in the Division of Negros Oriental and the St. John
Maria de Vianney Special Education Learning Center in Quezon City. In 1983, Batas Pambansa
Bilang 344 enacted the Accessibility Law, “An Act to Enhance the Mobility of Disabled Persons
by Requiring Cars, Buildings, Institution, Establishment and Public Utilities to Install Facilities
and Other Devices”.
In 1990, the Philippine Institute for the Deaf (PID) an oral school for children with hearing
impairment was established. In 1993, DECS issued Order No. 14 that directed regional offices to
organize the Regional Special Education Council (RSEC). The year 1993 to 2002 were declared
as the Asian and the Pacific Decade of the Disabled Persons.

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 In 1996, the 3rd week of January was declared as Autism Consciousness week. DECS Order
No. 1 was issued which directed the organization of a Regional Special Education Unit and the
Designation of a Regional Supervisor for Special Education. In 1998, DECS Order No. 5
“Reclassification of Regular Teacher and Principal Items to Special Education Teacher and the
Special Schools Principal Items” was issued.
The following DECS Orders were issued: No. 11, “Recognized Special Education Centers
in the Philippines”; No.33, “Implementation of Administrative Order No. 101 directing the
Department of Public Works and Highways, the DECS and the Commission on Higher Education
to provide architectural facilities or structural features for disabled persons in all state colleges,
universities and other public buildings”, Memorandum No. 24 “Fourth International Noise
Awareness Day” and No. 477, “National week for the Gifted and the Talented”.

Goal of Special Education

Article I, Section 5 of Child and Youth Welfare Code (PD No. 603) states that the ultimate
goals of special education shall be the integration or mainstreaming of learners with special needs
into the regular school system and eventually in the community.

Legal Foundation of Special Education in the Philippines

 The first legal basis of the care and protection of children with disabilities was enacted in
1935. Articles 356 and 259 of Commonwealth Act No. 3203 asserted “the right of every
child to live in an atmosphere conducive to his physical, moral and intellectual
development” and the concomitant duty of the government “to promote the full growth of
the faculties of every child.”
 Republic Act No. 3562, ”An Act to Promote the Education of the Blind in the Philippines”
on June 21, 1963, provided for the formal training of special education teachers of blind
children at the Philippine Normal College, the rehabilitation of the Philippine National
School for the Blind (PNSB) and the establishment of the Philippine Printing House for
the Blind.
 Republic Act No. 5250, “An Act Establishing a Ten – Year Teacher Training Program for
Teachers of Special and Exceptional Children” was signed into law in 1968. This provided
for the formal training of teachers for deaf, hard of hearing, speech handicapped, socially
and emotionally disturbed, mentally retarded and mentally gifted children and youth at the
Philippine Normal College and the University of the Philippines.
 The 1973 Constitution of the Philippines, the fundamental law of the land, explicitly stated
in Section 8, Art. XV the provision of “a complete, adequate and integrated system of
education relevant to the goals of national development”.
 Child and Youth Welfare Code (Presidential Decree No. 603) – was enacted in 1975.
Article 3 on the Rights of the Child provides among others that “the emotionally disturbed
or socially maladjusted child shall be treated with sympathy and understanding and shall
be given the education and care required by his particular condition.

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 National Commission Concerning Disabled Persons (Presidential Decree No. 1509) –
in 1978 was created and renamed as National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Person
(NCWDP)
 Education Act of 1982 or Batas Pambansa Bilang 232 states that “the state shall promote
the right of every individual to relevant quality education regardless of sex, age, breed,
socioeconomic status, physical plant and mental condition, social and ethnic origin,
political and other affiliations. The state shall therefore promote and maintain equality of
access to education as well as enjoyment of the benefits of education by all its citizens.”
 Batas Pambansa Bilang 344 was enacted in 1983. Accessibility Law, “An Act to Enhance
the Mobility of Disabled Persons” requires cars, buildings, institutions, establishments and
public utilities to install facilities and other devices for persons with disabilities.
 Republic Act No. 6759 known as “White Cane Safety Day in the Philippines was enacted
in 1992. Blind persons use the cane in traveling.
 Republic Act No. 7610 known as “An Act Providing for Strong Deterrence and Special
Protection Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination, Providing Penalties for
Its Violations and Other Purposes” was enacted in 1992.
 In the year 2000, Presidential Proclamation No. 361 set new dates for the National
Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation Week Celebration on the third week of July every
year which shall culminate on the birth date of the Sublime Paralytic Apolinario Mabini.
 The year 2004 ushered in a landmark legislation spearheaded by the Department of Health,
Republic Act No. 9288 otherwise known as “The Newborn Screening Act of 2004” is
based on the premise that a retarded child could have been normal.
 DECS Order No. 26 s1997 mandates the following:
o Organize at least one (1) SPED Center in Region or Division, which will cater to
Children with Special Needs (CSNs)
o Organize SPED programs in all districts in schools where there are identified in
CSNs
o Expand the role/function of SPED Centers:
 Support children with special needs who are integrated in regular schools
 Assist in the conduct of in-service training
 Conduct continuous assessment of CSNs
o Initiate and conduct regional/division/district-based training
o Plan incentives to sustain the continuing interest in the implementation of the
program through the following initiatives:
 DECS Order No. 5 s1998 – Reclassification of Regular Teacher and
Principal Items to SPED Teacher and Special School Principal Items
 Republic Act No. 6758 (Prescribing a Revised Compensation and Position
Classification System in the Government)

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Legal Foundation of Special Education in the US

 The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) – states that children with
disabilities are to be educated to the maximum extent with children who do not have
disabilities
 American with Disabilities Act (ADA) – prohibits discrimination on the basis of
disability in private sector employment; services rendered by state and local governments;
places of public accommodations; transportation; telecommunications relay systems
 Rehabilitation Act 504 – no otherwise qualified individual with disabilities in the United
States shall solely by reason of his disabilities, “be excluded from participation in, be
denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program, or activity
receiving federal financial assistance”
 No Child Left Behind Act was signed on January 8, 2002 which reauthorized and replaced
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the federal framework for how
public education throughout the US provided. Its overall aim is to have all students
performing at proficient levels in the two educational cornerstones, Reading and Math, by
year 2014.
 Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004) – outlined
changes to IDEA 1997 wherein one of them states that benchmarks and short term
objectives written into the IEPs are no longer required for many learners, reducing the
amount of IEP paperwork.

Status of Special Education in the Philippines 2020

For the first time, special education in the Philippines gets funding for 2020. Raising a
child with special needs is difficult not just because of their disabilities. The extra help they need
like early interventions, therapy sessions and classes can also become quite expensive. Thankfully,
the government has stepped up to address this problem: Special Education (SPED) in the
Philippines is getting funds in the 2020 National Budget.

Department of Education (DepEd) Undersecretary for Finance Service and Education

Programs Delivery Unit Annalyn Sevilla confirmed in an interview that the SPED was given
Php107 million in the 2020 General Appropriations Act (GAA). This is the first time the
government has allocated a budget for SPED under the administration of Education Secretary
Leonor Briones, the Manila Bulletin Reports.

According to Undersecretary Sevilla, Php 100 million will be allocated for the MOOE or
Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses, while Php 7 million will be for capital outlay.
However, Sevilla says that the approved funding is still “way below” their original proposed
budget of Php500 million. She adds that the funds “may not be enough” to address all the
challenges SPED faces but it “will help us review the policies.” With the new funding, Secretary
Briones is also working on regulating the fees and rates of SPED classes, since majority of those
are private institutions. “Since these are specialized classes, the cost of sending a child with special
needs to these schools is really high, it’s expensive,” she said. The Secretary adds that she is

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pushing for the regulation of SPED rates because most of the services “cannot be afforded by the
average Filipino.” SPED schools employ teachers with a background in special education and who
can handle with special needs. These schools have individualized education programs (IEP) as
well as services like a therapy session.

Public schools have SPED programs with the supervision of DepEd but Briones says that
maintaining the program is difficult due to the rising number of students and low funding. There
has been an increase in numbers because children who were not diagnosed before are diagnosed
now,” she explains. Earlier in January, a study by researchers from the Philippine Institute of
Development Studies (PIDS) emphasized the need for the government to implement more
programs and activities that can increase awareness about SPED students.

Another study by Save the Children Philippines (SCP) noted the challenges faced by SPED
students including inappropriate group size, the absence of safe learning environment, and an
insufficient budget for inclusive education. Briones hopes that apart from the 2020 funding,
lawmakers can push for a new legislation that would regulate fees and rates for private institutions
that offer SPED services. “This make private SPED services more accessible to students who need
it,” Secretary Briones said.

A bill that seeks inclusive education for special needs students in public schools was files
last year in the Senate. Senator Pia Cayetano has filed a new ill that aims to establish inclusive
learning resource centers for children and youth with special needs (CYSNs) in all public school
divisions in the Philippines. “This bill aims to address and remove all barriers to allow CYSNs to
participate in the regular system,” Sen. Cayetano said in a statement, as reported by GMA News.

Data from the Department of Education (DepEd) show that a significant majority of the
5.5 million CYSNs in the country have limited access to public education due to factors such as
lack of accessibility features in schools Sen. Cayetano conceptualized Senate Bill No. 69, also
known as the inclusive Education for Children and Youth with Special Needs Act, with special
education stakeholders during her tenure as chair of the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and
Culture in the 156th Congress.

University of the Philippines (UP) Categories of Exceptionalities:

 The Gifted and the Talented

o With superior cognitive abilities, specific academic aptitudes, creative and
productive thinking, leadership, psychomotor abilities, multiple, emotional and
other intelligences
 Those with developmental abilities
o Mental retardation, cerebral palsy, autism, ADD/ADHD and similar others
 Those with sensory, physical and health disabilities
o Visual impairment, hearing impairment, both VI-HI, orthopedic handicap, chronic
ill health, severe and multiple disabilities and similar orders
 Those with behavior disorders
o Social delinquency, substance abuse, emotional disturbance and similar others

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 Self – Assessment:

Test how much you have learned from this text or reading material by answering the
following questions:

1. List the significant events that have shaped the history of special education in the last century:
a. in the early 1900s until 1949
b. the third quarter of the century
c. the last thirty years
2. What is the status of special education programs in the Philippines? How does the Department
of Education sustain its special education programs in the country?

Reflection:

Look for stories and articles from newspapers and magazines about people with disabilities
who became successful by going to school. Share the vignettes with your classmates.

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 LESSON 2:
SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS AND
SERVICES

Objectives:

At the of the lesson, the students should be able to:

1. Define the following terms: prevalence, identifiable prevalence, true prevalence, incidence

2. Compare the prevalence estimate of children with special needs done by the UNICEF and
the World Health Organization

3. Explain the figure on the true prevalence of Filipino children and youth with special needs

4. Describe the different special education programs and services offered by the Philippine public
and private schools or institutions and cite examples for each;

5. Discuss the definition of inclusive education and its salient features

6. Enumerate the support services extended to children with special needs

Introduction:

Special Education program in the Philippines has become more imperative in response to
the growing number of children with special needs having access to quality education. It has
eventually found its place in the Philippine educational landscape since the start of its
implementation late in 1997. The program has become more imperative in response to the growing
number of children with special needs having access to quality education (UNESCO, 2004; EFA,
2010). Along with this, DepEd Order No. 26 s1997 mandated all schools in the country to offer
specialized education for children with disabilities who are presumed to have special learning
needs considering their status. Subsequent orders such as DepEd Order No. 11 s2000 wherein each
division is mandated to have at least one SPED centers, DepEd Order No. 6 s.2006, in which
secondary schools are ordered to offer also SPED program and DepEd Order No. 38 s. 2015 which
stipulated the guideline on the utilization of SPED funds, these orders have been made giving
impetus to the institutionalization of SPED, particularly in the public schools. Thus, today SPED
centers have been created in every division to commence the implementation of the Special
Education Program in the localities.

In the first world countries, remarkable stories about the implementation of special
education programs have been noted mostly in the foreign setting such as the United States of
America. Their successes are attributed to their evolving and progressing approach in addressing
the changing needs of the learners (Meynert, 2014). It started with the exclusive concept of
educating the special children, and just recently it has embraced the idea of inclusive education to
bring access to children with special needs to the main stream of education. This progressive
approach coupled with the full cooperation of stakeholders and the provision of needed resources
has ensured success of the program implementation (Fuchs, 2010).

