LECTURER IN SPECIAL NEEDS AND INCLUSIVE EDUCTION –MONTFORT S.N.

E COLLEGE
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TERMS AND CONCEPTS USED IN SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION

Impairment
Impairment refers to any loss or damage to a part of the body through either accident, disease, genetic
factors or other causes. This leads to the loss or weakening of that part affected.
Disability
 This refers to any loss or reduction of functional ability (resulting from an impairment) to perform an
activity in the manner or within the range generally considered normal for a human being within the
cultural context.
 It is also a limitation of opportunities that can prevent people who have impairments from taking
part in activities to an equal level with others. There may be physical or social barriers to full
participation

Handicap
A hand cap is a disadvantage or restriction of activity, which may result from a disability or from societal
attitudes towards a disability. Handicaps prevent the fulfilment of roles that are appropriate according to the
age, gender, social and cultural norms. An individual who is not given an opportunity to become
independent by society is handicapped.
A handcap can therefore be lessened if the society provides support to enable a person with a disability to
be independent.
Disorder
It is a condition resulting from an illness that causes a part of the body unable to function appropriately.
This is a medical oriented term. For example: Disorder of the digestive system or suffering from a mental
disorder.
Exceptionally
This is term refers to any individual whose physical, mental or behavioural performance deviates from the
norm positively or negatively. A person with exceptionality is not necessarily disabled. The term embraces
people with difficulties such as in hearing, behaviour, and speech.
Inclusion
Inclusion is a philosophy, which focuses on process of adjusting the home, the schools and society so that
all individuals regardless of their differences can have the opportunity to interact, play, learn, work,
experience the feeling of belonging and develop in accordance with their potentials.
Special education
This is a specially designed programme of instruction designed to meet the unique needs of learners with
special needs including those with disabilities.

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Inclusive education
This is an approach in which learners with special needs receive services and support appropriate to their
individual needs within the regular education setting.
Special Needs
These are conditions or factors that hinder an individual’s normal learning and development. They may be
temporally or life-long. The conditions that may hinder proper progress of an individual may include
disabilities, social, emotional, health or political difficulties. These conditions are also referred to as barriers
to learning and development. The barriers can be within the learners or in the environment or a
combination of both.
The term special needs is a general one for persons who need some form of support in order to carry on
with their daily life activities
Special Education Needs (SEN)
These learners have learning or educational needs which vary from one learner to another. They are more
often referred to as special educational needs.
Special Needs Education (SNE)
This is education, which provides appropriate modifications in curricular, teaching methods, educational
resources, medium of communication or the learning environment. The modifications are meant to meet the
special educational needs of individuals as described above. SNE is learner-centred, flexible and
adjustable to individual needs and abilities.
Special needs in education
This is when certain learning barriers occasioned by the learner’s handcap, disability or exceptionally
hinder learning. For example: A learner with hearing impairment may be unable to follow lessons in a
regular class because he/she cannot follow lessons in a regular class because he/she cannot follow verbal
communication.

CATEGORIES OF LEARNERS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

The main categories of learners with special needs are;
 Sensory impairments
 Cognitive differences
 Communication difficulties
 Emotional and behavioural difficulties
 Physical and multiple difficulties and
 Those living under especially difficult and circumstances

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A. Learners with sensory impairments

Sensory impairments are those with impaired sensory organs. They include the following:
 Hearing impairment
 Visual impairment
 Deafblindenss

(i) Learners with hearing impairment

These are learners who have difficulties with the sense of hearing. They hear at a level below that of a
person considered to have normal hearing. There are two main types of learners with hearing impairment.
 Hard of hearing
 Deaf

Learners who are hard of hearing

These are learners who despite the hearing loss, have enough useful hearing left (residual hearing). This
hearing ability can enable them to hear speech and acquire spoken language with or without the use of a
hearing aid. However, for them to hear speech well, the sound volume must be raised. This can be done
by:
 Speaking a bit louder than normal to them
 Placing them near the front of the class or near the speaker
 Ensuring their surrounding are quiet
 Making sure that they look at the speaker’s face
 Wearing suitable hearing aids

Learners who are deaf

Learners who are deaf are those whose hearing loss is so severe that they cannot hear and understand
speech even if the sound is made louder for them. Hearing aids may only assist them to be aware of some
environmental sounds such as, sounds made by moving vehicles and booming sounds
Functionally, those learners with slight to moderate hearing loss are referred to as “hard of hearing” while
those with severe to profound loss are referred to as “deaf”.

