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Presentation Outline
• Intellectual Disabilities
Definition
Limitations
Causes
Classifications
Prevalence
Cognitive Development
Educational Screening
Teaching Strategies
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
FAS vs. FASD
Characteristics
Prevalence
Classroom Impacts
Teaching Strategies
• Summary
The Least You Need to Know
Intellectual Disabilities
(aka. Mental Retardation, Developmental Disabilities, Cognitive
Disabilities)
Definition
Mental retardation is not something you have, like blue eyes, or a
bad heart. Nor is it something you are, like short, or thin.
It is not a medical disorder, nor a mental disorder.
Mental retardation is a particular state of functioning that begins in
childhood (originating before the age of 18) and is characterized
by limitations in:
1. Intelligence
2. Adaptive skills
Children who are intellectually disabled pass through the same
cognitive developmental stages in the same order and manner as
non-disabled children.
They do so, however, more slowly and attain lower levels of
achievement. This results in impaired or incomplete mental
development.
Limitations (part 1)
Intelligence
IQ = 70-75 or below
Since the standard error of measurement for most IQ tests is
approximately 5, the ceiling may go up to 75.
(con’t) …
How Is Intelligence Measured in
Children?
WISC - III
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (ages 6-16yrs/11 months)
What Does It Do?
• Designed to measure human intelligence as reflected in both verbal
and non-verbal (performance) abilities
Description
• 13 subtests
Verbal IQ: information, digit span, vocabulary, arithmetic, comprehension, and
similarities
Performance IQ: picture completion, picture arrangement, block design, object
assembly, coding, mazes, and symbol search
• Takes approximately 50 – 75 minutes to complete
(con’t) …
How Is Intelligence Measured in
Children?
Results
• Verbal IQ
• Performance IQ
• Full Scale IQ
Based on scores from 13 individual subtests
Based on scores from all subtests. Reflects
both verbal and performance IQ
“Average” IQ Score
100
Tests are standardized in such a way that a score of 100 is
considered average and serves as a benchmark for higher and
lower scores.
Limitations (part 2)
Adaptive Skills
Conceptual, social, and practical skills that people have
learned so they can function in their everyday lives.
Conceptual Skills
- Receptive and expressive language
- Reading and writing
- Money concepts
- Self-directions
Social Skills
- Interpersonal
-
Responsibility
Self-esteem
Gullibility
Naiveté
Follows rules
Obeys laws Avoids victimization
Practical Skills
- Personal activities of daily living such
as eating, dressing, mobility and
toileting.
- Instrumental activities of daily living
such as preparing meals, taking
medication, using the telephone,
managing money, using transportation
and doing housekeeping activities.
- Occupational skills
- Maintaining a safe environment
How Are Adaptive Skills
Measured in Children?
Scales
• Adaptive behaviour scales are used to measure adaptive skills
in children.
• Many scales are in common use. There is no single,
quantifiable, and reliable assessment procedure that exists.
Almost all of the scales designed to measure adaptive
behaviour have been criticized.
• They generally consist of lists or inventories of adaptive skills
and other behaviours.
• The scales are completed by someone close to the child – a
parent, teacher, or primary caregiver.
Causes of Intellectual Disabilities
The causes of mental retardation can be divided into biomedical, social,
behavioral, and educational risk factors.
• Biomedical factors: biologic processes, such as genetic disorders or
nutrition (infections in pregnancy – syphilis, rubella, herpes, AIDS).
• Social factors: social and family interaction, such as child stimulation and
adult responsiveness.
• Behavioral factors: harmful behaviors, such as maternal substance abuse
(brain damage).
• Educational factors: the availability of family and educational supports
that promote mental development and increases in adaptive skills.
Source: AAIDD (http://www.aaidd.org/Policies/faq_mental_retardation.shtml)
Classifications of
Intellectual Disabilities
In the past… (based on IQ range):
1. Mild (55-70)
2. Moderate (40-54)
3. Severe (25-39)
4. Profound (below 25)
NOW… (primarily associated with level of adaptive functioning):
1. Mild
2. Severe
Prevalence
Mild
Approximately 2 out of every 100 people (2%) of
the general population has mild developmental
disabilities
Severe
Approximately 1 out of every 1000 people (0.1%)
of the general population has severe developmental
disabilities
Of Note:
More than 75% of the mentally disabled
population are mildly retarded.
Cognitive Development
… implies orderly changes that occur in the way children
understand and cope with their world.
