A
Changing
Society
EDUC 2301: Introduction to Special Populations
Learning from Stories of People with Disabilities
Chapter 12
LEARNING FROM PERSONS’ WITH
DISABILITIES STORIES
Every summer I went to summer school, and during the school
year I was in every little special group. I was in the speech group,
the corrective posture group, the purple reading group, the green
reading group. In third grade, the only word I could read was “the.”
I used to keep track of where the class was reading by following
from one “the” to the next…By the time I was 15 or 16, I could get
by in class with reading. But I could never spell. I was a workshop
major in high school, and my typical report card was two C’s, three
D’s, and an F. I just got used to it.
Paul Orfalea, founder and chairperson of Kinkos, Inc.
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CULTURAL FACTOR 1: HISTORICAL AND
CURRENT TREATMENT IN THE UNITED STATES
Throughout history, persons with disabilities
have been ignored, exiled, exploited, tortured,
and even destroyed. Nomadic societies saw
persons with disabilities as problems—actual
barriers to the group’s productivity because
people with disabilities were viewed as being
unable to contribute to their communities.
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Current Conditions
• The 2000 Census identified more than 33 million adult
persons with disabilities living in the United States. 18.5
million of these individuals reported being employed. Both
persons with disabilities who were working and those not
working stated a need for similar types of accommodations.
• Even with advances in medicine, education, and laws
attempting to remove barriers that exclude individuals with
disabilities, these individuals continue to encounter
discrimination ranging from outright intentional exclusion
and access to substandard services, programs, activities,
benefits, jobs, or other opportunities.
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CULTURAL FACTOR 2: INITIAL TERMS OF
INCORPORATION INTO U.S. SOCIETY
• Prior to 1975 there was little if any public or governmental
attention that concerned the education of students with disabilities.
These students were regularly excluded in public education.
• Passage of PL 93-112, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act in
1973 provided a link between disability and antidiscrimination
laws.
• However, overt and subtle forms of discrimination continue to exist
in schooling, employment, hiring, access, and political
representation.
• Universal Design began largely as physical accommodation
practices that revolutionized the way people thought about access
issues to create a more inclusive world
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CULTURAL FACTORS 3 & 4: SHARED VALUES,
VIEW OF SPIRITUALITY AND HUMANS' RELATION
TO NATURE
Print media may be one of the clearest
indications that a disability culture exists.
Hundreds of books have been written that
feature disability culture and political
newsletters. Organizations that promote the
independence for persons with disabilities have
sprung up in huge numbers, giving form to
shared values and experiences that constitute
culture for members of this group.
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CULTURAL FACTOR 5: ACCULTURATION AND
EXPERIENCE WITH EXCLUSION AND ALIENATION
• Inclusion for persons with disabilities in schooling
involves integrating students with disabilities in regular
classrooms whenever possible with the supports
necessary for them to succeed.
• This sometimes controversial policy differs from
mainstreaming which involves the placement of
students with identified disabilities in some “regular
education” classes when they have demonstrated that
they can function academically within those classes
without additional help or resources.
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CULTURAL FACTOR 6: LANGUAGE
DIFFERENCES, STRENGTHS, AND CHALLENGES
• Many of the terms employed to describe persons with disabilities
serve to exclude and unfairly characterize them. Words like retard,
spaz, and crippled are characterizations of persons with disabilities
that are widely used.
• In fact, it is still considered acceptable in dominant-culture comedy to
mock persons with mental retardation and make fun of physical and
psychological disabilities.
• In addition, some forms of body language that are equally
disrespectful include touching someone’s assistive device without
permission; speaking loudly to a person with visual impairment; and
communicating with a caretaker who accompanies a person with a
disability rather than communicating with the person with whom the
interaction is directed.
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POTENTIAL BARRIERS IN LEARNING–TEACHING
RELATIONSHIPS WITH DOMINANT-CULTURE TEACHERS
AND SCHOOLS
• Initial attempts to include students with disabilities were, in
many ways, ineffective and served to squelch students
progress toward equal rights by contributing to the stigma
and exclusion associated with self-contained special
education, lowered expectations for and watered-down
instruction, and in presenting the appearance that the needs
of students with disabilities were being adequately and
equitably met.
• Persons with disabilities may find themselves treated like
children or treated with disdain; assumed to be incompetent
or totally dependent; pitied or not taken seriously.
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PL 94-142
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act,
mandated a free and appropriate education for all children, including
the right to the following:
Learning in the least restrictive environment (LRE)
Learning with the aid of an individualized education program (IEP)
designed to meet the student’s unique needs
A plan to screen and identify students with disabilities
Full-service schooling at no cost to their families
Due process
A nondiscriminatory evaluation
Confidentiality
Services performed by personnel who receive ongoing training
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Types of Disabilities
Intellectual Functions Learning Disabilities
Physical Disabilities
Social/emotional Disabilities
Mental Retardation / Intellectual Disability
• Characterized by significantly impaired
cognitive functioning and deficits in two or
more adaptive behaviors (living skills,
communication skills, social skills)
• Historically been defined as an
Intelligence Quotient score under 70
• Often associated with Down Syndrome
(Trisomy 21) or Klinefelter’s Syndrome
Developmental Delay
• Usually a consequence of an illness or
trauma in early childhood, but not always.
• Cognitive development is slowed beyond
what is considered typical for a specific
age or developmental milestone.
• Often require remediation or delayed
instruction – not able to keep academic
pace with similar-aged peers.
• May be mild or severe.
Down Syndrome
• Chromosomal Disorder
• Incidence – 1 in 700-800
• Characteristics
– Fold of skin over eye
– Mental Retardation
Learning
Disabilities
Dyslexia
Dyscalculia
(reading)
(mathematics)
Dyslexia
• A learning disability that impairs a
person's fluency or accuracy in being able
to read, speak, and spell.