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 In the third world countries like the Philippines, the success of Special Education has been
reported mostly in urban communities. Successful SPED programs were usually implemented by
leading educational institutions whose faculties were well-trained and well-equipped with needed
learning facilities. Likewise, parents were also well-off who could fully support and provide their
special child with the needed support.

Prevalence of Children and Youth with Special Needs

How many children and adolescents are identified as exceptional and have special needs?
Before answering this questions, we must clarify two key terms frequently encountered when
describing the number of individuals with disabilities.

Technically speaking, incidence refers to a rate of inception, or the number of new

instances of a disability occurring within a given time frame, usually a year. Prevalence refers to
the total number of cases of a particular condition, those with exceptionality (giftedness and talent)
and developmental disabilities and impairments. Prevalence is viewed in two ways. (Grossman,
1983 cited in Beirne-Smith, 2002). Identifiable prevalence refers to the cases that have come in
contact with some systems. The number of children and youth with special needs is derived from
census data. True prevalence assumes that there are a larger number of children and youth with
special needs who are in school or in the community who have not been identified as such and are
not in special education programs of the Department of Education.

At the present time, almost 5.8 million students between the ages of 6 and 21 are receiving
a special education. Of this total 40% are individuals with learning disabilities. Collectively, states
are providing a special education to approximately 69 million from birth through age 21.

Educational Supports for Children with Special Needs

The fundamental principle of inclusive schools is that all children should learn together,
whenever possible, regardless of any difficulties or differences they may have. The Department of
Education in the Philippines has responded to this by institutionalizing Special Education as early
as the 1960s. The Special Education Division is tasked primarily to formulate policies, plans and
programs for the preparation of instructional materials and the evaluation of programs in special
education, conduct researches and develop standards of programs and services for special learners;
plan prototype in-service education programs to upgrade the competencies of all support staff
directly or indirectly involved with the implementation of the programs; and establish linkages
with agencies concerned with the education and welfare of children with special needs.

However, due to the country’s economic situation – among others, such programs and
services are still limited and are not readily available to children with special needs. Children with
disabilities are one major group for whom the right to education equal opportunities and right to
participate in society has yet to be won in the Philippines.

Based on the latest Department of Education 2000 report out of 80 million Filipinos, 50%
are children and youth (0-24 years). The SPED Division of the Department of Education estimates
that 12% of the children population in the country have special needs, 2% are gifted while 10%

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are those with disabilities. On the projected population of 43, 303, 145 children and youth (0-24
years old) for the year 2000, there were 5,196,377 children with special needs.

However, of the 5,196,377 CSNs only 2.6% or 136,523 were provided with appropriate
educational service while 97.4% or 5,059,854 did not receive appropriate educational services for
school year 2002 – 2003. Furthermore, of the 136,523 children with special needs enrolled in
schools: 69,888 (51.19%) were mentally gifted/fast learners and 66,635 (48.81%) had disabilities.
(Note: National Statistical Data on SY 2003-2004 has yet to be consolidated)

In the Philippines, there are a total of 2105 schools offering SPED programs:

 4 National Special Schools

 450 Private Special School
 147 Recognized Special Education Centers
 1504 Regular Schools with SPED Programs

Range of Special Education Program and Services

An array of special education and programs and services are available in the country. These
are offered by public schools and private institutions.
1. The Special Education Center is a service delivery system which operates on the “school
within a school” concept. The SPED center functions as the base for the special education
programs in school. A SPED principal administers the center following the rules anf
regulations for a regular school. The special education teachers manage special or self-
contained classes, mainstreaming, tutorial and mentoring resource room services,
assessment, parent education, guidance, and counselling, and advocacy programs to
promote the education of children with special needs in a regular school. The SPED teacher
functions both as teacher and tutor as well as a consulting teacher to the regular school in
planning and implementing appropriate strategies for the maximum participation of the
special children in the regular class.
2. The Special class or self-contained class is the most popular type among the special
education programs. A special class is composed of pupils with the same exceptionality or
disability. The special education teacher handles the special class in the Special Education
Center or resource room. Thus, in public and private regular schools, there are special
classes for children with mental retardation, giftedness and talent, hearing impairment,
visual impairment, learning disabilities or behaviour problems.
3. Integration and mainstreaming programs have allowed children and youth with the
disabilities to study in regular classes and learn side by side with their peers for the last
forty years. Integration was the term used earlier. At the present, when it is no longer
unusual to find blind, deaf, and even mentally retarded students participating in regular
class activities at certain periods of school day, the preferred term is mainstreaming.

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  Partial Mainstreaming – children who have moderate or severe forms of
disabilities are mainstreamed in regular class in subjects like Physical
Education, Home Technology, Music and arts.
 Full Mainstreaming – children with disabilities are enrolled in regular
classes and recite in the entire subject, a special education teacher assists
the regular teacher in teaching the children with special needs.
“In school divisions where one special education teacher serves two or more
programs in separate schools, the itinerant plan is used”. The SPED teacher
travels to the schools to assists the regular teachers where the children are
mainstreamed and to attend to the other needs of the program.
4. The special day school serves one or more types of disabilities. The special education
classes are taught by trained teachers. Aside from special education, a comprehensive array
of service is available or arranged such as medical, psychological and social services.
5. The residential school provides both special education and dormitory services for its
students. Complementing the curricular programs are houseparent services, diagnostic
services, guidance and counselling, recreation and social activities.

Self-Assessment:
Tell how much you have learned from this lesson by answering the following questions:
1. What is the meaning of prevalence? What is the prevalence of children with special needs based
on:
a. the World Health Organization’s estimate?
b. the UNICEF’s estimate?
How do the two prevalence estimates compare?
2. Based on the number of Filipino children with special needs who are in special education
programs, how may are out of school youth? What do the numbers mean to you?

Reflection:
1. What can persons with disabilities do despite their handicaps?

14
 LESSON 3:
FOUNDATIONS OF INCLUSIVE
EDUCATION

Objectives:
After studying this lesson, students will be able to:
1. Display comprehensive knowledge of the history of inclusive education
2. Define inclusive education
3. Discuss the salient features of inclusive education
4. Enumerate the characteristics of students with disabilities
5. Know the beliefs and principles of inclusive education

Introduction:
Education is responsive and we believe, responsible, when teams of educators work
together to address the unique challenges each student brings to school. You have the
opportunity to be part of this work to ensure that all individuals with special needs receive a
quality education

A Historical Overview
In order to respond appropriately to the challenges teachers are faced with an inclusive
education system, it is important to understand the historical roots and the evolution of inclusive
education both at international and national level.
Inclusive education has its roots in the disability movement. Below is the summary of some
key declarations and conventions that recognize the right to education for all and, as such, form
key milestones in the journey towards inclusive education.

Key International Milestones Towards Inclusive Education

Year Milestone Declarations and Conventions
1948 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1966 The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
1982 The World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons
1989 The Convention on the Rights of the Child
1990 The Jomtien World Conference on Education for All (EFA)
1993 Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with
Disabilities
1994 The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs
Education
2000 The World Education Forum, Dakar
2006 The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities

15
 The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education
(UNESCO & MES, 1994), which was adopted at an international conference in Salamanca, Spain,
in 1994, is a culmination of several incentives to recognize the human rights of persons with
disabilities. It is a strategy to include learners with special educational needs in mainstream
education by responding to the needs of individual learners. Therefore, the focus, particularly in
the more affluent countries, is on the provision of a continuum of support services (Dreyer, 2008).
It specifically states that inclusion and participation are essential to human dignity and to the
enjoyment and exercising of human rights’ (UNESCO, 1999). It further recognizes (UNESCO &
MES, 1994):

 The right to education as a universal and fundamental human right

 That schools with an inclusive orientation are more inclined to combat discrimination and
achieve education for all
 That prioritizing inclusive education policies will ensure greater effort is invested I
education for all

Internationally, inclusive education has had a significant impact on policy, research and
practice. Debates on inclusive education have consequently generated diverse interpretations,
definitions and responses across the world. According to Mitchell, “inclusive education exists in
historical contexts in which vestiges of older beliefs co-exists in historical contexts in which
vestiges of older beliefs co-exixts with newer beliefs (2005). Nonetheless, inclusive education has
grown to be much more than the mere acceptance of learners with disabilities into mainstream
schools. It is accepted that there may be other barriers, such as age, gender, ethnicity, language,
class or HIV status, that impact on learners’ access to education. This broader understanding of
inclusive education has a significant impact on the transformation of entire educational systems
(Artiles, Harris-Murri & Rostenberg, 2006).

What is inclusive Education?

Inclusion describes the process by which a school
accepts children with special needs for enrolment in regular
classes where they can learn side by side with their peers.
The school organizes its special education program and
includes a special education teacher in its faculty. The
school provides the mainstream where the regular teachers
and special education teachers organize and implement appropriate programs for both special and
regular students.

What are the SALIENT FEATURES of INCLUSIVE EDUCATION?

Inclusion means implementing and maintaining warm and accepting classroom
communities that embrace and respect diversity or differences. Teachers and students take active
steps to understand individual differences and create an atmosphere of respect.

16
 Inclusion implements a multilevel, multimodality curriculum. This means that special
needs students follow an adopted curriculum and use special devices and materials to learn at a
suitable pace.
Inclusion prepares regular teachers and special education teachers to teach
interactively. The classroom model where one teacher teaches an entire group of children single-
handedly is being replaced by structures where students work together, teach one another and
participate actively in class activities. Students tend to learn with and from each other rather than
compete with each other.
Inclusion provides continuous support for teachers to break down barriers of
professional isolation. The hallmark of inclusive education is co-teaching, team teaching,
collaboration and consultation and other ways of assessing skills and knowledge learned by all
students.

Inclusive Education and its Benefits

Inclusive education is about looking at the ways our schools, classrooms, programs and
lessons are designed so that all children can participate and learn. Inclusion is also about finding
different ways of teaching so that classrooms actively involve all children. It also means finding
ways to develop friendships, relationships and mutual respect between all children, and between
children and teachers in the school.
Inclusive education is not just for some children. Being included is not something that a
child must be ready for. All children are at all times ready to attend regular schools and classrooms.
Their participation is not something that must be earned.
Inclusive education is a way of thinking about how to be creative to make our schools a
place where all children can participate. Creativity may mean teachers learning to teach in different
ways or designing their lessons so that all children can be involved.
As a value, inclusive education reflects the expectation that we want all of our children to
be appreciated and accepted throughout life.

Beliefs and Principles

 All children can learn
 All children attend age appropriate regular classrooms in their local schools
 All children receive appropriate educational programs
 All children receive a curriculum relevant to their needs
 All children participate in co-curricular and extracurricular activities
 All children benefit from cooperation, collaboration among home, among school, among
community

Key Features of Inclusive Education

 Generally, inclusive education will be successful if these important features and practices are
followed:

17
 Accepting unconditionally all children into regular classes and the life of the school.
 Providing as much support to children, teachers and classrooms as necessary to ensure that all
children can participate in their schools and classes.
 Looking at all children at what they can do rather then what they cannot do.
 Teachers and parents have high expectations of all children.
 Developing education goals according to each child’s abilities. This means that children do not
need to have the same education goals in order to learn together in regular classes.
 Designing schools and classes in ways that help children learn and achieve to their fullest
potential (for example, by developing class time tables for allowing more individual attention
for all students).
 Having strong leadership for inclusion from school principals and other administrators.
 Having teachers who have knowledge about different ways of teaching so that children with
various abilities and strengths can learn together.
 Having principals, teachers, parents and others work together to determine the most affective
ways of providing a quality education in an inclusive environment.

The Benefits of Inclusive Education

Over the years, the benefits of providing an inclusive education to all children have
been shown. Inclusive education (when practiced well) is very important because:
 All children are able to be part of their community and develop a sense of belonging and become
better prepared for life in the community as children and adults.
 It provides better opportunities for learning. Children with varying abilities are often better
motivated when they learn in classes surrounded by other children.
 The expectations of all the children are higher. Successful inclusion attempts to develop an
individual’s strengths and gifts.
 It allows children to work on individual goals while being with other students their own age.
 It encourages the involvement of parents in the education of their children and the activities of
their local schools.
 It fosters a culture of respect and belonging. It also provides the opportunity to learn about and
accept individual differences.
 It provides all children with opportunities to develop friendships with one another. Friendships
provide role models and opportunities for growth.

