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TLSE 456/7
Overview of Disabilities
Under
IDEA
Learning Disabilities
IDEA Definition
• “ a disorder in one or
more of the basic
psychological
processes involved in
understanding or in
using language…
(Psychological
processes are
memory, perception,
attention, etc.)
continued
• that may manifest
itself in an imperfect
ability to listen, think,
speak, read, write,
spell, or do math
calculations…”
Discrepancy
• Compare IQ level on
•
IQ test with
achievement test
scores (historically)
New approach: RTI
(responsiveness to
intervention) (IDEA,
2004)
Some Characteristics
• Difficulty in
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understanding and
following directions
Short attention span
Difficulty with
handwriting and fine
motor skills
Visual or auditory
memory
Memorizing words or
basic math facts
Difficulty allocating time
and organizing work
Some Characteristics
• Difficulty in
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understanding and
following directions
Short attention span
Difficulty with
handwriting and fine
motor skills
Visual or auditory
memory
Memorizing words or
basic math facts
Difficulty allocating time
and organizing work
Communication Disorders
Communication Disorders
involves
Speech
Language
Speech Disorder
• Difficulty producing
sounds as well as
distortions in voice
quality or fluency of
speech
Language Disorder
• Difficulty
receiving,
understanding,
and formulating
ideas and
information
Speech Language Pathologists
• Assesses speech
and language
• Provides therapy
• Act as consultant
to others
• Monitor progress
Mental Retardation
IDEA
• “Significantly sub-average intellectual
functioning existing with deficits in
adaptive behavior and manifested during
the developmental period (before 18”…
Mental Functioning
• Mild
IQ 50 – 70 or 75
• Moderate
IQ 35 – 49
• Severe
IQ 20 – 34
• Profound
IQ <20
Adaptive Behavior
• Skills learned by
people in order to
function in everyday
life
Traumatic Brain Injury
(TBI)
TBI – IDEA Definition
• “Acquired injury to the brain
caused by an external force that
adversely affects a child’s
educational performance and
results in partial functional
disability, psychosocial impairment
or both….”
TBI can be due to…..
• Closed Injury
• Open Injury
Areas Typically Affected
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Cognition
Language
Memory
Attention
Reasoning
Abstract Thinking
Judgment
Information Processing
Speech
Possible Physical Changes
• Nothing to serious
• 20% - Seizures; often subside
• Spasticity or paralysis
• Coordination problems
• Physical weakness
• Fatigue
• Some strength resumes as brain heals
Physical Changes continued
• Headaches
• Visual/hearing
issues
• Changes in
senses
Possible Cognitive Changes
• Comprehension
• Problem solving
• Concentration
• Long and short term memory
• Information processing
• Poor judgment
Possible Linguistic Changes
• Receptive language
• Written language
• Aphasia (inability to use language
appropriately)
• Word finding issues
• Most speech and expression skills are
regained
Possible Social, Behavioral, and
Personality Changes
• Temper outbursts
• Euphoria
• Restlessness
• Anxiety
• Irritability
• 15-25% struggle with depression
• Poor self-monitoring skills
Very Low Incidence Disabilities
•Multiple-Severe disabilities
•Deaf blindness
Multiple - Severe
• Often cognitive, sensory, and
physical disabilities
• Focus on functional skills
• Require supports throughout life,
usually
• Group homes
• Living longer
Deaf blindness
• Often some residual hearing or vision
• Need considerable supports
• Often have additional disabilities
• Less frequently in general education
• Communication and functional skills
Physical or Orthopedic
Impairments
•Amputation
•Cerebral Palsy
•Juvenile
Arthritis
•Muscular Dystrophy
•Spina Bifida
•Spinal Chord Injury
Orthopedic Impairments (IDEA)
• Also called physical impairments or
physical disabilities
• IDEA definition emphasizes causes
– Congenital (born)
– Disease (TB)
– Other causes (CP, amputations, burns)
Physical Impairments
• Neuromotor Impairments (cause is CNSbrain and spinal cord)
• Muscular/Skeletal conditions (cause not
neurological)
Neuromotor Impairments
• CP – Cerebral Palsy
• MS – Multiple Sclerosis
• MD – Muscular Dystrophy
• Seizure disorders – (i.e., epilepsy)
• Spinal cord disorders – (i.e., spina bifida)
Visual Impairments
Definitions of Visual
Impairments
• Visual Impairments
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- vision cannot be primary learning
channel
Partially Sighted
-some useful vision – person may see
colors
and figures with blurring
-vision between 20/70 and 20/200
Legal definition: any of the following
-only reads first E with both eyes
-20/200 vision with glasses
-tunnel vision (less than 20 degrees)
Definitions Continued
• IDEA-an impairment in vision that even
with corrections, adversely affects
educational performance.
– Functionally blind-uses Braille but has
vision for environmental tasks.
– Low vision-can read with magnification or
environmental modification
– Totally blind-must use tactual and auditory
learning, no meaningful input through
vision.
Definitions Continued
• IDEA-an impairment in vision that even
with corrections, adversely affects
educational performance.
– Functionally blind-uses Braille but has
vision for environmental tasks.
– Low vision-can read with magnification or
environmental modification
– Totally blind-must use tactual and auditory
learning, no meaningful input through
vision.
• Insistence on sameness;
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resistance to change
Difficulty expressing
needs; uses gestures or
points instead of words
Repeats words in phrases
in place of normal
language
Laughs, cry, shows
distress for reasons not
apparent to others
Prefers to be alone,
withdrawn
Autism (characteristics) con’t
• Unresponsive to normal teaching methods
• Sustained odd play
• Spins objects/ repetitive actions
• Inappropriate attachments to objects
• Difficulty relating with others and
situations
• May not want to cuddle or be cuddled
• Tantrums
• Resists learning
• Resists change in routine
• Apparent over-sensitivity or undersensitivity to pain
• No real fears of danger
Autism---more traits
• Noticeable physical over-activity or
extreme under-activity
• Uneven gross/ fine motor skills
• Not responsive to verbal cues; acts as if
deaf although tests in normal range
• Little or no eye contact
Emotional/Behavioral Disorders
• Difficulty with interpersonal relationships
• Inappropriate behavior under normal
circumstances
• General unhappy mood
• Physical symptoms associated with fears
• Inability to learn not due to intellectual,
health, or sensory factors
Definition of other health
impairments
• Having limited strength, vitality, or
alertness including a heightened alertness
to environmental stimuli that result in
limited alertness with respect to the
educational environment
• May be chronic (develops slowly and has
long lasting symptoms) or acute
(develops quickly and has symptoms that
are intense but do not last long)
Examples
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Asthma
AD/HD
Diabetes
Leukemia
Sickle Cell Anemia
Others
– For IDEA the condition must adversely affect
a child’s educational performance or it falls
under the 504 plan.