♿ 🏫 Intellectual and Physical/Health Disabilities ♿ 🏫
By: Allie Friedman
Description of disabilities:
Intellectual disabilities:
Learning is a lot harder for students with intellectual disabilities than it is for typical learners
Problems with general mental abilities that affect intellectual and adaptive functioning.
*intellectual functioning: learning, judgment, and problem solving skills
*adaptive functioning: activity throughout someone's daily life such as independently living, and communication skills
Extremely below average … determined by clinical judgment or IQ tests
How adaptive behavior is. ( Conceptual, social, and practical behaviors are all factors of adaptive behavior)
Occurs before the age of 18
A significant sub-average intellectual functioning exists simultaneously with deficits in adaptive behavior
Three defining characteristics of intellectual disabilities are cognition, adaptive behavior , and needing support to be able to sustain independence.
Students with intellectual disabilities might require instructional accommodations…for some students the academic content might need more changes to the original curriculum even such as reduction or alteration of assignments.
Physical/Health Disabilities:
Students with physical disabilities have problems with the functioning or structure of their bodies.
The impairments are caused by congenital anomaly, disease, and other causes such as cerebral palsy and amputations.
There are neuromotor impairments involved with physical disabilities that involve muscles, nerves, and motor functions. This includes seizures, cerebral palsy, polio, spinal cord disorders, muscular dystrophy, and multiple sclerosis.
There are also Muscle/ Skeletal conditions that affect bones or muscles that result in limited functioning such as juvenile arthritis, limb deficiencies, and skeletal disorders.
Surgeries and shunts are effective for kids with physical disabilities.
Wheelchairs, prosthetic devices, and computers are all good assistive devices.
Students with healthcare disabilities have limited strength, chronic or acute health problems, and affected educational performance.
Healthcare disabilities include chronic illnesses ( asthma , childhood cancer, tuberculosis, cystic fibrosis, congenital heart defects, blood disorders , and diabetes)... also include infectious diseases such as HIV and Aids, Hepatitis B, and STORCH)
Conditions co-exist
Not all conditions require special educational services but a lot do.
Strategies that can be implemented to support students with Intellectual disabilities in the classroom:
Supports for people with ID are offered by four levels of intensity
*Intermittent - are provided as needed ; usually during life span transitions
*Limited -time limited supports such as transitional supports or employment training
*Extensive - regular involvement in some environments ; isn’t time limited
*Pervasive - daily involvement ; long term support
Data Based Practices that help with self determination skills ( helps them self-advocate, make choices, set goals , problem solve, and judge their own performance. )
Technology ( Ebuddies email system that lets students who have intellectual disabilities connect with each other across the nation… this gives them motivation to use computers along with other systems of communication)
Explicit instruction on how to use computers along with other computer systems and just really detailed interaction are a key component of the curriculum for students with intellectual disabilities.
Partnerships with families and communities that can help support students with ID:
- Teacher’s should create meaningful relationships with the students families-Teacher’s need to understand that the family members of the student with the disability support should extend far beyond the school day, including the years after school is completed.
-Schools need to make sure the whole family unit is included in planning meetings about the students educational program
-Therapeutic recreation specialists can help students have a better presence and participation in community events that can overall lead to less loneliness and unhappiness.
-Physical education classes can help students develop more muscle strength through exercises that are safe.
-Develop extracurricular activities and involvement ( this will require collaboration between teachers and related service providers but it’s very necessary )
Strategies that can be implemented to support students with Physical/Health disabilities in the classroom:
Teacher’s can help by:
-keeping areas of play and objects disinfected
-having students wash hands frequently
-refer students who are sick to the school nurse and parents
-using disposable gloves when cleaning an accident up
- using extremely hygienic precautions- Creating advances in assistive devices such as wheelchairs, computers, and prosthetic devices-pay close attention to any changes in health or physical status of their students -create testing accommodations to make students more comfortable (extra time, changing the setting to make it distraction-free, read the directions aloud and make them more simple, and assist the students during testing by reading each question)- realize that every student has individual needs and also create an environment for learning that is free from physical barriers that would limit movement or interactions. - create interactive activities so that students can work together.
- Families need to be supported and should be encouraged to turn to schools and teachers for help because it can be very overwhelming for parents with children who have special health care needs.
- Communication must be encouraged
- School nurses should be the community liaison, and health interpretation to school personnel.Also, physical therapists , and occupational therapists should be involved.
- There should be high tech devices like softwares for voice output, computers, and ventilators.
- Creativity and individualizing the needs for each student are mainly the key to the success of making sure these students are comfortable and on task.
Cited Sources:
Smith, Deborah Deutsch, and Naomi Chowdhuri Tyler. “Chapter 8 Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.” Introduction to Special Education, Seventh Edition ed., Pearson, 2010, pp. 1–22.
Smith, Deborah Deutsch, and Naomi Chowdhuri Tyler. “Chapter 9 Physical and Health Disabilities .” Introduction to Special Education: Making a Difference, seventh edition edPearson, 2010, pp. 1–24.
What Is an Intellectual Disability ?, Special Olympics, 29 June 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6WmGhY8Q4I&t=1s.
Performance by Alfred Daviso, Chapter 9 Health Disabilities, Alfred Daviso, 4 Mar. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wv98fVLg6o.
Understanding Developmental Disabilities. 23 Mar. 2020.
Schaepper, Mary Ann, et al. “What Is Intellectual Disability?” Psychiatry.org - What Is Intellectual Disability?, American Psychiatry Association, Aug. 2021, www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/intellectual-disability/what-is-intellectual-disability.
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