Hearing impairment may only have slight hearing loss while others may have severe hearing loss. There
are five major categories of hearing loss.
There are five major categories of learners with hearing impairment according to severity of hearing loss.
These are those with:
 Slight hearing loss
 Mild hearing loss

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 Moderate hearing loss

 Severe hearing loss
 Profound hearing loss

Learners with slightly hearing loss: these learners who can follow normal conversation if there is no
noise in the room but will need to sit at the front and face the speaker. They may also have difficulty
hearing faint or distant speech. They will not usually have difficulties in regular school situations.
Learners with mild hearing loss: These learners may have difficulties hearing in all situations and:
 Can only follow loud conversations
 Are deficient in language and comprehension
 Are likely to have defective speech
 Have limited vocabulary
 Need the use of a hearing aid and in some cases, speech training.

Learners with severe hearing loss: These learners may hear loud voices about 30cm from the ear. They
may be able to identify environmental sounds and discriminate vowels but not all consonants. They need
individual hearing aids and instruction to be in Total Communication.
Learners with profound hearing loss: These learners may hear these learners may hear some loud
sounds but are aware of vibrations more than tonal pattern. The learners rely on vision rather than hearing
as the primary avenue of communication. They need hearing aids and sign language.
Classification according to age at onset
There are two types of hearing impairments as classified according to age at onset. These are
Pre-lingual deafness: This refers to deafness present at birth or occurring before the learners develop
speech or language.
Post-lingual deafness: This refers deafness, which occur after the learners, have developed speech or
language, mainly after the age of three years

Classification according to the part of the ear affected.

Any damage or infection to any part of the ear cause hearing loss. There are three main types of hearing
loss according to the part of the ear affected.
These are:
 Conducive hearing loss
 Sensori-neural hearing loss
 Mixed hearing loss

Conductive hearing loss

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This is where the damage or infections is either in the outer or middle parts of the ear. This result in mild
and moderate hearing loss. Those with this type of hearing loss have residual hearing left and can hear
and understand spoken language with the help of suitable hearing aids.
Sensori-neural hearing loss
This is when the damage is in the inner ear. This result in severe and profound hearing loss with little
residual hearing left. Children with this type of hearing impairment usually do not acquire and use spoken
language. They can however use hearing aids to be aware of environment sounds.
Mixed hearing loss
This refers to a combination of conducive and sensori-neural losses. This means both the middle ear and
inner ear affected at the same time.
Generally conductive hearing impairments is less severe in its effects than the sensori-neural. It is
associated with a range of speech, language, and learning difficulties in childhood.

Characteristics of learners with hearing impairment

Learners who are deaf:
 Don’t acquire spoken language normally
 Have speech flow difficulties, (speech lacks the normal rhythm, stress and intonation)
 Have too high or too low pitched voices since they cannot hear themselves to adjust their voices.
 Have limited social relationships because of communication difficulties, which may in turn make
them to develop feelings of isolation and rejection.
 Have frequent substitution, distortions and omission of sounds of speech.
 Confuse certain consonants like/p/ and /b/, /t/ and /d/
 Slow and laboured speech
 Mainly use gestures or signs to make themselves understood

Learners who are hard of hearing:

 Ask for repetition of what has been said
 May have frequent ear infections
 Have difficulties in group discussion especially in noisy surroundings
 Have difficulties in hearing and high frequency speech sounds such as /s/, /sh/, /t/ , /k/, /ch/
 Misunderstand others since they cannot comprehend all that is said to them
 Are unable to monitor their voices and hence speak loudly or softly
 Have difficulties in understanding directions
 Avoid participation in oral activities
 Cup the ears in the direction of sounds
 Have frequent loss, substitute and omissions of consonant sounds

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 Stare at speaker’s ‘face’ aiming to lip read what is said

 Appear confused or not responding to instructions
 Have poor vocabulary in relation to age and social background
 May withdraw from the rest of the learners

Educational implications faced by learners with hearing impairment

The educational implications that may be faced by learners with hearing impairments are:
 Inability to hear well in a classroom with noisy surrounding
 Poor verbal communication skills between the child and the teacher and peers
 Lack of acceptance and social isolation because of lack of communication
 Ineffective communication between the child and family especially the parents and siblings. This
may limit the child’s opportunities to acquire and skills usually acquired by children through
interaction with parents, siblings and community.
 Inability to follow school routine since he/she may not hear the bell

Intervention strategies, Helping learners with hearing impairment

Children who are hard of hearing can be helped in the following ways:
 Advising on suitable school placement
 Advising parents to seek medical help
 Utilising peers to assist the learner with class routine such as sharing notes.
 Providing the child with all details of the lesson written form. The child’s academic performance can
be improved with proper classroom management and use of technical and teaching aids. Use of
visual aids is a must for teaching learners with hearing impairment.
 Advising the parents to have the learners fitted with a suitable and effective hearing aid (if advised
by a specialist)
 Giving a child preferential seating of in the classroom. This allowing him/her to sit near the teacher
and where there is a good source of light.
 Facing the child when talking to him/her. Talk slowly and clearly in a good tone without mouthing
words.
 Counselling the community to accept the child.
 Referring the learner to the health centres for medical check ups and treatment
 Encouraging the learner to observe general basic ear hygiene.