Inclusive Education for Children with Special Needs

The Department of Education strongly advocates inclusive education as basic services for
all types of exceptional children. In the 1994 Conference on Special Needs Education held in
Salamanca Spain, the participants reaffirmed the right to education of every individual to education
as enshrined in the 1984 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The reaffirmation served as a
renewal of the pledge made by the world community at the 1990 World Conference on Education
for All. With these declarations and the urgency of the needs for early intervention, the Department
of Education adopted the policy of inclusive education in 1997. A Handbook on Inclusive

18
Education was issued as the main reference and guide to the practice of inclusive education.
National, regional and division-wide training on inclusive education were conducted to promote
the concept of inclusive education.
2. Recall and write short vignettes about persons with disabilities you know, have met or heard
about. How did they overcome their disabilities? Share your articles with each other.

SELF-ASSESSMENT:
Test how much you have learned from this text or reading material by answering the
following questions:

1. Fill in the matrix below to illustrate the salient features, similarities and differences among the
types of special education services.
TYPES OF SPED SERVICES Salient features, similarities and
differences

REFLECTION:
1. Recall and write short vignettes about persons with disabilities you know, have met or heard
about. How did they overcome their disabilities?

19
 MODULE 2
THE ESSENTIAL CONCEPTS OF SPECIAL
EDUCATION

LESSON 4
MEANING OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND
COMPONENTS OF SPECIAL AND
INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
1. Define special education and explain the meaning of individually planes, systematically
implemented, and carefully evaluated instruction for children with special needs
2. Explain how special education enables exceptional children to benefit from the basic education
program of the Department of Education
3. Cite the difference between special education as essentially instruction and as purposeful
intervention
4. Define the terms exceptional children and youth and children with special needs (CSN)
5. Enumerate the processes involved in Child Find through the pre-referral process
6. Identify the assessment tools, methods and principles in working with children with additional
needs
7. Identify the different placement within a continuum
8. Compare accommodations and curriculum modifications
9. Identify ways how to involve parents as part of the home-school communication

Introduction:
Exceptional children and youth like all other pupils in regular classes are individuals with
their unique traits and characteristics. Some of them learn slower than the average pupils like those
with mental retardation. Meanwhile, those who are gifted and talented learn very fast and slow
creativity in their work. There are exceptional children who have learning disabilities, so that,
although their mental ability is average or even above average, they do not learn as much as they
can. Still others have sensory disabilities like blindness or low vision and deafness; communication
disorders, physical disabilities like cerebral palsy, spina bifida, spinal cord injuries and limb
deficiency; chronic health impairments like epilepsy, juvenile diabetes mellitus, asthma, cystic
fibrosis and hemophilia, among others.
However, in spite of their disabilities, exceptional children and youth like all other children
have the same psychological needs: they want to belong, to be accepted, to be appreciated and to
be loved.

20
What is Special Education?
Literature defines special education as individually
planned, systematically implemented and carefully
evaluated instruction to help exceptional children achieve
the greatest possible personal self-sufficiency and success in
present and future environments (Heward, 2003).

Individually planned instruction. In the United States, the law on Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that an individualized education program (IEP) be
developed and implemented for every special education student between the ages of 3 and 21. The
basic requirements of IDEA for all IEPs include statements of: (1) the child’s present level of
performance, academic achievement, social adaptation, prevocational and vocational skills,
psychomotor skills and self-help skills; (2) annual goals describing the educational performance
to be achieved by the end of each school year; (3) short term instructional objectives presented in
measurable, intermediate steps between the present level of educational performance and the
annual goals; (4) specific educational services; and (5) needed transition services from age 16 or
earlier before the student leaves the school setting.
Systematically implemented and evaluated instruction. Each type of children with special
education needs requires particular educational services, curriculum goals, competencies and
skills, educational approaches, strategies and procedures in the evaluation of learning and skills.
Personal self-sufficiency. An important goal of special education is to help the child
become independent from the assistance of adults in personal maintenance and development,
homemaking, community life, vocational and leisure activities and travel.
The present environment refers to the current conditions in the life of the child with
disability. The present environment includes the family, the school, the community where he/she
lives, the institutions in society that extend assistance and support to children and youth with
special education needs such as the government, non-government organizations, socio-civic
organizations and other groups.
The future environment is a forecast of how the child with disability can move on to the
next level of education, from elementary to secondary school and on to college or vocational
program, and finally, to the workplace where he/she can be gainfully employed. Special education
helps the child in the transition from a student to a wage earner so that he or she can lead a normal
life even if he or she has a disability.

History and Origins of Special Education

There have always been exceptional learners, but there haven’t always been special
educational services to address their needs (see Holmes, 2004; Metzler, 2006). During the closing
years of the 18th century. Following the American and French Revolutions, effective procedures
were devised for teaching children with sensory impairments (i.e. those who were blind or deaf;
Winzer, 1993). Early in the 19th century, the first systematic attempts were made to educate
“idiotic” and “insane” children – those who today are said to have intellectual disabilities and

21
emotional or behavioral disorders (or emotional disturbance; Kauffman and Landrum, 2006:
Stichter et.al, 2008).
Qin the pre-revolutionary era, the best that society offered most children with disabilities
was protection – asylum from a cruel world into which they didn’t fit and in which they couldn’t
survive with dignity, if they could survive at all. But as the ideas of democracy, individual freedom,
and egalitarianism swept across America and France, a change in attitude occurred. Political
reformers and leaders in medicine and education began to champion the cause of children and
adults with disabilities, urging that these “imperfect” or “incomplete” individuals be taught skills
that would allow them to become independent, productive citizens. These humanitarian sentiments
surpassed a desire to protect and defend people with disabilities and confer on them the human
dignity they presumably lacked.
Contemporary educational methods for exceptional children can be traced directly to
techniques pioneers during the early 1800s. many (perhaps most) of today’s vital, controversial
issues have been issues ever since the dawn of special education. Some contemporary writers
believe that the history of special education is critically important to understanding today’s issues
and should receive more attention because of the lessons we can learn from our past (e.g. Gerber,
2011; Kaufmann, 1999a; Kaufmann and Landrum, 2006.

People and Ideas

Most of the originators of special education were European physicians. They were
primarily young, ambitious people who challenged the wisdom of the established authorities,
including their own friends and mentors (Kanner, 1964; Kaufmann & Ladrum, 2006).
Most historians trace the beginning of special education as we know it today to Jean Marc-
Gaspard Itard (1775-1838), a French physician who was an authority on diseases if the ear and ont
the education of deaf students. In the early years of the 19th century, this young doctor began to
educate a boy of about 12 years of age who had been found roaming naked and wild in the forests
of France (sometimes referred to as the “wild child” or the “boy Avyron”). Itard’s mentor, Philippe
Pinel (1745-1826), a prominent French physician who was an early advocate of humane treatment
of “insane” people, advised Itard that his efforts would be unsuccessful because the boy, victor,
was a “hopeless idiot”. But Itard persevered. He did not eliminate Victor’s disabilities, but he did
dramatically improve the wild child’s behavior through patient, systematic educative procedures
(Itard, 1962).
One of Itard’s students, Edouard Seguin (1812 – 1880), immigrated to the United States in
1848. Seguin had become famous as an educator of so-called idiotic children, even though most
thinkers of the day were convinced that such children could not be taught anything of significance.
The ideas of the first special educators were truly revolutionary for their times. These are
a few of the revolutionary ideas of Itard, Seguin, and their successors that form the foundation for
present-day special education:

 Individualized instruction, in which the child’s characteristics, rather than

prescribed academic content, provide the basis for teaching techniques

22
  A carefully sequenced series of educational tasks, beginning with tasks the child
can perform and gradually leading to more complex learning
 Emphasis on simulation and awakening of the child’s senses, to make the child
more aware of and responsive to educational stimuli
 Meticulous arrangement of the child’s environment, so that the environment
and the child’s experience of it lead naturally to learning
 Immediate reward for correct performance, providing reinforcement for
desirable behavior
 Tutoring in functional skills, to make the child as self-sufficient and productive
as possible in everyday life
 Belief that every child should be educated to the greatest extent possible,
because every child can improve to some degree

Among the young US thinkers who were concerned with the education of students with
disabilities was Samuel Gridley Howe (1801 – 1876), an 1852 graduate of Harvard Medical
School. Besides being a physician and an educator, Howe was a political and social reformer, a
champion of humanitarian causes and emancipation. He was instrumental in founding the Perkins
School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts and also taught students who were deaf and
blind. His success in teaching Laura Bridgman, who was deaf and blind, greatly influenced the
education of Helen Keller. In the 1840s, Howe was also a force behind the organization of an
experimental school for children with intellectual disabilities (mental retardation) and was
personally acquainted with Seguin.

When Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet (1787 – 1851), a minister, was a student at Andover
Theological Seminary, he tried to teach a girl who was deaf. He visited Europe to learn about
educating the deaf and in 1817 established the first American residential school, in Hanford
Connecticut, for students who were deaf (now known as American School of the Deaf), Gallaudet
University in Washington, D.C., the only liberal – arts college for students who are deaf, was
named in his honor.

The early years of special education were vibrant with the pulse of new ideas. It isn’t
possible to read the words of Itard, Seguin, Howe and their contemporaries without being
captivated by the romance, idealism and excitement of their exploits. The results they achieved
were truly remarkable for their era. Today, special education remains a vibrant field in which
innovations, excitement, idealism and controversies are the norm. teachers of exceptional children
– and that includes all teachers – must understand how and why special education emerged as a
discipline.

One of the greatest controversies involving the education of exceptional learners is the
extent to which nature and nurture contribute to what a child becomes. What is attributable tp
biological factors such as genetics and other aspects of physical endowment, and what is
attributable to environmental factors such as opportunity, encouragement, and teaching? This is
very old but still controversial idea. It was part of Itard’s work in the early 19th century, and it’s

23
still being debated by psychologists (e.g. Pinker, 2002) and popular writers of the early 21 st
century.

Components of Special and Inclusive Education

Practice Activity:
Anticipation Guide
Before we continue, let us find out how much you know about the different components in
inclusive and special education. After reading each statement, write TRUE or FALSE in the
column Before Reading.

STATEMENTS Before After

Reading
Reading
1. A child suspected to have a disability should immediately
be referred for special education testing.
2. Norm-referenced tests provide better information for
instructional planning than criterion-referenced tests.
3. The least restrictive setting should be considered in
placement for children with disabilities.
4. When providing accommodations, teachers change the
curriculum standards and content to provide a level playing
field for children with disabilities.
5. Programs for children with disabilities become more
effective and successful when children and families are
involved.

I. Child Find Through a Pre-Referral Process

Referral for evaluation and special education services begins with identifying students who
have additional needs and who may be at risk for developmental disabilities. School guidance
counselors, early childhood teachers, primary school teachers, and community-based daycare
workers are often the first to notice such developmental delays in children. In other instances, the
parents themselves notice the delays and seek consultation with pediatricians and other specialists.

A. Pre-referral Process
A child noted to have significant difficulties in relation to expected competencies and
developmental milestones may be referred by parents and teachers for observation and assessment.
A team of professionals, known as a pre-referral team, is comprised of special education teachers,
counselors, administrators and psychologists who collaborate to determine reasons for the
observed challenges (Hallahan et.al.2014). They collaborate to find ways to meet the needs of
children with developmental delays.
Taylor (2009) provided an assessment model that begins with a pre-referral process.
Children with noted developmental delays and difficulties are identified through observations and

24
use of norm and criterion-reference tests. They are not immediately referred for special education
testing but are first provided with the necessary academic and behavioral support needed to address
noted challenges. In his assessment model, Taylor (2009) explained that the initial step to
determine teaching areas where a learner will benefit from additional support through a variety of
means.
Very young students who are at risk or suspected to have additional needs may also be
identified through community-based screening. Child development and social workers use
developmental screening tools such as the Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
Checklist.
Once a program of pre-referral intervention has been designed, implementation and
evaluation follow to determine how effective it is in addressing the needs of the child.

B. Pre-referral Strategies

Essential in a pre-referral intervention is the use of pre-referral strategies that are designed
to provide immediate instructional and/or behavior management support to a child. Using such
strategies lessens the number of cases referred for special education and makes efficient use of
time and financial resources that could have been spent for special education assessment (Heward
2013). This will also lessen the tendency of over-referrals to special education and wasting time
as children wait to be tested rather than receive the instructional and behavioral support they need.

