VII.

LEARNES WITH
DIFFICLUTY WITH SELF
CARE

Datu AL-Nash A. Butuan

2 BEED-A
 A. Definition

A. Definition Self-care often refers to a person's capacity to perform daily living activities or specific to body care
Self-care often refers to a person's capacity to perform daily living activities or specific to
such as the following skills: washing oneself, brushing teeth, combing, trimming nails, toileting, dressing, eating.
bodyand
drinking, care such as
looking theone's
after following skills: washing
health. Self-care skills areoneself, brushing
gradually learned by teeth,
verycombing, trimming
young typically developing
nails,through
children toileting, dressing,
adult modeling eating. drinking,
and direct and looking
instruction after one's health.
within developmental Self-care
expectations. skills
On the arehand,
other
gradually
children learned needs
with additional by very
mayyoung typically
struggle with thedeveloping children
basic activities through
of daily adult modeling
living. Oftentimes, and
such students are
thosedirect instruction
with moderate withincognitive
to severe developmental
deficits, expectations. On thewith
including individuals other hand, children
Intellectual with
Disability or Intellectual
additional needs may struggleDevelopmental
with the basicDisorder
activities
(IDofordaily
IDD).living. Oftentimes, such
students are those with moderate to severe cognitive deficits, including individuals with
Intellectual Disability or Intellectual Developmental Disorder (ID or IDD).
B. Identification

Young children suspected to have cognitive deficits which manifest as difficulties with
self-care can be identified at a very young age. The traditional approach to measuring
levels of severity of ID was determined through the use of intellectual tests: Mild level
Moderate Severe Profound IQ 50-70 IQ 35-50 IQ 20-35 IQ below 20 However, based on
the definition provided by the American Psychiatric Association (2013), using measures
of intelligence is only one aspect as adaptive functioning also needs to be assessed to
identify if a child has an intellectual disability. In place of IQ degree of severity of the
disability. levels, the support needed by a person with ID is used to determine the level or
degree of severity of the disability
C. Learning Characteristics
Students who have difficulty with self-care oftentimes reach developmental milestones at
a later age compared to typically developing peers. They learn to sit up, crawl, walk, and
talk later than other children and may have trouble remembering and understanding
consequences of actions. Due to cognitive difficulties, children with ID may also have
deficits in the areas of reasoning, planning, judgment, and abstract thinking. In summary,
this chapter has presented important definitions, identification and assessment, learning
characteristics, and general educational adaptations for learners with additional needs
namely: (1) the gifted and talented students with difficulties in (2) seeing, (3) hearing, (4)
communicating, (5) walking and moving, (6) remembering and focusing, and (7) self-
care.
D. General Educational Adaptations
Specific approaches have been found to be effective in teaching students with difficulty with self-
care, namely the use of direct/explicit instruction, task analysis, forward and backward chaining, as
well as the use of video modeling. It is essential that the instructions given are simple and straight
forward and that hands-on, experiential activities are used. Task analysis is a behavioral approach
that breaks down a complex behavior or task into step-by-step procedures, thereby providing
modeling and ample practice for the student with difficulties. Gargiulo (2012) provided working
guidelines on how to do task analysis.

◾ Define the target behavior or task.

◾ Identify the required skills needed to successfully complete the task.
◾ Identify the necessary materials to perform the task.
◾ Observe an able and competent person perform the task.