Learners who are deaf

Majority of learners who are deaf may need special needs education where Total Communication
philosophy is the main communication strategy. In addition to communication you can also assist a child
who is deaf as follows:
 Advising on school placement

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 Encouraging the child to observe general ear hygiene

 Encouraging the family and the community to learn the communication techniques used by the
child effective communication

Though learners who are hard of hearing may be educated in an inclusive setting they will find it much
more difficult than learners who have normal hearing to learn vocabulary, grammar, word order, idiomatic
expression, and other aspects of verbal communication.
Incidence and prevalence of learners with hearing impairments
Incidence in this case refers to the number of new cases of learners with special needs and disabilities
identified in a given period of time (usually a year). According to the World Health Organisation,
approximately 10% of the population have disabilities. Furthermore, it is estimated that at least 5% of these
learners in regular schools have some special educational needs. Of these about 1 in every 1,000 learners
has hearing impairments.
Prevalence in this case refers to the total number of existing cases (new and old) of leaner’s with special
needs and disabilities in the population at a given time. Prevalence is usually described as the “number per
thousand”.

(ii) Learners with visual impairment

These are learners with difficulties in the structure and or function of the eyes. Visual difficulties range from
slight visual impairment to total blindness.
Learners with visual impairments can be classified into two main groups: These are learners
 Who are blind
 With low vision

Learners who are blind

These are learners who have totally lost their sense of vision and are unable to tell the difference between
darkness and light.
Learners with low vision
The World Health Organisation defines low vision as “having a significant visual handicap but also having
significant vision is visually impaired but may increase visual functioning through the use of option aids,
non-optical aids, environmental modifications and or low vision techniques”.
Characteristics of visual impairments
 Complain of not seeing well
 Have difficulties reading and copying from the chalkboard
 Read and write with their heads tilted to one side.
 Read books held very close to or very far from the eyes.

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 Complain about too much or too little light in the classroom.

 Regularly make quick eye movements from side to side.
 Trip over objects on the ground which you would expect them to see.
 Have difficulties in grasping objects that are directly in front of them.
 Complain of double vision.
 Have watery or reddish and painful eyes.
 Omit some letters while reading or writing.
 Use their index figure to point what they are reading.
 Have eyes that do not fixate (involuntary eye movement).
 Withdraw from the rest of the learners
 Are unable to watch something moving near the face.
 Have clumsy movements and poor balance when walking
 Have white patches in the centre of their eyes (in the iris)
 Move their heads instead of the eyes while reading
 Write un even letters (for example, very small, or big letters and sometimes not in straight lines)

Characteristics of learners who are blind?

 Poking of the eyes
 Poor posture
 Clumsy movements
 Rocking of the body back and forth
 Frowning of physical grimaces
 Making repetitive meaningless sounds
 Turning of their heads rapidly from side to side
 Clapping hands at inappropriate times

Educational implication for learners with visual impairment

Learners with visual impairment may have problems in coping with the teaching and learning. There are
many of these learners especially those with low vision in our schools. The needs of these learners can be
met in regular schools, but before we say how we can cater for them, it is important to know the difficulties
which the two groups of learners may face.
Some of the difficulties that may be faced by these learners are difficulty in:
 Reading and copying from the chalkboard and therefore may lag behind others in academic
activities
 Reading books written in ordinary print
 Finding their way within the class and school
 Identifying objects, posters and other learning materials within the class
 Learning concepts that have to be perceived through sight, such as colour and sky.

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Assisting learners with low vision

 Moving the child nearer to the chalkboard in the classroom or in a position which allow him/her to
participate well in learning activities
 Providing large print materials
 Advising parents to provide optical low-vision devices or take the child to eye specialist for advice.
 Assigning sighted learners in the class to act as guides. Make sure they don’t become too
dependent on them.
 Treating them just in the same way as their sighted peers
 Encouraging them to participate in as many school activities as possible
 Arranging the classroom in such a way that, there is enough lighting in them.

Assisting learners who are blind in a learning environment

 Orientation and mobility training
 Training in typing, Braille reading and writing
 Training on activities of daily living
 Training on listening skills
 Provision of tactile diagrams
 Training on auditory/listening skills (sound seasoning)

Incidence and prevalence of learners with visual impairment

Prevalence
It was estimated that about 2% of the total population have visual impairment.
Incidence
According to research, it is estimated that about 46% of all visual impairment cases in Malawi are due to
cataract. Cataract is a condition in which the lens inside the eyes loses transparency and turns milky,
cloudy or opaque.