Examples of pre-referral strategies are: observation of the child’s behavior, including

interactions with parents, teachers and peers; interview of parents and teachers to gather more
information about the child; review of school records; and analysis of the child’s academic output
through error analysis, portfolio assessment, and criterion-referenced and curriculum-based
assessment (Taylor 2009). Depending on the information gathered, corresponding changes can be
made to manage the child’s needs, such as modification of the classroom environment (e.g. seating
arrangement, group change and teacher’s proximity in class), instructional support and relevant
classroom and behavior management (Mcloughlin & Lewis 2009).

If despite provision of additional support, struggles and difficulties persist, then the child
is referred for assessment either within the school, if such services are available or referred to a
professional for further assessment. What is essential at this point is that the teachers have
implemented a variety of approaches and practices to ensure that support is provided before formal
assessment.

Carl’s Pre-Referral Process

Ms. Reyes, a 3rd Grade teacher, has always been baffled by one of her students, Carl. She
has observed that Carl is very creative. He loves to draw and is quite good at it. He is fluent and
conversant in English and can create such imaginative stories. She noted, however, that unlike his
peers who can already read short stories for Grade 3 and write paragraphs well, Carl is still
struggling at the word level. Although he can create his own stories through oral narration, he can’t
seem to write them down without having spelling errors. He gets very frustrated in such tasks that

25
when he needs to answer essay questions in a test, he just scribbles a word or two and stops trying
altogether.

Ms. Reyes, together with the other subject teachers and the Guidance Counselor, discussed
Carl’s behavior and performance in terms of his strengths, needs and strategies that have worked
in the past. They have noted that giving him a list of high-frequency words and sight words has
been helpful. They suggested to pair him up with a classmate, who is an able reader to help him
during writing tasks. They had a meeting with his parents and informed them that he will be given
supplementary reading and writing practice worksheets to be answered at home to build
automaticity in reading. And finally, he was recommended to join an after-school English remedial
class to address his reading and spelling difficulties.

Ms. Reyes decided to refer Carl to the school’s Guidance Team to determine reasons to
account for his difficulties. The team advised Ms. Reyes on what she needed to do in the pre-
referral process. Ms. Reyes collected his sample works across subject areas, reviewed his report
cards from the previous grade levels, and had a sit-down meeting with the rest of his teachers.

II. ASSESSMENT

Assessment is the process of collecting information about child’s strengths and needs. It
uses a problem-solving process that involves a systematic collection as well as interpretation of
data gathered (Salvia et.al.2013). Teachers and administrators make instructional decisions based
on the assessment results.

A. Assessment Purposes

Assessment has a variety of purpose in special and inclusive education. It begins with initial
identification that was explained in the previous section in Child Find and the pre-referral process.
The results of an assessment are used to decide on a child’s educational placement and to plan
instructional programs for a child identified to have additional needs. Progress monitoring and
evaluation of teaching programs and services is another, the purpose of which is to determine how
effective programs are to assist the inclusive teacher and the special education teacher (Guiliani &
Pierangelo 2012).

There are a variety of assessment methods that a regular and special education teachers can
use. This section covers the following: (1) interviews, (2) observations, (3) checklists or rating
scales, (4) tests.

B. Methods of Assessment

Tests. School psychologists, educational diagnosticians, and other related professionals use
a variety of assessment tools to ensure that results are valid and reliable. Norm-referenced tests
are standardized assessments that compare a child’s performance with a representative sample of
students of the same chronological age. Such tests are rigorously made by a team. Results are
reported as percentile ranks and age and grade equivalent scores, which makes it easier for
professionals to determine class and individual performance. While such quantitative reporting

26
makes it easier to compare the test performance of children in a class, it has its limitations in terms
of use in instructional planning. Intelligence Tests (e.g. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Students
and Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale) and Achievement Tests (Wide Range Achievement Tests
and Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement) are examples of norm-referenced assessments.

On the other hand, criterion-referenced tests compare a child’s performance based on

established standards and competencies and can be used to describe student performance (Jennings
et.a. 2006 as cited in Spinelli 2012). Scores are typically reported as simple numerical scores,
percentage of correct responses, letter grades, or graphic score reports. Such assessment data are
more useful and relevant as these provide specific skills a child has mastered and those that need
additional instruction (Gargiulo 2012).

Informal assessment. Professionals also use informal or non-standardized assessments

which are considered more authentic and this can be used primarily to describe performance and
inform instruction. Such assessments can be curriculum-based or performance-based, such as the
teacher-made instruments used in classrooms and portfolio assessments. For example, the use of
reading inventories where a teacher listens to a child read while counting for accuracy and speed
is an example of an informal assessment.

Authentic Assessment. The use of tests, whether formal or informal, is only one method
of assessment. There are other ways of assessing students considered at-risk for developmental
delays or have additional needs. One that is highly recommended by professionals is the use of
authentic assessment methods and tools. Authentic assessments provide students the opportunity
to apply knowledge and skills in meaningful, real-world settings (e.g. classroom, playground, etc.)
rather than in an artificial and contrived setting (Dennis et.al 2013). Assessment tasks that are more
real-life are considered more authentic

An example of authentic assessment is observation of young students as they interact with

family members, peers and objects in naturally occurring activities across settings (e.g. home,
school, playground, etc) and routines. During observations, teachers and specialists can use
running records which focuses on the occurrence of behaviors as they happen sequentially. Clay
(2000 as cited in Dennis, et.al 2013) identified essential information to be included in a running
record:

 Date and time of the observation

 Names of children involved
 Location of the incident
 Verbatim recording of what the children said
 Actual events that occurred

Anecdotal records contain shorter descriptions of incidents or anecdotes that teachers and
specialists can use to analyze a student’s behavior and pla strategies for a specific child or group
of children. Other examples of authentic assessment for young children are play-based assessment
and portfolio assessment.

27
 The different assessment methods and tools used to assess Carl after the pre-referral
process are discussed in the following.

Carl’s Assessment

Despite the instructional support and after-school remedial class, Carl continued to display
difficulties in reading, spelling, oral reading fluency, and written expression. Because such
difficulties persisted, Ms. Reyes and the team decided to refer him to a developmental pediatrician
and a school psychologist to conduct a psycho educational evaluation to determine the underlying
reasons for Carl’s literacy difficulties.

The school psychologist used a battery of tests: intelligence and achievement tests in
reading, spelling, written expression and math. He also interviewed Carl, his parents and is teachers
to know about his interests, strengths, and views about himself, and gathered some of Carl’s school
work. The school psychologist then analyzed the results and eventually diagnosed him with a
specific learning disability or dyslexia.

Carl’s current grade level: grade 3

IQ Average to High Average Level

Reading Level Beginning Grade 1

Spelling Beginning Grade 1

Written expression Below Average

Reading comprehension Beginning Grade 1

Listening comprehension Grade 4

Math Average

Based on this clinical diagnosis, instructional decisions were made to determine the
appropriate placement for Carl.

C. Assessment Principles

Assessment practices should be anchored on principles as provided by the Division for

Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Students (DEC 2014). Child and family centered
practices, a team-based approach, application of individualized and appropriate process, and use
of genuine and meaningful communication that adhere to ethical and legal practices are the
recommendations provided by the DEC.

Thus, a variety of assessment methods and tools, use of authentic measures, as well as
involvement of the family are necessary to make decisions for placement and instructional
planning (DEC 2014).

The National Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children
identified eight (8) recommended practices in early intervention practices in early intervention and

28
early childhood special education that are salient to young children with FXS and their families
(DEC 2014).

1. Leadership

2. Assessment

3. Environment

4. Family

5. Instruction

6. Interaction

7. Teaming and Collaboration

8. Transition

While these recommended practices are equally important, this will focus on Assessment,
Family, Environment and Transition.

 Family

Families are an integral part of a child’s development and the active participation of
families in decisions related to their children’s assessment, intervention and on-going services are
crucial. Each family’s culture, customs and priorities should be met with trusting and respectful
partnerships. Parents are considered a child’s teacher, and therefore are an integral part of each
step of the process. The DEC (2014) identify three themes related to families that include;

1. Family-centered practices: Practices that treat families with dignity and respect are
individualized, flexible and responsive to each family family’s unique circumstances; provide
family members complete and unbiased information to make informed decisions, and involve
family members in acting on choices to strengthen child, parent and family functioning.

2. Family capacity building practices: Practices that include the participatory

opportunities and experiences afforded to families to strengthen existing parenting knowledge and
skills and promote the development of new parenting abilities that enhance parenting self-efficacy
beliefs and practices.

3. Family and professional collaboration: Practices that build relationships between

families and professionals who work together to achieve mutually agreed upon outcomes and goals
that promote family competencies and support the development of the child.

 Environment

Inclusive early childhood environments refer to any natural setting in which children
without disabilities play, learn, interact with pothers and develop relationships. These
environments could be families’ homes, private child care programs, public or private preschools,
or family child care homes. Community organizations are also identified as natural environments
for all children, which include playground libraries, play groups and community centers.

29
  Transition

The transition process indicates a change in services and environments for young children
with disabilities and can be a very stressful time for families. There are many unknown factors
because families have yet to experience this process. There are two transition processes that are
relevant to early childhood. The first process is from early intervention (infant/toddler) services to
early childhood special education (preschool) services. The primary change of this transition is the
shift of focus from the family to the child and the delivery of services within the natural
environments (i.e. family home) to an educational setting. The second process is from preschool
to kindergarten (school-age). The primary change of this transition is from play-based
interventions to academic interventions. while this shifts are evident in many programs and
communities, it is best practice to continue family-focused and paly-based interventions
throughout the preschool and early school-age year (DEC, 2010)

III. Placement

Assessment results are used to decide a child’s appropriate education placement within a
continuum from the least to the most restrictive settings. During the evaluation, student
performance is assessed and the team determines if there would be any changes in the educational
placement with the continuum. Teams will base this in their observations, assessment results, and
other factors, with the goal to move toward the least restrictive learning environment. Sound
decisions are made to allow for fluidity in the child’s placement based on the child’s strengths,
abilities and needs.

Placement refers to the amount of time in each school day that a student spends in the
resource or in a general education classroom. The school district is required to have a range of
placements where your child can be taught, including in the general education classroom.

Practice Activity:

What is the Best Placement for Carl?

Before we continue, let us pause and think about our sample case. Carl. Refer back to Carl’s
Assessment to review his background and the assessment results. What do you think is the best
placement for him? If he says in his current school, what support does he need to meet academic
expectations? Should he be pulled out of school and study in a special school? Turn to a partner
and discuss your insights. Be ready to share with the class.

A general education classroom is the least restrictive environment for a child with
additional needs. Access to the same learning experiences and opportunities is provided as to
typically developing students. Thus it is considered as the “most normalized or typical setting”
(Gargiulo, 2012). Additional support in the form of accommodations or changes in expectations
through curriculum modifications may be provided but still within the same classroom as peers
within the year level.

30
 Another option for placement is to be in a general education class but the child receives
supplementary instruction and services such as speech, physical and occupational therapy or
counseling services during the school day. Options may be provided when such sessions are
conducted, either during school or as an after-school service.

Students who may be part of a general education class and pulled-out of their class to
receive instruction from a specialist teacher in a resource room. In such a placement, it is assumed
that the child will benefit more from either a small – group or individualized instruction with a
specialist teacher who will be able to more intensively target his learning needs.

Other students need more intensive support that is not provided in a general education class.
Teams may decide to recommend placement for a child in a more restrictive setting such as self-
contained special education class but still located in a general education school. In this learning
environment, all students receive individualized and group instruction with peers with disabilities
and additional needs from a special education teacher. Depending on the program goals, students
may be given the opportunity to interact with typically developing peers through school
community-building activities.

Moving up in the placement continuum, some students who need more intensive instruction
and supports are educated in a special education class in a special education school. Teams of
professionals, along with the special education teacher, work with students with disabilities and
additional needs in a highly specialized setting.

On the other end of the continuum is the most restrictive or isolated setting, such as
residential facility where students live and receive their educational support twenty-four hours a
day. Finally, children with multiple disabilities, often of the severe kind, are provided with home-
or-hospital based programs to manage their medical condition and learn as much as they could.