Areas of impact include:
- Learning & Memory
- Academic Achievement
- Communication Development
- Social & Emotional Development
- Behavioural Development
Cognitive Development
Learning & Memory
Students with intellectual disabilities:
• Have particular trouble with memory
Short term specifically – possibly stemming from an inefficient use of
memory strategies, such as rehearsal, subvocalization, and mnemonics
• Do not understand why they are memorizing certain information,
in what context the information is meaningful, or how to
internalize the structure provided by the teacher
• Find it very hard to select learning tasks and attend to all of their
relevant dimensions
• Have difficulty paying attention and keeping on task
Are less attentive, spend less time on academic tasks, and more time out
of their seats than non-disabled children
• Show difficulties in concept development, especially at abstract
levels (i.e. above, always, other, and different)
Cognitive Development
Academic Achievement
Students with intellectual disabilities:
• Are slower in developing motor and social skills
• Tend to underachieve in academic areas
Mildly retarded students achieve about two-thirds of what other children
will accomplish in the academic year.
High School
Junior High
Elementary
Preschool
Winzer, 1999
• Will suffer in the subject areas of reading and language arts. Math
and arithmetic are not easy for students with mild disabilities.
Cognitive Development
Communication Development
Students with intellectual disabilities:
• Acquire language more slowly
Typically, their language levels remain below those of non-disabled
children and are often below their general mental age.
• Demonstrate delays in sentence length, sentence complexity, and
speech sound discrimination
• Find it very hard to select learning tasks and attend to all of their
relevant dimensions
• Language problems are not associated to the etiology (cause) of
the retardation, but to its severity
• May be delayed in talking, but mutism is rare (for mild intellectual
disabilities)
Mutism is, however, common among individuals who are severely
retarded, as are primitive levels of speech such as babbling and jabbering.
Cognitive Development
Social & Emotional Development
Students with intellectual disabilities:
• Initiate far fewer social exchanges and tend to engage in shorter
sequences of reciprocal interaction
• Do not seem to experience enhanced social competence by merely
being physically present in the classroom
• Are generally not well accepted by their non-disabled peers and
often have trouble making friends
• Generally have problems with interpersonal relationships, social
concepts, emotional instability, and communication
Cognitive Development
Behavioural Development
Students with intellectual disabilities:
• Have a higher rate of behavioural disorders (than their fellow nondisabled students)
• Have difficulties learning needed skills for non-aggressive problem
solving, likely resulting in increased frustration and stress
• May demonstrate maladaptive behaviour, which includes both
inappropriate behaviours and self-injurious behaviours. It is
found across the spectrum of the population of intellectual
disabilities but is more common in persons who are severely
retarded (and the frequency is extremely variable).
Some examples include aggression toward other people and objects,
tantrums, meaningless repetitive movements, rocking, hand-waving,
and hand-mouthing (finger and hand sucking).
Educational Screening
Mild Intellectual Disabilities
• Many cases are not suspected until children enter school
• Teachers are often the first to recognize that these children have
problems and are at the forefront in identifying their needs and
referring them for further assessment
IQ and adaptive behaviour testing
Severe Intellectual Disabilities
• Screening may not take place simply because many of these
children will have overt and obvious problems that were
diagnosed well before school entrance
• Clear-cut organic (identifiable) or psychological signs make it
possible to identify them in infancy
General Teaching Strategies
• Help other students understand that equity does not mean sameness
• Teach to students’ levels of intellectual functioning
Curriculum should focus on functional skills that will help the student be successful in
self-care, vocational (employment), domestic, community, and leisure domains
if/when possible.
• Provide concrete examples
Provide clear and simple directions. Reiterate instructions frequently.
• Allow the student to bring a drink to class
This helps alleviate dry mouth or tiredness that may be caused by medications.
• Provide opportunities for frequent practice
Break larger tasks into smaller ones. Repeat each step several times. Allow students
to overlearn a concept to facilitate retention.
• Be sensitive to students’ self-esteem
Avoid comparisons with other students. Encourage acceptance and tolerance
from other students.
(con’t) …
General Teaching Strategies
• Set positive expectations for students’ learning
Set goals that maximize learning. Remember that students with developmental
disabilities can achieve academically. Include parents when making programming
decisions.
• Give students preferential seating
Allow the student to choose his/her own seat. Being able to sit near the front or by
the door my help them to feel less distracted by other students, and things going on
in
the classroom.
•Tape Recorder/Notetaker
the
The anxiety of attending class may interfere with effective note taking. Providing a
copy of class notes, or recording the class may help to alleviate anxiety. This frees
student to attend and participate more fully in class.
• Exit plan
Create a signal of plan with the student if they need to leave class. This may involve
having someone come and meet them or designating a safe, supervised area they can
go in the school.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
FAS vs. FASD
What’s the difference?