(iii) Learners who are deafblind

This is a condition where a person has impairments of both vision and hearing. Some may be totally blind
while others may have useful vision. At the same time, they can be deaf or hard of hearing.
Who are learners who may have visual and hearing impairment. This makes it difficult for them to utilise the
two senses and hearing properly. Some learners who are deaf blind are totally deaf and blind, while others
have residual hearing and residual vision.
Learners with vision are able to move about in their environment, recognise familiar people, see sign
language at close distance and perhaps, read large prints. Those with residual hearing are able to

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recognise familiar sounds, understand some speech, or develop some speech for communication
purposes.
Characteristics of learners who are deaf and blind
 Look at you
 Respond to your smile
 Follow a moving object with the eyes
 Walk, eat and dress himself/herself
 Grasp objects in front of him/her or handed to him/her
 Look at pictures and read a text in books
 Turn their heads towards you when talking to them
 Turn their heads towards sounds
 Respond when you call them
 Understand what you may say to them
 Develop spoken language

Characteristics of learners who are deafblind?

 Self-stimulatory behaviour, such as, eye pocking, light gazing, rocking, banging and twisting
various parts of their bodies over and over in rhythmic patterns.
 Moving meaninglessly in the environment
 Lying on the ground, reluctant to move and explore often curled up in a prone position, (some
deafblind learners do not reach out to touch or explore objects at all).
 Playing with one object in a repetitive meaningless way, banging or flicking it in front of their eyes
over and over.
 Frustrations, behavioural difficulties and tactile defensive behaviours if placed in inappropriate
programs.

Education Intervention for Learners who are Deafblind

 Showing positive attitude-this will greatly encourage the leaner to be active and explore his/her
surroundings
 Adapting the curriculum
 Encourage the learner to use residual hearing as you talk to him/her while you play or work with
him/her. If the child does not use the hands properly, you can sit or stand behind him/her with your
hands on their hands, while you do the activity together.
 Having personal contact with the learner. This develop security and personal relationship which is
necessary for further development
 Providing them with hearing aids, (if a learner has a hearing loss)
 If they do not see well, let them be provided with eye glasses to enable them to see properly
 Training and stimulating the learner on activities to develop:

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 Communication skills
 Visual stimulation skills
 Motor and self-care skills
 Cognitive skills
 Social skills

Incidence and Prevalence of learners who are deafblind

The availability of incidence data for learners who are deafblind is mainly limited to official statistics
available for those with hearing impairment or visual impairment in many countries. However, about 15 out
of 100,000 (0.015%) of school going age children have deafblindness.

(iv) Learners with cognitive differences

Learners with cognitive differences are classified into the following categories
 Mental disabilities
 Giftedness and talentedness
 Specific learning difficulties
 Autism

Learners with mental disabilities

These learners are characterised by significant sub-average intellectual functioning, existing concurrently
with related limitation in two or more of the following applicable adaptive areas:
 Communication
 Self-care
 Home living
 Social skills
 Community use
 Self-direction
 Health and safety
 Functional academics
 Leisure time and work

Functionally, learners with mental disabilities experience serious setbacks in learning, adapting and
adjusting in various environments including home and school.
Categories of Learners with mental disabilities
Learners with mental disabilities are classified into four major categories based on the severity of their
disabilities, adaptive behaviour and educational performance. These are learners with:
 Mild mental disabilities

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 Moderate mental disabilities

 Severe mental disabilities
 Profound mental disabilities

Learners with mild mental disabilities

These are learners who deviate only to a relatively minor degree in their level of functioning from “normal
learners” of the same chronological age. While the slow rate at which these learners develop motor, social
and language skills may be noticeably different from their “normal” peers; they may be noticeably different
from their “normal” peers; they may not often suspected until they enter school.
Learners with mild mental disabilities can in many cases be educated within a regular school
system. They can learn academic skills to approximately standard six or seven but may not pass
well in the standard eight examinations.
However, learners with mild mental disabilities have potentialities for development of:
 Social adjustment to a point that they can get along independently in the community
 Occupation and vocational skills to enable them be self-supporting, partially or totally at adult life.

Learners with moderate mental disabilities

This category of learners tend to be very slow in learning. They also demonstrate developmental delays in
skills such as sitting, crawling, walking and also in language development. For example, they may not begin
to walk or talk until two or more years of age. Signs of delayed development occur very early in life, but
sometimes they are not being recognised by unsuspecting parents or significant others.
Learners with severe mental disabilities
Learners in this category show marked deficits in adaptive behaviour. In most cases, severe impairment will
be evident at birth.
Most of them have genetic disorders, severe sensory and emotional difficulties. In addition, majority have
pronounced difficulties in the areas of motor, social, speech and language skills.
With proper training, those of school going age can develop minimal communication skills and lean basic
self-help skills.