Inclusive education espouses that all students, to the maximum extent possible, is provided
access to general education classroom with the provision of support to remove barriers to enable
success.

Educational Placement Options

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IV. Accommodations and Curricular Modifications

Many of us have heard the terms “modifications” and “accommodations”. These are two
terms used in special education and are often used interchangeably. However, these two terms do
NOT mean the same thing and have very important implications for your child’s learning. It is
important to know the difference.

Students with disabilities and additional needs who are studying in an inclusive general
education classroom may need accommodations in the form of instructional support and other
supplementary services. Others who need more intensive support are provided with curricular
modifications.

A. Accommodations: Technical Definition

Accommodations are supports and services provided to help a student access the general
education curriculum and validly demonstrate learning. Another definition of accommodations are
supports provided to students to help gain full access to class content and instruction, without
altering the curriculum standards and competencies expected and to demonstrate accurately what
they know. When accommodations are provided in a general education classroom for children with
disabilities, barriers are removed from accessing education. As a result, children can work around
the effect of their disabilities.

For example, a student may be assigned fewer much problems because he takes longer than
other students to complete each one. Another student may respond to an essay question on a history
test by writing bullet points instead of paragraphs, because it reduces the writing task and the goal
is to determine what she has learned about history. In each case, the curriculum has remained the
same.

Accommodations may be provided both during assessment and instruction, depending on

the learning profile and needs of a child and may vary in terms of presentation, response, setting
and scheduling (Beech 2010). In other words, accommodations:

 Do not change the content of instruction

 Do not change the expectations for learning
 Do not reduce the requirements of the task

Here are some common accommodations:

 Present accommodations (changes the way information is presented)

o Listen to audio recordings instead of reading text
o Learn content from audio books, movies, videos and digital media instead of
reading print versions
o Work with fewer items per page or line
o Work with text in a larger print size
o Have a “designated reader” – someone who reads test questions aloud to students
o Hear instructions spoken aloud
o Record a lesson, instead of taking notes

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 o Get class notes from another student
o See an outline of lesson
o Use visual presentations of verbal material, such as word webs
o Get written list of instructions
 Response accommodations (changes the way kids complete assignments or tests)
o Give responses in a form (spoken or written) that’s easier for them
o Dictate answers to a scribe who writes or types
o Capture responses on an audio recorder
o Use a spelling dictionary or digital spellchecker
o Use a word processor to type notes or give answers in class
o Use a calculator or table of “math facts”
 Setting accommodations
o Work or take a rest in a different setting, such as a quiet room with few distractions
o Sit where they learn best (for example, near the teacher)
o Use special lighting or acoustics
o Take a test in a small group setting
o Use sensory tools such as an exercise band that can be looped around a chair’s legs
(so fidgety kids can kick it and quietly get their energy out)
 Timing accommodations
o Take more time to complete a project
o Take a test in several timed sessions or several days
o Take sections of a test in a different order
o Take a test at a specific time of day
 Scheduling accommodations
o Take more time to complete a project
o Take a test in several time sessions or over several days
o Take sections of a test in a different order
o Take a s test at a specific time of day
 Organization skills accommodations
o Use an alarm to help with time management
o Mark texts with a highlighter
o Use a planner or organizer to help coordinate assignments
o Receive study skills instruction

B. Modifications

Curriculum modifications are provided for students with significant or severe disabilities
where content expectations are altered, and the performance outcomes are changed in relation to
what are expected of typically developing students of the same age (DEC 2007). Modifications
refer to what the student learns and usually implies that some curriculum is removed. For example,
a student with a significant intellectual disability may not learn all the vocabulary in a science unit,
focusing instead or words that he is likely to encounter in day-to-day life. As you might, surmise,

33
many students with disabilities need accommodations, but only those with significant intellectual
disabilities usually require modifications. In other words, modifications:

 Do change the expectations of learning

 Do reduce the requirements of the task

Common modifications:

 Assignment modifications
o Complete different homework problems than peers
o Answer different test questions
o Create alternate projects or assignments
 Curriculum modifications
o Learn different material (such as continuing to work on multiplication while
classmates move on to fractions
o Get graded or assessed using a different standard that other students
o Be excused from particular projects

Practice Activity:

Accommodations versus Modifications

Read about the students below and decide whether the adaptation described is an
accommodation or a modification. Justify your responses.

a. Because Emory has cerebral palsy, she has difficulty with tasks that involve fine
motor skills, such as turning the pages of a book. Therefore, she is allowed to use
e-texts instead of the physical textbooks used by her fellow students.
b. Cody loves to tell stories but has a hard time putting his words on paper. When his
teacher assigns a two-age paper, she allows Cody to write one or two paragraphs
instead.
c. Dantrell is deaf. A sign language interpreter accompanies him into his classes and
relays all the information that the teacher presents.
d. Anya has a learning disability. As such, she has a difficulty processing the
information her teacher covers in class and consequently taking good notes. To help
her be successful, the teacher provides her with a study guide for each lesson.
e. To prepare for an upcoming lesson on character development and plot, Mrs.
Winters asks her students to read a 100-page novel. Knowing that Adora will not
be able to complete this assignment, however, she assigns her a 20-page abridged
version of the same novel written at a lower level.
f. Cevon, a student with ADHD, struggles to stay focused and organize his time.
When his teacher assigns a long-term project, she breaks the task into smaller
pieces, requiring Cevon to complete each of them by a given date.
g. Anabelle’s class has been working on multiplication. Although the focus has been
on multiplying three-digit numbers by two-digit numbers. Anabelle has been

34
 working on multiplications facts. For the test, her teacher creates a different test for
Annabelle with different types of problems.

V. Parent Involvement

The term “parent involvement” includes several different forms of participation in

education and with the needs. Parents can support their children’s schooling by attending school
functions and responding to school obligations (parent-teacher conferences, for example). They
can become more involved in helping their children improve their schoolwork – providing
encouragement, arranging for appropriate study time and space, modeling desired behavior (such
as reading for pleasure), monitoring homework, and actively tutoring their children at home.

This is anchored on Bronfenbrenner’s Human Ecological Theory, which states that there
are five environmental systems that comprise a child’s context. Bronfenbrenner’s (1974)
perspective has some resemblance to the works of Albert Bandua’s social learning theory and Lev
Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory in which the environment is explicitly or implicitly considered as
a crucial mechanism in development.

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory views child development as a complex system

of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment, from immediate
settings of family and school to broad cultural values, laws and customs. To study a child’s
development then, we must look not only at the child and her immediate environment, but also at
the interaction of the larger environment as well.

Bronfenbrenner (1977) suggested that the environment of the child is a nested arrangement
of structures, each contained within the next. He organized them un order of how much of an
impact they have on a child. He named these structures the microsystem, mesosytem, exosystem,
macrosystem and the chronosystem. Because the five (5) systems are interrelated, the influence of
one system on a child’s development depends on its relationship with the others.

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory has implications for educational practice.

The Ecological Systems Theory

35
  The Microsystem

The microsystem is the first level of Bronfenbrenner’s theory and are the things that have
direct contact with the child in their immediate environment, such as parents, siblings, teachers
and school peers. Relationships I a microsystem are bi-directional, meaning the child can be
influenced by other people in their environment and is also capable of changing the beliefs and
actions of other people too. Furthermore, the reactions of the child to individuals in their
microsystem can influence how they treat them in return. The interactions within microsystems
are often very personal and are crucial for fostering and supporting the child’s development. If a
child has a strong nurturing relationship with their parents, this is said to have a positive effect on
the child. Whereas, distant and unaffectionate parents will have a negative effect on the child.

 The Mesosystem

The mesosystem encompasses the interactions between the child’s microsystems, such as
the interactions between the child’s parents and teachers, or between school peers and siblings.
For instance, if a child’s parents communicate with the child’s teachers, this interaction may
influence the child’s development. Essentially, a mesosystem is a system of microsystems.

According to the ecological systems theory, if the child’s parents and teachers get along
and have a good relationship, this should have positive effects on the child’s development,
compared to negative effects on the development if the teachers and parents do not get along.

 The Exosystem

The exosystem is a component of the ecological systems theory developed by Urie

Bronfenbrenner in the 1970s. It incorporates other formal and informal social structures, which do
not themselves contain the child, but indirectly influence them as they affect one of the
microsystems.

Examples of exosystems include the neighborhood, parent’s workplaces, parent’s friends

and the mass media. These are environments in which the child is not involved, and are external
to their experience, but nonetheless affects them anyway. An instance of exosystems affecting the
child’s development could be if one of the parents had a dispute with their boss at work.

The parent may come home and have a short temper with the child as a result of something
which happened in the workplace, resulting in a negative effect on development.

 The Macrosystem

The macrosystem is a component of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory that

focuses on how cultural elements affect a child’s development, such as socioeconomic status,
wealth, poverty and ethnicity. Thus, culture that individuals are immersed within may influence
their beliefs and perceptions about events that transpire in life.

The macrosystem differs from the previous ecosystems as is does not refer to the specific
environments of one developing child, but the already established society and culture which the
child is developing in. this can also include the socioeconomic status, ethnicity, geographic

36
location and ideologies of the culture. For example, a child living in a third world country would
experience a different development than a child living in a wealthier country.

 The Chronosystem

The fifth and final level of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory is known the
chronosystem. This system consists of all of the environmental changes that occur over the lifetime
which influence development, including major life transitions and historical events. These can
include normal life transitions such as starting school but can also include non-normative live
transitions such as parents getting a divorce or having to move to a new house.

The Division of Early Childhood of the Council if Exceptional Children (DEC espoused
the use of a family-centered practices in the assessment and instruction of young children. Turnbull
and Turnbull (2002 cited in Kirk et.al 2015) provided the principles of a family-centered model:
(1) honors the family choice by changing the power relationship between professional and
families, (2) abandons a pathology orientation and adopts a strengths orientation, and (3) where
the entire family becomes the unit of support and not just the child with a disability and the
child’s mother. In this way, the whole family is provided support, capitalizing on the child and
family member’s strengths and resources, not their deficits and needs. Teachers and administrators
may also be guided by these principles when communicating and collaborating with parents and
families of students with disabilities.

Parent involvement has been found to be directly related to academic achievement and
improvements in the school performance of children. Educational support and collaboration with
teachers have been found to promote child success in school (Reschly & Christenson 2009).
Moreover, programs for children with disabilities become more effective and successful when
children and families are involved (Newman 2004 cited in Heward 2013).

A. Home-School Communication

Having established the critical role of parents in a student’s developmental and academic
progress and achievement, it is essential that there is a close home and school collaboration and
communication. To establish partnerships, problem-solving, two-way communication, and shared
decision making are some of the practices needed. Communicating with parents may be done in
several ways.

1. Parent-Teacher Conferences

Parent-teacher conferences are face to face meetings held between parents and teachers.
Conducting such meetings is necessary so parents of students with disabilities and additional needs
will be able to share about their child’s background, strengths and abilities, history and difficulties,
and practices they have been implementing at home as well as interventions done with other
specialists. Together with teachers, they can coordinate their efforts and services to support their
child both in school at home.

Schools differ when it comes to the frequency of parent teacher conferences. One best
practice is to hold a meeting with parents at the beginning of a school year as part of goal setting

37
for the student with disability. In this way, both parents and teachers can set expectations for the
year and agree on goals and objectives of the child. This is also a good opportunity for teachers to
establish rapport with parents. Conferences are also held after every grading period so that
progress, changes, and results can be communicated and discussed with parents and agree on
necessary action plans.

2. Written Communication

Home-school communication may also be conducted through written messages, such as

the use of a home-school communication notebook, where teachers and parents write homework
assignments, the student’s behavior in the classroom as well as progress on program goals. A
written communication may be time consuming, but some parents prefer this form of collaboration
as the messages are documented and they can provide a copy to a developmental specialist when
needed.

3. Digital Communication

With the influx of mobile devices, many parents and families are more able to communicate
through electronic and digital means such as email, text messages and social network messaging
systems.

4. Home-School Contracts

A home-school contract contains an agreement between teachers and parents regarding

behavioral and/or academic goals for student with disability.

B. Other Ways to Involve Parents

To maximize their involvement, schools provide other opportunities such as parent

education training workshops and parent support groups.

a. Parent education may take the form of providing seminars and workshops to parents to
equip them with a better understanding of their child’s disability and accompanying strengths,
uniqueness, as well as specific techniques and strategies they can practice at home.

b. Parent support groups are also helpful as parents are able to ask other parents about tips
and techniques to work with their children.