• Symptoms can include:
– delays in speech
– slow learning of new words
– difficulty in rhyming words
– low letter knowledge
– letter reversal or mirror writing (for example,
“d” instead of “b”).
Instructional Techniques for Students with
Learning Disabilities
•
•
•
•
Control task difficulty
Teach in small interactive groups
Use graphic organizers and visuals
Provide modeling and “think aloud”
strategies
• Use both direct instruction and cognitive
strategy instruction
• Teach self-regulation skills
• Provide opportunities for extended
practice with feedback
Physical
Disabilities
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Visual Impairment
• The condition of lacking visual perception
due to physiological or neurological
factors.
• Causes
• Conditions and varying degrees
• Treatments
• Often use mobility aids (cane, dogs, etc),
reading magnification aids, computer
aids, and some behavioral techniques.
Hearing Impairment
• What is it?
• Deaf Culture prefers the terms deaf and
hard-of-hearing.
• Causes
• Treatments
• Prevention
• Often use American Sign
Language for communication
Blindness & Deafness
• This combination of disabilities causes
additional difficulties, since both senses
are non- or low-functioning.
• Many blind/deaf students are taught in
special state schools with specially
trained teachers.
• Tactile learning techniques are heavily
utilized.
Orthopedic & Motor Disabilities
• Includes cerebral palsy, muscular
dystrophy, ALS, spina bifida, severe
trauma, missing limbs, etc.
• Classroom furniture arrangement can be
an issue – is your room wheelchair
accessible?
• Need for alternative to activities that
require students to move around the
room
Speech Disorders
• Includes stuttering, muteness, speech
sound disorders, voice disorders/
impairments, dysphagia, receptive and
expressive
• How are students able to communicate
with you besides speech? Is speech
required to master content?
• Treatment usually involves the services of
a speech pathologist in or out of the
classroom.
• Stuttering
Creating accepting classroom community
for students with speech disorders
• Create atmosphere of comfort avoiding
time pressures and tension
• Listen in calm manner, patiently allowing
time for students to finish their thoughts
• Do not criticize or point out speech errors
• Do not allow for ridicule of students
• Use flexible grouping so students have
opportunities to talk in small groups
• Develop cueing systems that allow
students to let you know when they are
comfortable responding.
Emotional &
Behavioral
Disabilities
Autism
• A disorder of neural development
characterized by impaired social
interaction and communication, and by
restricted and repetitive behavior.
• Asperger syndrome is a type of autism
that is characterized by cognitive and
language delays.
• Autistic students are usually not
mainstreamed, but some very minor
cases might be, with a resource aide.
Attention Deficit Disorder
• Actual name is ADHD predominantly
inattentive (names changed in 1994).
• Characterized primarily by inattention,
easy distractibility, disorganization,
procrastination, forgetfulness, and lethargy
• Often treated with medication, changes in
diet, and with specific behavioral
strategies such as creating routines,
getting organized, avoiding distractions,
limiting choices, using goals and rewards,
ignoring behaviors, and physical exercise.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
• A neurobehavioral developmental
disorder primarily characterized by "the
co-existence of attentional problems and
hyperactivity, with each behavior
occurring infrequently alone“.
• Similar treatments to ADD are used, but
medication is used more often to control
ADHD than ADD.
• ADHD students are not responsible for
their hyperactive behavior and should not
be punished for it, but redirected.
Educational Interventions
• Listening – visual displays, key word
note-taking system to jog memory
• Distractability – minimize visual
distractions in class
• Attention Span – work in short time units
• Impulsivity – checklists for what student
needs to do, reward system tied to
completion
• Short-Term Memory – frequent review in
flashcard style
Oppositional Defiance Disorder
• An ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile
and defiant behavior toward authority
figures which goes beyond the bounds of
normal childhood behavior.
• ODD is treated with behavioral therapy.
• Students with extreme ODD are usually
placed in behavioral units, but minor
cases are often mainstreamed.
• Behavior contracts and clear boundaries
work well with students with ODD.
Serious Emotional Disturbance
• Those who are from birth to age of majority who
have had a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or
emotional disorder of sufficient duration to meet
diagnostic criteria.
• It must be determined that the child's condition
results in functional impairment, substantially
interfering with one or more major life activities, or
the abilities to function effectively in social,
familial, and educational contexts
• Childhood Depression and Childhood Anxiety
can be serious emotional disturbances
Create Appropriate Emotional
Environment
• Respond to students’ feelings and
intentions rather than overt behavior
• Listen before responding, giving student
opportunity to explain
• Develop a positive relationship with
student about one topic
• Establish rules and consequences
• Consider changes you can make –
emotionally safe environment
• Catch the student being good
Childhood Depression
• Origins
• Symptoms
• Treatments
– Therapies
– Medications
Childhood Anxiety
•
•
•
•
•
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Phobias
Panic Disorder
Separation Anxiety Disorder
Obsessive-compulsive Disorder
Temporary Emotional Conditions
• Severe depression or emotional response to
temporary or situational contexts:
–
–
–
–
Death of a family member or friend
Unplanned move or homelessness
Extreme poverty
Parents’ divorce
• Temporarily are just as debilitating as other
described emotional or behavioral conditions
• Patience and understanding from teachers
can help ease the emotional strain of
students.
Giftedness
• How students are identified
– Outstanding abilities
– High performance in specific areas
– Creativity
• Programs developed to serve gifted
students
For Reflection and Discussion
1. In what ways does inclusion advance
rights for students with disabilities?
2. What are the principles of Universal
Design and how do they enhance
accessibility for all individuals?
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