Learners with profound mental disabilities

These learners may be identified at birth or within a few weeks after birth. They may be:
 Bed ridden
 Unable to move about on their own
 Unable to survive without assistance
 In need of total care throughout their lives

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Characteristics of learners with mental disabilities

 Being slow in acquiring and developing skills such as speaking and walking
 Being unnecessarily slow in carrying out tasks
 Not able to transfer the same activities into different situations
 Not able to understand what is said or follow instructions
 Failing to acquire, understand and use language to express need
 Failing to develop social and emotional relationship
 Having retarded motor development
 Having difficulty in remembering experiences or things or things learnt
 Lacking the ability to connect a picture or object with an activity or word or name
 Having excessive purposeless movements in class, home or play field
 Having difficulty in paying attention or focusing on an activity to its completion
 Lacking rhythm of movement
 Having attention problems
 Memory and thinking difficulties

Educational implications for learners with mental disabilities

During school years, they show extreme difficulties in academic subjects and usually are unable to
progress beyond class two. They may however:
 Learn self-help skills like feeding, bathing, dressing, selecting daily clothing, preparing some
foods, washing and ironing clothes for themselves.
 Attain social adjustment in the family and the neighbourhood. For example, they may learn to
share items and ideas with others especially family members as well as cooperate in a family unit
and in the neighbourhood. They may learn the need to respect other people and property, and
have the ability to protect themselves from common dangers in the home and the neighbourhood
 Attain economic usefulness in the home, in a workshop or in the neighbourhood. For example,
they may assist in chores around the house and may do routine jobs under supervision.

Intervention strategies for learners with mental disabilities

a. Children with mild mental disability
Ensure that you teach skills that will enable them to be:
 Socially competent
 Personally adequate
 Academically functional

When you are teaching, arrange tasks in small sequential steps, where each step is taught and checked to
ensure that the child finds it interesting and successful. The emphasis should be on developing the child’s:

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 Self-confidence
 Language skills
 Good habits of health, safety, work and play
 Vocational skills

b. Children with moderate mental disability

These children should be supported to develop habits of activities of daily living, such as, self-care,
cleanliness, health, eating behaviour. They need to be helped in developing:
 Communication skills
 Ability to follow directions
 Social skills

c. Children with moderate disability

These children should be supported to develop habits of activities of daily living, such as, self-care,
cleanliness, health, eating behaviour. They need also to be helped in developing:
 Communication skills
 Ability to follow directions
 Social skills

d. Children with severe and profound mental disability

Home or hospital visitation programmes may be required for these children who often cannot go to school.
One may also provide the following training:
 Communication skills
 Motor skills
 Social skills

Visit a school for learners with mental disabilities and find out how the learners are taught to read, write and
activities of daily living. Discuss your findings with a colleague.

Incidence of learners with mental disabilities

It is often difficult to diagnose mental disabilities in the first years of life unless it is a severe enough to
impact significantly on the achievement of early motor, language, and social milestones. Mild forms of
mental disabilities may not be evident until the child begins school, thus the prevalence rate of this type of
disability are extremely wide ranging, depending upon the age of the subjects and the methods used to
teach. Mental disabilities may also be present as part of another condition, such as children whose primary
diagnosis is that of autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and other medical syndrome.

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(v) Learners who are gifted and talented

The term “gifted and talented” describes learners who posses demonstrated or potential abilities that give
evidence of high performance in areas such as intellectual, creativity, specific academic or leadership
ability or in the performing and visual arts, ahead of their age groups.

A learner who is gifted and talented usually does much better than learners of the same age group and
hence requires services or activities not ordinary provided for the average learners. The gifted and talented
learners may be good in one or more areas that give promise of future high-level achievement.

Classification of learners who are gifted and talented

 Gifted learners
 Talented learners
 Highly motivated learners
 Creative learners

Learners who are gifted

Such learners do very well as they show exemplary performance in their education in lower and higher
institutions of learning. Gifted learners are bright and show a high level of intelligence. They are able to deal
with facts and their relationships. They may be good in one area like language or mathematics or sciences.
On the other hand, they may also excel in all academic areas. Many of them may also show leadership
abilities.

Learners who are talented

These learners do exceptionally well in music, fine arts, mechanics, dancing, singing, athletics or sports.
These exceptional abilities are called talents. These skills may not necessarily be matched by academic
achievement, but since they are far above those of other learners in the same age group, they call for
special attention.
Learners who are highly motivated
Learners with above average intellectual abilities show a high level of motivation concern. Learners who
are highly motivated may achieve much with only just above average intelligence. In identifying gifted and
talented learners the level of motivation must be considered by teachers and parents.
Learners who are creative
Creativity is the ability to think in new ways and to produce original ideas or products. Creative learners
have unusual high level of originality and have abilities to restructure the world in unusual forms. For