Practice Activity:

Anticipation Guide

After reading the text, reread the following statements and indicate your answers (either
True or False) under the After Reading column. Were your answers right the first time?

Statements Before After

Reading Reading
1. A child suspected to have a disability should immediately be
referred for special education.
2. Norm-referenced tests provide better information for
instructional planning than criterion-referenced test.

38
 3. The least restrictive setting should be considered as
placement for children with disabilities.
4. When providing accommodations, teachers change the
curriculum standards and content to provide a leveled playing
field for children with disabilities.
5. Programs for children with disabilities become more
effective and successful when children and families are
involved.

Self-Assessment:

This time, on your own, answer the following questions by using what you have learned
from the lesson.

1. What are the different processes as well as strategies used in the pre-referral system in an
inclusive school?

2. What are the different assessment methods and tools used to identify the strengths, abilities,
needs and placement of children with disabilities?

3. How are accommodations different from modifications?

4. Why should parents of children with disabilities be involved in the process of planning and
decision making?

Reflection:

Schools that abide by highly traditional views of teaching and learning oftentimes view
accommodations, such as time extension in tests and exams or providing an alternative output to
supplement a lengthy written report, as being “unfair” to typically developing children. It is argued
that expectations and provision of whatever support should be the same for all children. Knowing
the different components as well as views on inclusive education, do you agree? Explain your
answer.

39
 LESSON 5:
CATEGORIES OF CHILDREN WITH
SPECIAL NEEDS

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
1. Distinguish the following basic terms in special education from each other: developmental
disability, impairment or disability, handicap and at risk
2. Define, compare and contrast the nine categories of CSN from each other; and
3. Develop positive attitudes towards exceptional children and youth
4. Define disability
5. Identify some reasons for disabilities
6. Enumerate the characteristics of children with disabilities

Introduction:
Children and youth who have one or more of the conditions mentioned
among others, are called exceptional children. The term exceptional children
and youth covers those with mental retardation, giftedness and talent, learning
disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, communication disorders,
deafness, blindness and low vision, physical disabilities, health impairments and
severe disabilities. These are children and youth who experience difficulties in learning the basic
education curriculum and need a modified or functional curriculum, as well as those whose
performance is so superior that they need a differentiated special education curriculum to help
them attain their full potential.

Introductory Activity:
1. What is disability?
2. who are people with disabilities?
3. What are the characteristics of students with disabilities?

The Basics: Definitions

The legal definitions of these terms is found in the 1992 Magna Carts for Persons with
Disabilities or Republic Act 7277. Under the law, disability is a “physical or mental impairment
that substantially limits one or more psychological, physiological or anatomical function of an
individual or activities of such individual; a record of such an impairment or being regarded as
having such an impairment.”
A PWD on the other hand is a “person suffering from restriction or different abilities, as a
result of a mental, physical or sensory impairment to perform an activity in a manner or within the
range considered normal human being.” The Magna Carta focuses on the medical condition and
how it can restrict a person’s role and function in society. This is what’s meant by the medical
model of disability. The Philippine definition differs from how the United Nations views
disabilities and persons that have them.

40
 The 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities considers
disability as an “evolving concepts.” Disability results from the interaction between persons with
impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective
participation in society on an equal basis with others.

Categories of Disability
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers PWD as the largest minority globally.
They number nearly a billion and comprise 15% of the world population. In the Philippines, the
2010 national census counted 1, 442,586 Filipinos with disabilities or 1.57% of 921 million
population. CALABARZON (Region IV-A), Metro Manila and Central Luzon had the biggest
tally of PWDs and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) the smallest.
Of the 1.4 million Filipinos with disabilities, males slightly outnumbered females at 50.9
\%. But as women live longer than men in the country, there were more females than male PWDs
who were 65 or older. The ratio was 10 to 7. The 2000 census, however, identified 37% of the
942,098 PWDs with low vision, 8% with partial blindness and 7% with mental illness. Low vision
and partial blindness were also most common in 1995, followed by deafness.
The Philippine uses no standard classification for the types of disabilities. The Magna Carta
for PWDs does not classify disabilities but only specifies provisions for those with visual, hearing,
speech and orthopedic impairments, mental retardation and those who have multi-handicap. In
2011, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) issued Resolution 9220 listing five (5) types of
disabilities for the special registration and these are physical, hearing, speech, visual and
nonmanifest such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program of the DSWD put together the following
classification based on the result of its household targeting survey: hearing, visual, orthopedic,
multiple disabilities, mental and other disabilities. The Department of Education (DepEd)
classified students as having learning disability, hearing impairment, visual impairment;
intellectual disability/mental retardation and behavioral problem. Also in their lists are students
with orthopedical/physical impairment, autism, speech defect, chronic illness and cerebral palsy.
The National Council on Disability Affairs (NCDA), the government agency that
formulates policies and coordinates activities concerning disability, announced in 2014 it was
drafting with the Department of Health (DOH) guidelines for classifying disabilities as basis for
issuing PWD IDs. The NCDA and DOH were considering the following: physical/orthopedic
disability, visual impairment, hearing impairment, speech impairment, intellectual disability and
psychosocial disability that includes ADHD, bipolar disorder, long term recurring depression,
nervous breakdown, epilepsy, schizophrenia and other long term recurring mental or behavioral
problems.
When we say students that students have disabilities, we are referring to the specific
categories of exceptionality prescribed by federal law. According to IDEA, students with one or
more of the following thirteen disabilities that negatively affect their educational performance are
eligible for special education services.

41
Disability Perspectives
Four (4) different perspectives on disabilities:
1. Deficit Perspective on Disabilities
The deficit perspective reflects the idea that behavior and characteristics people share are
distributed along a continuum, with most people falling in the middle of the distribution, where
they make up the average.
2. Cultural Perspective on Disabilities
A second way to think about disabilities and the people who might be affected does not use
a quantitative approach; rather, it reveals a cultural perspective that reflects the diversity of our
nation.
3. Sociological Perspective on Disabilities
Instead of focusing on people’s strengths or deficits, the sociological perspective views
differences across people’s skills and traits as socially constructed (Longmore, 2003; Riddell,
2007). The way a society treats individual exhibits, is what makes people different from each other.
If people’s attitudes and the way society treats groups of individuals change, the impact of being
a member of a group changes as well. In other words, according to this perspective, what makes a
disability is the way we treat individuals we think of as different.
4. People with Disabilities as Members of a Minority Group
The ways in which people are treated by society and by other individuals erect real barriers
that influence their outcome. Many individuals with disabilities believe their disabilities then
handicap them by presenting challenges and barriers. This belief leads many people to think of
people with disabilities as belonging to a minority group, much as the concepts of race and
ethnicity.

42
What are Some Reasons for Disabilities?
One way to organize the causes of disabilities is to divide then into three (3) groups by time
of onset, whether before birth, during the birth process, or after birth. Prenatal or congenital
causes occur before birth and are often genetic or inherited. Perinatal causes occur during the
birthing process. One common perinatal cause of disabilities is cerebral palsy. Postnatal causes
occur after birth, and here the environment is a major factor.
Another way to consider why disabilities and special needs arise is to classify the reasons
in terms of biological causes, environmental causes and other risk factors.

 Biological Causes of Disability

Heredity is a biological cause of disabilities, as are diseases and health conditions.
Thus a virus that results in a severe hearing loss is considered a biological cause. Seizure
disorders such as epilepsy are biological reasons for special health care needs, as are
diseases such as juvenile arthritis and polio.
 Environmental Causes of Disability

Some of these are environmentally based. Many are preventable, but many others
cannot be avoided. Toxins abound in our environment. All kinds of hazardous wastes are
hidden in neighborhoods and communities.

A Cross-Categorical Approach to Special Education

Federal and state education agencies and local school districts use the categories of
disability described for counting the number of students receiving special education services and
allocating money to educate them. When you prepare to teach a student, however, you probably
will find that the specific category of disability does not guide you in discovering that student’s
strengths and devising appropriate teaching strategies. Further, students in different categories
often benefit from the same instructional adjustments. Students generally are discussed in terms of
the following two groups:
1. High-incidence disabilities are those that are most common, including learning
disabilities, speech or language impairments, and intellectual disabilities and emotional
disturbance.
2. Low-incidence disabilities are those that are less common and include all the other
categories: moderate to severe intellectual disabilities, multiple disabilities, hearing impairment,
orthopedic impairments, other health impairments, visual impairments, deaf-blindness, autism,
traumatic brain injury and developmental delays.

What are the Characteristics of Children with Disabilities?

 Attention Deficit Disorder

Children with attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity

disorder (ADHD) may exhibit some or all of the following characteristics:

o Short attention span – difficulty focusing

o Poor memory

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 o Disorganization
o Poor impulse control
o Restlessness
o Incessant talking
o Incessant activity
 Autism

Autism is a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and non-verbal

communication, social interaction, and behavior generally evident before age three,
adversely affecting a child’s educational performance. Children with autism may exhibit
any of the following characteristics:

o Obsessively repetitive activities and stereotyped movements

o Can be self-abusive
o Unusual responses to sensory inputs
o Exhibit a wide range of intellectual and behavior differences
o Extremely withdrawn and do not communicate at all; others communicate in a
bizarre or seemingly meaningless manner. Other students may use assistive technology
to communicate.
o Exhibit periodic emotional outbursts
o Exhibit abnormal or responses to objects
 Hearing and Visual Impairments

Deafness means a hearing impairment so severe that the child’s ability to process
linguistic information through hearing, with our without amplification, is limited to the
extent that it adversely affects is or her educational performance.

Hearing impairment is hearing loss, in one or both ears, that may be permanent or
fluctuating, that adversely affect educational performance, but is not included in the
definition of deafness. Not all students who are deaf or hard of hearing communicate in the
same manner. Some use sign language; some use Cued Speech; some use their listening
and spoken language skills with the aid of sensory devices and others may use a
combination of these methods.

Deaf-blindness is simultaneous hearing and visual impairment, the combination of

which causes severe communication and other developmental or educational needs that
cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness
or children with blindness.

Visual impairment including blindness means impairment in vision severe enough

to adversely affect educational performance, even when corrected. The term includes both
partial sight and blindness.

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 Emotional Disabilities

Emotional disability means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following

characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree, that adversely affects a
child’s educational performance:

o An ability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors

o An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers
and teachers
o Inappropriate types if behavior or feelings under normal circumstances
o A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression
o A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or
school problems
o The term includes schizophrenia
 Intellectual Ability

Intellectual disability means significantly sub average general intellectual

functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during
the development al period, which adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

 Multiple Disabilities

Multiple disabilities mean a child exhibits two or more impairments simultaneously

(such as intellectual disability – blindness, intellectual disability – orthopedic impairment),
the combination of which requires schools to attend to specific educational needs that
cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments.

 Specific Learning Disability

Specific disability is a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes

involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language. A learning disability
may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or do
mathematical calculation. Specific conditions include:

o Perceptual disabilities
o Brain injury
o Minimal brain dysfunctions
o Dyslexia or
o Developmental aphasia
 Speech or Language Impairment

Speech or language impairment is a communication disorder, such as stuttering,

impaired articulation, language impairment or a voice impairment that adversely affects a
child’s educational performance.

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 Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury is an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external

physical force resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment,
or both, and adversely affecting a child’s educational performance. Traumatic brain injury
applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in an impairment in one or more areas of
mental function, such as:

o Cognition
o Language and speech
o Memory
o Attention
o Reasoning
o Abstract thinking
o Judgment
o Problem-solving
o Sensory, perceptual and motor abilities
o Psychosocial behavior
o Physical functions, and
o Information processing
 Other Health Impairments

Other health impairment means having limited strength, vitality or alertness,

including a heightened sensitivity to environmental stimuli, that result in limited alertness
with respect to the educational environment, that is due to acute health problems such as
asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes,
epilepsy, heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, mephritis, rheumatic
fever, sickle cell anemia and Tourett syndrome that adversely affects a child’s educational
performance.

 Orthopedic Impairment

Orthopedic impairment means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely

affects a child’s educational performance. The term include impairments caused by
congenital anomaly, impairments caused by disease and impairments from other causes.