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
(FASD)
is an umbrella term describing the
range of effects that can occur in an
individual whose mother drank
alcohol during pregnancy.
FASD includes conditions such as:
• Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
• Partial fetal alcohol syndrome (PFAS)
• Alcohol-related neurodevelopmental
disorder (ARND)
• Alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD)
Image: National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
http://www.nofas.org/MediaFiles/PDFs/factsheets/everyone.pdf
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)
100% Preventable
FAS is a set of physical and mental birth defects that result when a
mother drinks alcohol during her pregnancy.
Characterized by:
brain damage
facial deformities
growth deficits
heart, liver, and kidney
defects
vision and hearing
problems
difficulties with learning,
attention, memory,
and problem solving
Brain Damage
6 Week Old Baby
“Normal” brain
“FAS” brain
Image: St. Peter’s Addiction Recovery Center
http://www.stpetershealthcare.org/images/fasbrain.jpg
Facial Deformities
Image 1
Image 2
Image 1: U.S. National Library of Medicine
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/images/ency/fullsize/21723.jpg
Image 2: U.S. National Library of Medicine
http://www.uic.edu/com/eye/LearningAboutVision/EyeFacts/Images/fetal_alcohol_syndrome.jp
g
Prevalence of FASD
Image: National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
http://www.nofas.org/MediaFiles/PDFs/factsheets/everyone.pdf
Students with FAS/FASD
What Teachers Need to Know:
- FAS/FASD students have some degree of brain damage
- May have trouble expressing themselves
(be aware of body language and know the warning signs for frustration, sadness, anger and
other potentially hurtful emotions)
- Problematic concepts include decision-making, time, impulsiveness and
distinguishing between public and private behaviours
- Memory tasks are difficult
- Math skills are difficult
- Be prepared for inconsistent performance, frustration with transitions and
the need for individual attention
- Many children experience sensory integration problems
(crowds, holding hands, hugs, certain textiles and tags in clothing or seams in socks may induce
sensitivity)
FAS/FASD: Classroom Impacts
Common areas of concern in the classroom:
- Distractibility
- Easily Frustrated
- Poor fine and gross motor
skills
- Poor attention
- Lack of organizational skills
- Problems with concrete
thinking
- Poor peer relations
Teaching Strategies
• Place the student near the front of the room for the entire
year to help him/her focus
• Allow the student to have short breaks when necessary
• Have them perform one task at a time
To ensure understanding, have them repeat instructions. For
longer projects, give section deadlines and check on progress.
• Provide a copy of either your or another student’s notes
The student may focus more on writing than on the content of the
lesson (computer use may be a better way for them to complete
assignments).
• Try to defuse behaviour problems – punishments may not
always be the best answer
Often, a slight bump from a fellow student feels like a push to someone
with FAS/FASD. This may result in an outburst or fight.
(con’t) …
Teaching Strategies
• Using visuals, concrete examples and hands-on learning
makes school easier
If one technique is not successful, try something new.
• Encourage success and reward positive behaviour with praise
or incentives
Positive reinforcement should be immediate.
• Reduce visual and auditory distractions in the classroom
Remove hangings from the ceiling, organize bulletin boards and
bookshelves so they are uncluttered and close to the door to reduce
hallway noise.
• Keep the seating assignment consistent all year long
• Encourage simple assists like the use of a calculator, or a
manilla folder placed on the student’s desk to block out
distractions
(con’t) …
Teaching Strategies
• To verify understanding, have the student explain
instructions in his or her own words
• Provide a daily list of homework assignments with a check
box next to each assignment
• Post and enforce specific consequences for good and bad
behaviour in the classroom
Remember that the student’s misbehaviour may be an expression of
frustration or lack of understanding.
• Design worksheets with no more than 3 or 4 problems and a
lot of white space
• Allow students to use a computer to carry out activities
whenever possible
Computers provide immediate feedback and unwavering consistency.
• Give directions one step at a time
Review
The Least You Need to Know
• Mental retardation is a particular state of functioning that begins in
childhood (originating before the age of 18)
• Characterized by limitations in (1) intelligence, and (2) adaptive skills
• Children who are intellectually disabled pass through the same cognitive
developmental stages in the same order and manner as non-disabled
children.
• They do so more slowly and attain lower levels of achievement. This
results in impaired or incomplete mental development.
• Mildly retarded students achieve about two-thirds of what other children
will accomplish in an academic year.
• As their teacher, you must be inclusive, knowledgeable, flexible, patient
and caring.
Questions?
Thanks for Listening
presenter
Natalie Green