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example: somebody might have come up with a certain design, another one modifies it so that, despite
using the same materials and measurements, the final design comes out very unique and more attractive.
Characteristics of giftedness and talentedness
The following are some of the possible characteristics of giftedness and talentedness:
 Leading in academic and other activities
 Learning rapidly, easily and with less repetition
 Showing a lot of creativity and always generating a variety of new ideas
 Enjoying reading books meant for older readers
 Having unusual advanced vocabulary and using terms in meaningful ways
 Displaying a great deal of curiosity about many things and constantly asking questions about
anything and everything
 Appearing to have behaviour difficulties due to their anatomy and sensitiveness in an environments
where nonconformity is not tolerated
 Evaluating facts and arguments critically
 Studying difficulty subjects because they enjoy the challenge of learning
 Having diverse, spontaneous and frequent self-directed interests
 Showing special and superior ability in manipulating materials from the environment in making
unique models
 Displaying keen sense of humour even in situations where others may not see
 Having high reasoning abilities and passing judgement about people, events and things
 Having self confidence with peers as well as adults
 Incorporating a large number of elements such as art work, good role playing, dramatising and
music
 Showing exceptional leadership abilities
 Being very articulate or verbally fluent for their age

Education Implication of learners who are gifted and talented

Due to their high intelligence, these do not fit well with their peers. They may be unable to develop positive
interpersonal relationships and become withdrawn or loners. Some teachers find them too challenging and
often misinterpret their behaviour.
Learners who are gifted and talented may also:
 Engage in some disruptive behaviour in class. This may be because the learner finds the class
work and activities meant for their age group too easy. The learner will therefore finish the
assigned task within a short time and due to boredom may engage in disrupting class activities.
 Find themselves too dominate in a group or class discussions to an extent the others will give little
or no contribution at all. This does not augur well with the other learners.

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Unless you find outlets, these learners who are gifted and talented may channel their energies and
intelligence into unfavourable social habits such as making unnecessary noise in class or even taking
drugs.

Qualities of a good teacher of children who are gifted and talented

 Recognise and accept the learner’s special abilities
 Encourage the learner to explore his fields of interests.
 Help the learner to develop or enrich his social confidence
 Avoid imposing expectations and demands that are beyond the learner’s level of ability
 Avoid having negative attitudes towards the learner, reinforce the learner positively.

Assist a learner who is gifted and talented in a classroom environment

There are several possible ways in which a learner that is gifted and talented can be educated. As a
teacher, much will depend on your creativity and classroom organisations. Each leaner should be
considered and treated as an individual. There are three main ways in which a teacher may assist a leaner
who is gifted and talented.
These are by providing the learner with:
 Ability grouping
 Enriching experiences
 Acceleration programmes
 Dual enrolment
 Grade skipping

Ability grouping
Ability grouping includes the following approaches:
 Regular classroom with cluster
 Regular classroom with pullout
 Individualised classroom
 Special class with some integrated classes
 Special class
 Special school

Enriching experiences
Enrichment is the addition of discipline or areas of learning not normally found in the regular curriculum.

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Enrichment experiences allow each learner to investigate topics of interest in depth. Some of these may be
completed during classroom time. For example, if you are teaching Geography in standard five, you can
ask the learner who is gifted and talented to make a model using the knowledge learned.

Acceleration programmes.
Acceleration is any process that leads to the learner’s more rapid movement through the regular
programme of a regular school. It may include:
 Early school entrance/admission
 Grade (class) skipping
 Planning completion, for example of three grades in two years
 Early advancement placement in college or any other arrangement that lead to the learner’s
completion of the regular programmes in less than the normal required time.

Other approaches that you may use to help a learner who is gifted and talented are:
 Analysing your instructional programme to avoid them becoming bored
 Providing special materials and or activities beyond the regular curriculum
 Designing enrichment activities which support the child in learning to relate and evaluate facts and
ideas to think originally, to work through complex problems and issues and apply understanding to
new situations.
 Giving the child more responsibilities that are challenging
 Being a good role model
 Increasing individual attention
 Promoting creativity by stimulating the child’s awareness of the environment
 Exposing the child to wide range of experiences on a personal level
 Acknowledging the child’s work or efforts

A leaner who is gifted and talented usually does much better than learners of same age group and hence
requires services or activities not ordinarily provided to the average learners. The gifted and talented
learners may be good in one or more areas that give promise of future high-level achievement.

(vi) Learners with specific learning difficulties

What are specific learning difficulties?
These refer to conditions that affect academic performance in learners. Learners with specific learning
difficulties look absolutely normal but it is quite difficult to pick them out amongst learners. They seem to
have the ability to perform learning activities, yet they do not perform as expected. They develop slowly
intellectually than other learners of the same age. This is due to their difficulty with the basic process that
are applied in understanding or using spoken language.

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Learners with specific learning difficulties may have difficulties in one or more of the following areas.
 Oral expression
 Written expression
 Reading and comprehension
 Basic reading
 Mathematical reasoning (calculation)
 Listening
 Spelling

Children with specific learning difficulties do not include those learners with learning problems caused by
other conditions like visual, hearing, intellectual and physical difficulties.