 Medically Fragile Children

A medically fragile child is one whose health problems are potentially life
threatening or who is dependent on medical equipment. Each child is unique and may
require specialized training for driver and aide. The following conditions and situations
may be encountered.

o Respiratory difficulties must be closely monitored for signs of oxygen deprivation

such as blue lips, nails or ear lobes; agitation, anxiety or panic; confusion, dizziness
or headache, rapid pulse; or shortness of breath.

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 o Tracheostomy is a surgical opening into the trachea, or windpipe, to permt
breathing
o Gastronomy is a surgical opening through which food and fluids are passed to the
student’s digestive system by a tube
o Colostomy and Ileostomy are surgical openings in the intestines used to drain its
contents into an attached bag
o Nasogastric tube is a feeding tube passing from a nostril through the throat
o Urostomy is a surgical opening to drain urine into a bag

Other Students with Special Needs

Not all students who have special learning and behavior needs are addressed in special
education laws.

 Students who are gifted or talented

Students who demonstrate ability far above, average in one or several areas –
including overall intellectual ability, leadership, specific academic subjects, creativity,
athletics and the visual or performing arts – are considered gifted or talented.

 Students at risk

Often the general term at risk refers to students whose characteristics, environment
or experiences make them more likely than others to fail in school (and they also may have
disabilities).

Another group of at risk students includes slow learners, whose educational

progress is below average but who do not have disability. These students are learning to
the best of their ability, but they often cannot keep pace with the instruction in most general
education classrooms without assistance. They are sometimes described as “falling
between the Cracks” of the educational system because while most professionals agree
they need special assistance they are not eligible for special education.
Other students who might be considered at risk include those who are homeless;
those who live in poverty or move frequently; those who are born to mothers abusing drugs
or alcohol or who abuse drugs or alcohol themselves; and those who are victim of physical
or psychological abuse. Students in these groups are at risk for school failure because of
the environment or circumstances in which they live.

Self-Assessment:
Test on content knowledge:
1. Define and explain the following terms: exceptional children, special education, disability or
impairment, handicap and at risk.

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2. Fill in the following matrix with the definition, learning and behavior, characteristics of the
categories of CSN:

Category of CSN Definition, Types, Characteristics

Reflection:
Interview a SPED Teacher, ask how s/he goes about his/her job. You may ask how s/he
feels about teaching these children. You may also ask him or her about the future of hese children
when they leave school.

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 LESSON 6:
TYPICAL AND ATYPICAL
DEVELOPMENT AMONG CHILDREN

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
1. Identify typical and atypical milestones in the various stages of child development; and
2. Differentiate typical and atypical development of children in varios stages of their
development

Introduction:
Have you ever wondered how children develop? Maybe one time you have compared your
development with that of a sibling or cousin of yours. Children have so many ways in which they
need to develop: language skills, cognitive skills, social skills and physical skills. Since each child
develops at his own pace, with his own particular strengths and weaknesses, it can be challenging
to determine the difference between typical and atypical development in children. How can you
tell what is typical and what is not?

I. Child Development and Its Importance

Child development is a process is a process every child goes through. This process involves
learning and mastering skills like sitting, walking, talking, skipping and tying shoes. Most children
learn these skills called developmental milestones, during predictable time periods. Milestones
develop in a sequential fashion. This means that a child will need to develop some kills before he
or she can develop other skills.

To ensure that a child meets his/her developmental milestones, it is crucial to observe and
monitor his/her development. The milestones or developmental skills that need to be mastered
usually at the same rate act as a guide for ideal development. It is done bt checking the progress of
a child based on his or her age to see if the child is developing within expectations. For others,
checking the milestones can help detect any difficulties at a particular stage. Intervention can then
be given which can help in the development of a child. Usually, it is the parents, teachers and
pediatricians who use the checklists.

There are five main areas of development in which children develop skills:

 Cognitive development: This is the child’s ability to learn and solve problems.
 Social and emotional development: This is the child’s ability to interact with others,
which includes being able to help themselves and self-control.
 Speech and language development: This is the child’s ability to both understand and
use language.
 Fine motor skill development: This is the child’s ability to use small muscles,
specifically their hands and fingers, to pick up small objects, hold a spoon, turn pages
in a book or use a crayon to draw.
 Gross motor skill development: This is the child’s ability to use large muscles.

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 II. Child Development Theories

During the early 20th century, interest in child development began, specifically, that which
focused on detecting abnormalities. Certain theories were discovered based on this interest to
appreciate the growth that children experience from birth to adolescence.

A. Psychosocial Development Theory of Erik Erikson

Erik Erikson (1902 – 1994) was a stage theorist who took Freud’s controversial theory of
psychosexual development and modified it as psychosocial theory. Erikson emphasized that the
ego makes positive contributions to development by mastering attitudes, ideas and skills at each
stage development. Erikson developed his eight (8) stages of psychosocial development based on
Freud’s psychosexual theory.

Stages of Psychosocial Development:

1. Infant (Trust vs. Mistrust)

From birth to 12 months of age 12, infants must learn that adults can be trusted. This occurs
when adults meet a child’s basic needs for survival.

2. Toddler (Autonomy vs Shame/Doubt)

As toddlers (ages 1 – 3 years) begin to explore their world, they learn what they can control
their actions and act on their environment to get results. They begin to show clear preferences for
certain elements of the environment such as food, toys and clothing.

3. Pre-schooler (Initiative vs. Guilt)

Once the children reach the pre-school stage (ages 3-6 years), they are capable of initiating
activities and asserting control over their world through social interactions and play. According to
Erikson, preschool children must resolve the task initiative vs, guilt.

4. Grade–schooler (Industry vs. Inferiority)

During the elementary school stage (ages 6-12), children face the task of industry vs
inferiority. Children begin to compare themselves with their peers to see how they measure up.

5. Teenager (Identity vs. Role Confusion)

In adolescence (ages 12-18), children face the task of identity vs role confusion. According
to Erikson, an adolescent’s main task is developing a sense of self.

6. Young Adult (Intimacy vs Isolation)

People in early adulthood (20s through early 40s) are concerned with intimacy vs. isolation.
After we have developed a sense of self in adolescence, we are ready to share our life with others.

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 7. Middle-age Adult (Generativity vs Stagnation)

When people reach their 40s, they enter the time known as middle adulthood, which
extends to mid-60s. the social task of middle adulthood is generativity vs stagnation.

8. Older Adult (Integrity vs Despair)

From the mid-60s to the enf of life, we are in the period of development known as late
adulthood. Erikson’s task at this stage is called integrity vs despair.

B. Cognitive Developmental Theory of Jean Piaget

Cognition refers to thinking and memory processes, and cognitive development refers to
long-term changes in these processes. One of the most widely known perspectives about cognitive
development is the cognitive stage theory of a Swiss psychologist named Jean Piaget. Piaget was
a psychological constructivist, in his view, learning proceeded by the interplay of assimilation and
accommodation. Through his studies, Piaget declared that cognitive development occurred in four
stages throughout one’s childhood:

 Stages occur in order

 Children did not skip stages but pass through each one
 These are visible changes from one stage to the next
 The stages occur as building blocks, each one using pieces from the last stage

Stages of Cognitive Development

This type of development model incorporates each stage into the next, which is why it is
often called a “staircase” model. Piaget labeled foru stages of cognitive growth that occurred at
an approximate age in children:

1. Sensorimotor Stage – Birth to Age 2

The first stage is aptly named after how infants learn until age two. From birth,
infants absorb information through their senses: by touching, looking and listening.

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 2. Preoperational Stage – Age 2 to 6
Children continue to build on the object representation that is significant to the
sensorimotor stage in different activities. They learn through the use of language.
However, mental manipulation of information does not take place yet.
3. Concrete Operational Stage – Age 7 to 11
Children begin to represent objects and ideas in a more logical way. Piaget labeled
this stage as concrete operational because he believed that children were able to
manage concrete objects, but not yet think methodically about the representations
of objects. There are two (2) things that distinguish concrete operational thinking
from preoperational thinking. The first is reversibility, which allows a child to
manipulate the order of any process. The second skill that is acquired decentering.
This allows the child to step back and analyze an issue from more than one angle.
4. Formal Operational Stage – Age 11 and Beyond
From 12 years old to adulthood, a person has the ability to think abstract concepts.

C. Sociocultural Theory of Lev Vygotsky

The work of Lev Vygotsky (1934) has become the foundation of much research and theory
in cognitive development over the past several decades, particularly of what has become known
as sociocultural theory. This theory believes that children learn actively through hands on
experiences. Vygotsky highlights the importance of other people such as parents, caregivers and
peers in the development of children. Culture plays an integral role as well. Interaction with others
allows learning to be integrated in the child’s understanding of the world. Also included in the
theory is the zone of proximal development, which is the portion in between what one can do on
his or her own and with help. Children best learn when they are in this zone.

D. Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura

Bandura is known for his social learning theory. He is quite different from other learning
theorists who look a learning as a direct result of conditioning reinforcement and punishment. He
asserts that most human behavior is learned through observation, imitation and modeling.

III. Typical and Atypical Development

The development of a child usually follows a predictable pattern. There are certain skills
and abilities and abilities that are observed to gauge a child’s development are called
developmental milestones. However, each child is unique. With this, not all reach a milestone at
the same time, thus the terms typical and atypical development.

The term typical development refers to the normal progression where children grow by
acquiring knowledge, skills and behavior called developmental milestones at a certain time frame.
Atypical development is a term used when development does not follow the normal course. More

52
so, a child is developing atypically when he/she reaches a milestone earlier or later than other
children his/her age.

There is no clear way to identify if a child is developing typically or atypically. However,

there are three commonly accepted principles of a child development that one should look into.
The principles are as follows:

1. Rate of development differs from among children

2. Development occurs in a relatively orderly process
3. Development takes place gradually

IV. Domains of Development

Human development is comprised of four major domains: physical development, cognitive

development, social-emotional development, and language development. Each domain, while
unique in its own, has much overlap with all other domains. It is important to understand these
concepts, because everything related to human development can be traced back to these four
domains.

A. Physical Development

Physical development is defined as the biological changes that occur in the body and brain,
including changes in size and strength, integration of sensory and motor activities, and the
development of fine and gross motor skills.

B. Social and Emotional Development

Social-emotional development is defined as the changes in the ways we connect to other

individuals and express and understand emotions. The core features of emotional development
include the ability of a child to identify and understand their own feelings, to accurately read and
comprehend emotional states of others, to manage strong emotions and their expression in a
beneficial manner, to regulate their own behavior, to develop empathy for others, and to establish
and maintain relationships.

C. Language Development

Infants understand words before they can say. In other words, comprehension precedes
production of language. Children differ enormously in the rate at which they develop language.
The four different aspects of language include all of the following; phonology - the sounds that
make up the language, syntax - the grammar of the language, semantics - the meanings of words,
and pragmatics - how we use language in social situations to communicate.

D. Cognitive Development

Cognitive development is defined as the changes in the way we think, understand, and
reason about the world.

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V. Stages in Child Development
Stages, along with age are used as ranges to mark significant periods in human
development timeline. In each stage, growth and development occur in the four domains. The
stages are as follows:
a. Infancy (birth to 2 years)
Infancy refers to the first year of life after birth, and an infant is defined as a human being
between birth and the first birthday. The term baby is usually considered synonymous with an
infant, although it is commonly applied to the young of other animals, as well as humans. Human
infants seem weak and helpless at birth, but they are actually born with a surprising range of
abilities. Most of their senses are quite well developed, and they can also communicate their needs
by crying, like the three-day-old baby. During their first year, infants develop many other abilities,
some of which are described in this concept. They also grow more rapidly during their first year
than they will at any other time during the rest of their life.

b. Early childhood (3 to 8 years)

Early childhood is a time of tremendous growth across all areas of development. The
dependent newborn grows into a young person who can take care of his or her own body and
interact effectively with others. For these reasons, the primary developmental task of this stage is
skill development.

c. Middle childhood (9 to 11 years)

Middle childhood has been called the “golden age” of childhood. Overall, children are
relatively healthy during this period. Growth rates slow and children start gaining about 5-7 pounds
in weight and 2 inches in height each year. Many children begin to slim down as their torsos
become longer. A child at this age can have strong muscles and increased lung capacity to enable
them to play for long periods of time.
d. Adolescence (12 – 18 years)
Adolescence is the period of transition between childhood and adulthood. It includes some
big changes—to the body, and to the way a young person relates to the world.