Characteristics of learners experiencing specific learning difficulties

Learners with specific learning difficulties may have one or more of the following:
 Basic reading difficulties
 Basic writing difficulties
 Spelling difficulties
 Number concepts (arithmetic calculations) difficulties
 Comprehension difficulties
 Difficulties in self expression
 Listening difficulties

Other characteristics are:

 Being distracted most of the time and continuously moving around
 Being hyperactive or hypoactive
 Frequent changing of moods one time the learner is happy, and the next time he/she could be
beating others.
 Not paying attention in class, especially for longer periods of time
 Clumsy in activities involving fine motor
 Speech and hearing difficulties that have nothing to do with hearing impairment
 Memory and thinking difficulties

You can only suspect that learners have specific learning difficulties when the difficulties have been
observed over a long period of time. For example a leaner may write 6 for 9 or b for d
Educational implications of learners with specific learning difficulties

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Difficulties associated with specific learning difficulties are easy to detect in a classroom situation. However,
in order to detect these difficulties you need to know what to look for. In the classroom, these learners may
be:
 Having letter reversal problem. They may see “d” as “b” or “e” in the reverse
 Unable to write on a straight line
 Unable to copy from a given object
 Unable to perform simple arithmetic
 Have verbal expression problem
 Having reading problems , such as repeating words, confusing similar words and letters
 Having spelling problems, such as incorrect order of letters
 Having difficulties associating the correct sound with appropriate letters

Intervention strategies for helping learners with specific difficulties

There are several strategies that you can use to assist and support learners with specific learning
difficulties. You can assist them by doing the following:
 Setting reasonable goals
 Providing clear instructions to the learners
 Making special physical arrangements for the highly destructive and hyperactive leaners
 Setting guidelines for appropriate classroom behaviour and help the learners to work towards them
 Giving learning activities that are equivalent and suitable to their abilities and interest
 Modifying the activities from the simplest to the most complex
 Using visual aids in the classroom
 Developing and implement individual programmes

Incidence of learners with specific learning difficulties

Due to variations in the assessment used to identify learners with specific learning difficulties, there are no
exact known number of cases. However, the fact is that a large number of the school-aged learners may
have these difficulties who are referred as “slow learners.” It is estimated that about 30% of school age
learners have specific learning difficulties.

(vii) Learners with autism

“Autism” is a developmental disability signifying affecting verbal and non-verbal communication, social
interaction awareness, and imaginative play (valuable interest and behaviour) generally evident before age
three that adversely affects educational performance.
How can you identify learners who are autistic?
Learners with autism may exhibit the following characteristics

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 Insistence on sameness; (resistance to change)

 Difficulty in expressing needs; use gestures or pointing instead of talking
 Repeat words or phrases in place of normal or responsive language
 Laugh, cry, or show distress for no apparent reason
 Prefer to be isolated
 Have temper tantrums
 Difficulty interacting with others
 Resist being held or cuddled
 Have little or no eye contact
 Unresponsive to normal teaching methods
 Sustained inappropriate play
 Spin or line up objects
 Inappropriate attachments to objects
 Apparent over-sensitivity or under-sensitivity to pain
 No real fears of danger
 Noticeable physical over-activity or extreme under-activity
 Uneven gross/fine motor skills
 Not responsive to verbal cues; act as if they have hearing impairment although hearing is normal
 Pronoun reversal problems
 Unusual sleep patterns
 Food selectivity tendencies

Education implication of learners with autism

Leaners with autism display problems in cognition and behaviour which have got underlining problems in
perception and understanding. They have varied abilities, intelligence and behaviour. Some do not speak;
others have limited language that often includes repeated phrases or conversations while others have
repetitive play skills which may have serious implications on education.
From the age of three, children with autism are eligible for an educational program appropriate to their
individual needs. Educational programme for students with autism focus on improving communication,
social, academic, behavioural and daily living skills. Behaviour and communication problems that interfere
with learning sometimes require the assistance of a knowledgeable professional in the autism field who
develops and helps to implement a plan which can be carried out at home and school.
Autism interferes with learning process in communication, social participation, cognition and sensory
processing

Educational intervention strategies

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Learners with autism are first and foremost, learners. They have more similarities to other learners than
differences. Although some learners with autism encounter genuine instructional challenges, they learn well
with appropriate, systematic, and individualised teaching practice.
To provide effective instructions for learners with autism, you should address the following:
 Ensure that the learners are in good health, free from pain and irritation, and in a safe, stimulation
and pleasurable setting.
 Provide structure in the environment, with clear guidelines regarding expectations for appropriate
and inappropriate behaviour.
 Provide tools, such as written or picture schedules, to ensure that the flow of activities is
understandable and predictable.
 Adapt the curriculum to suit individual’s characteristics but not on the label of autism
 Focus on developing skills that will be of use in the leaner’s current and future life in school, home,
and community.
 Careful plan transitions to new placements and new school experiences which usually require
careful planning and assistance
 Encourage parents and other family members to participate in the process of assessment,
curriculum planning, instruction, and monitoring. They often have the most useful information about
the student’s case history and learning characteristics, so effective instructions should take
advantage of this vital resource.