Self-Assessment:
Answer the following questions:
1. State the various child development theories and discuss each.
2. Enumerate and discuss the various domains of development.

Reflection:
Look for photos that will represent various milestones for every stage. As a variation, show
the photo and then name the specific milestone, stage and domain. Jot down answers on the table
provided below.

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Description of Photo Stage of Development Milestone

55
 MODULE 3
LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

LESSON 7:
LEARNERS WITH ADDITIONAL NEEDS

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
1. Identify the various additional needs learners might have
2. Differentiate the additional needs from one another
3. Recognize the characteristics of learners with additional needs
4. Discuss what marginalization means; and
5. Identify different marginalized groups

Introduction:
Children learn every day. This happens in various settings and different ways. Learning at
times happens intentionally and with great effort while there are situations where it happens
almost effortlessly.

I. Learners Who Are Gifted and Talented

A. Definition

Children who are gifted and talented exhibit a wide range of characteristics. Some may
excel in academic subjects, performing well above grade level in specific areas, such as math or
reading. Others may be more interested in the arts, playing musical instruments, or using various
media to demonstrate their talents. Still others may show leadership abilities by working with their
peers to achieve specific goals.

There is another way

to look into giftedness which
is conceptualized by Gardner
in 1993. According to him
intelligence is multifaceted.

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

56
 B. Identification
To identify gifted and talented students, one must do the following:
 Locate the student’s domain of giftedness
 Describe the student’s level of giftedness
 Describe the student’s field of talent
C. Learning Characteristics
 Keen powers of observation.
 Learned or read very early, often before school age.
 Reads widely and rapidly.
 Well developed vocabulary - takes delight in using unusual and new words.
 Has great intellectual curiosity.
 Absorbs information rapidly - often called sponges.
 Very good memory - can recall information in different circumstances.
 Have to ability to concentrate deeply for prolonged periods.
 Very good powers of reasoning and problem solving.
 Have intense interests.
 Possess unusual imagination.
 Have a great interest in "big" questions, e.g. the nature of the universe, the
problem of suffering in the world, environmental issues.
 Very sensitive - perhaps getting upset easily.
 Very concerned about rights and wrongs, concerned about injustices.

D. General Educational Adaptations

Suggested strategies for reaching gifted students:

1. Teachers may give enrichment exercises that will allow learners to study the same topic
at a more advanced level.

2. Acceleration can let students who are gifted and talented can move at their own pace
thus resulting at times to in completing two grade levels in one school year

3. Open-ended activities with no right or wrong answers can be provided, emphasizing on

divergent thinking wherein there are more possibilities that pre-determined answers.

4. Leadership roles can be given to gifted students since studies have shown that gifted
students are often socially immature.

5. Extensive reading on subjects of their own interest may be coordinated with the school
librarian to further broaden their knowledge.

6. Long term activities may be provided, that will give the gifted students an opportunity
to be engaged for an extended period of time

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II. Learners with Difficulty Seeing

A. Definition

Students with visual impairments are infants, toddlers, children and youths who experience
impairments of the visual system that impact their ability to learn. ... Functionally blind – students
can use limited vision for functional tasks but need their tactile and auditory channels for learning.

B. Identification

Learners with difficulty seeing often have physical signs such as crossed eyes, squinting
and eyes that turn outwards. They may also be clumsy, usually bumping into objects which causes
them to fall down. They like to sit near the instructional materials or at times would stand up and
go near the visual aids.

Learners with difficulty seeing may also show poor eye-hand coordination. This can be
seen in their handwriting or poor performance in sporting activities. Another indication is poor
academic performance as these students might have difficulty reading.

C. Learning Characteristics

Learners with visual impairments demonstrate the following characteristics:

 Intellectual abilities are similar to those of sighted peers

 They are unable to use sight to assist them in the development of concepts
 Their concepts development depends on their tactile experience
 They are unable to use visual imagery
 They may display repetitive, stereotyped movement for example, rocking or
rubbing of eyes.
 They are withdrawn, dependent and are unable to use non-verbal cues
 They have difficulty using spatial information and visual imagery and
imagery problems with functional implications
 They have unusual facial behaviours such as a squinting, blinking or
frowning while reading or doing close work.
 They are unable to locate or pick up small objects
 They have difficulty in writing or are not able to write within the lines
 They have difficulty in reading books within the normal range thus bringing
the book/object closer to the eyes.

D. General Educational Adaptations

As a teacher, your main priority is insuring that all of your students have an equal
opportunity to access learning materials and succeed in your course. To teach visually impaired or
blind students you should modify your teaching strategy, allow for the use of visual aids and
assistive technology, and create a safe learning environment.

58
  You should also get in the habit of dictating what you are writing on the chalkboard
or whiteboard. This way students who are unable to see the board can still follow
along with the material and take notes.
 Do not provide your students with a handout that contains assignment instructions.
Visually impaired or blind students in your class may have difficulty seeing the
words and learning what is expected. Instead, you should always give oral
instructions for every assignment and activity.
 When you are teaching a class with visually impaired or blind students, you should
try and incorporate tactile learning experiences whenever possible.
 Students who are visually impaired or blind may not always know who is talking.
As a result you should always address students by their name when you call on
them to answer or ask questions. This way the student who is visually impaired can
learn to identify their peers based on the sound of their voice.
 In some instances visually impaired or blind students may need extra time to
complete their assignments and tests. This is typically because reading braille or
using some form of technological aide can take additional time.
 Even though you will need to make certain modifications to your teaching style and
classroom structure in order to accommodate students with visual impairments, you
should still hold these students to the same standard as the rest of their peers.
 When you are teaching visually impaired or blind students, you may need to modify
the curriculum and the way you teach the curriculum in order the meet the students
needs.

III. Learners with Difficulty Hearing

A. Definition

Hearing impairment is a broad term that refers to hearing losses of varying degrees from
hard-of-hearing to total deafness. The major challenge facing students with hearing impairments
is communication. Hearing-impaired students vary widely in their communication skills. Among
the conditions that affect the development of communication skills of persons with hearing
impairments are personality, intelligence, nature and degree of deafness, degree and type of
residual hearing, degree of benefit derived from amplification by hearing aid, family environment,
and age of onset. Age of onset plays a crucial role in the development of language. Persons with
prelingual hearing loss (present at birth or occurring before the acquisition of language and the
development of speech patterns) are more functionally disabled than those who lose some degree
of hearing after the development of language and speech.

B. Identification

To identify learners with difficulty hearing, observe a student and see if he’she does the
following:

 Speech problems
 Inattentive

59
  Hires volume
 Learning difficulties
 Social withdrawal

C. Learning Characteristics

Some of the common characteristics of deafness commonly found in classrooms include

the following:

 Difficulty following verbal directions

 Difficulty with oral expression
 Some difficulties with social/emotional or interpersonal skills
 Will often have a degree of language delay
 Often follows and rarely leads
 Will usually exhibit some form of articulation difficulty
 Can become easily frustrated if their needs are not met — which may lead to
some behavioral difficulties
 Sometimes the use of hearing aids leads to embarrassment and fear of rejection
from peers

D. General Educational Adaptations

 Look directly at the student and face him or her when communicating or
teaching.
 Say the student’s name or signal their attention in some way before speaking.
 Assign the student a desk near the front of the classroom, or where you plan to
deliver most of your lectures.
 Speak naturally and clearly. Remember speaking louder won’t help.
 Do not exaggerate your lip movements, but slowing down a little may help
some students.
 Use facial expressions, gestures and body language to help convey your
message, but don’t overdo it.
 Some communication may be difficult for the hard of hearing student to
understand. Explicitly teach idioms and explain jokes and sarcasm.
 Young hearing impaired children often lag in the development of social graces.
Consider teaching specific social skills such as joining in to games or
conversation, maintaining conversations, and staying on topic.

IV. Learners with Difficulty Communicating

A. Definition

A child with a communication disorder has trouble communicating with others. He

or she may not understand or make the sounds of speech. The child may also struggle with
word choice, word order, or sentence structure.

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 Communication is the interactive exchange of information, ideas, feelings, needs
and desires between and among people (Heward, 2013). Communication is used to serve
several functions, particularly to narrate, explain, inform, request (mand) and express
feelings.

Speech is the expression of language with sounds or oral production. Speech is

produced through precise psychological and neuromuscular coordination: (1) respiration
(act of breathing), (2) phonation (production of sound by the larynx and vocal folds; (3)
articulation (use of lips, tongue, teeth, and hard and soft palates to speak)

Language is used for communication, a formalized code used by a group of people

to communicate with one another, that is primary arbitrary (Heward 2013).

Speech impairments are communication disorders such as stuttering, impaired

articulation and language or voice impairment.

Language disorders involve problems in one or more of the five components of

language and are often classified as expressive or receptive.

B. Identification
 Struggling with stories

By the age of five, children should be able to describe things that have happened
using longer sentences, for example, “Today was really great at school. My teacher gave
me an award and said it was mine for being so good”.

 Understanding spoken language

Children may have difficulty with understanding the meaning of words and
concepts. They may have problems following instructions, understanding games and tasks,
and making sense of what is being said to them. Children with these difficulties may often
appear to understand, as they may be getting clues from following other children or
guessing from the context. They may also come across as 'difficult' simply because they do
not fully understand what is being said.

 Poor behaviour

Behaviour is communication and poor behaviour has been linked to language

difficulties in children of all ages.

 Speech sound production

Children may have problems with the intelligibility of their speech – they may have
a reduced number of sounds available to them and have difficulty making particular sounds
in simple or longer words. They may not be easy to understand when they speak, or they
may be reluctant to speak for fear of not being understood.

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  Attention and listening

Many children who have speech and language difficulties have problems with
listening to spoken language (often when their hearing is okay). They have difficulty
concentrating on a task and listening to adult instructions.

 Social skills

Children's development of social skills, their sense of self and others, and their
ability to form relationships and learn can all be affected by speech and language problems

C. Learning Characteristics
1) Academic Performance:
 reluctance to contribute to discussions
 difficulty organizing ideas
 difficulty recognizing phonemes
 difficulty producing sounds
 failure to follow directions
 difficulty finding the right word for things
2) Social Interaction:
 Reluctance to interact with other children
 exclusion or rejection by other children
 difficulty carrying on a conversation
 problems negotiating rules for games
3) Cognitive Functioning:
 difficulty organizing information for recall
 slow responding
 inattentiveness
4) Behaviour:
 high level of frustration
 frequent arguments
 fighting with peers
 withdrawing from interaction

D. General Educational Adaptation

Teaching strategies for students with communication disorders include:

 Allowing more time for a student to complete activities, assignments and

tests.
 Having a student sit near you to easily meet her learning needs.
 Discussing possible areas of difficulty and working with the student to
implement accommodations.

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  Always asking before providing assistance, and using positive
reinforcement when the student completes an activity independently.
 Using peer assistance when appropriate.
 Modifying activities or exercises so assignments can be completed by the
student, but providing the same or similar academic objectives.
 Creating tests that are appropriate for the student with speech impairment
(for example, written instead of oral or vice versa.)
 Providing scribes for test taking if a student needs assistance.
 Making sure the student understands test instructions completely and
providing additional assistance if needed.

Self-Assessment:
Answer the following questions:
1. Enumerate and define the different learners with additional needs.
2. What accommodations can be given to learners with communication difficulties?

Reflection:
Think of a person you know or a famous person who has difficulty in any of the domains
mentioned in this lesson. Use any graphic organized to create a profile of this person, his/her
strengths, interests, accomplishments, difficulties, needs, and other information you have. How
does seeing the “whole person” affect your view of this person and not just his/her difficulties?
How is such a perspective important in teaching and learning in an inclusive classroom?

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REFERENCES:
Aligada-Halal,Cristina. Foundations of Inclusive and Special Education. Manila: Rex Book
Store, 2020
Bryant, Diane P. (et.al). Teaching Students with Special Needs in Inclusive Classroom., Singapore:
SAGE Publications, 2017.
Inciong, Teresita G. Introduction to Special Education. Manila: Rex Book Store, 2010
MAPSA. Managing Children With Special Needs (Learning Disability, ADHD, Autism). Manila:
Rex Book Store, 2009.
Dreyer, Lorna. Inclusive Education (Education Studies for Initial Teacher Developments)

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