Prevalence of autism
Just like many other types of special needs and disabilities there are no official statistics of learners with
autism in Kenya and many other countries. However, according to research studies, prevalence estimates
in most countries is about 1 per 1000 learners with a ratio of 3 to 4 males to each female learner.

LEARNERS WITH COMMUNICATION DIFFICULTIES

What is communication?
Communication is the process of exchanging ideas, information and experience between two or more
people. It is a two-way process through which one sends message and the other is expected to understand
it and give feedback.

What is a communication difficulty?

Communication difficulty is a condition, which either interferes with the smooth flow of one’s speech and
language or hinders the acquisition and development of such a language. This condition, in turn, interferes
with the process of communication. This may affect the leaner’s learning and development.
Communication difficulties may be divided into two categories:

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 Speech difficulties
 Language difficulties

Speech Difficulties
A child is considered to have speech difficulty if his speech does not sound normal compared to the speech
of his/her peers. Abnormality in speech is when
 Words may be pronounced poorly
 The flow of speech may no be fluent
 The voice may be too loud/soft, too low/high or it may not be pre

Types of speech difficulties

There are three main types of speech difficulties. These are:
 Articulation difficulties
 Fluency difficulties
 Voice difficulties

Articulation Difficulties
This is speech difficulty related to problems of pronunciation.
A learner with articulation difficulty may find it difficulty in articulating sounds in words or in sentences. The
child may pronounce the sound wrongly, omit it in a sentence, substitute it for another or add an additional
sound next to it sentences.
There are four types of articulation difficulties; namely
a) Malarticulating/pronouncing sounds wrongly: Pronouncing a sound (e.g./s/) wrongly whenever
it occurs in isolation, that is whenever it occurs at the beginning, end of middle of words.
b) Omissions: Omitting a sound in words e.g ‘siti’ may be pronounces as/- it/
c) Substitution: Substituting a sound for another in words e.g substituting /s/ for /k/ for example, ‘sit’
may be pronounced as ‘siti’
d) Addition: a child may be adding, a vowel to every word that ends with a consonants e.g ‘sit’ may
be pronounced as ‘siti’

Fluency Difficulties
Fluency difficulty is a condition where one is unable to talk in an easy and relaxed way resulting in speech
that is unnaturally hesitant. The most common fluency difficulty is stammering, also referred to as
stuttering. We say that a person stammers when his speech at age or above so hesitant that it is a
problem to him/her or others.
Pronunciation characteristics of children with stammering problems

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 Prolongation: Some stammers tend to prolong sounds in words e.g. the word ‘banana’ may be
pronounced as ‘ba_________ nana’
 Repetition: A stammer may repeat a sounds or syllabus in words and sentences e.g ‘w-w-w-w-
when I s-s-s-s-saw him, I c-c-c-c collapsed’
 Complete Blockage: Such a leaner or even adults usually gets stuck on the first sound of a word,
e.g for “Kisumu”, he/she may only sound “k----------------------------

Due to these difficulties, a stammer may avoid words that contain sounds that are difficult to him/her
Communication Difficulties
There are two types of communication difficulties. These are:
 Language difficulties
 Speech Difficulties

Language difficulties
The following are the two main types of language difficulties
 Receptive language
 Expression language

Receptive Language
The main receptive difficulties include the following:
 Inability to recognise or identify incoming stimuli e.g. The patient may be fully aware that he is
hearing, seeing or touching something but cannot discern what it is, hence cannot name it.
 Inability to assign meaning to spoken, written or signed words. Children may experience this
difficulty when they have not formed the necessary concepts of the world around them or when
they cannot relate the words and what they symbolize.
 Difficulty understanding sentences because they have not mastered the grammar of the language
 Comprehension difficulties due to inability to relate different parts of a passage or discourse
resulting in lack of cohesion and coherence.
 Attention deficits: inability to attend to a message.
 Inability to interpret the meaning of words and sentences in context.
 Inability to interpret the spoken or signed message according to the body language accompanying
it.
 Memory deficits e.g inability to retain and recall messages.
 Inadequate (severe reading and spelling problems)

Expressive Language Difficulties

Some of the expressive language difficulties include the following:

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 Sentences construction difficulties: inability to construct appropriate sentences in the target

language because the child has not mastered or is unable to master the grammar of the language.
This is a characteristic of those with severe mental disabilities and hearing impairment.
 Inability to use appropriate body language to convey meaning. This problem mainly is
demonstrated by children with cerebral palsy and also with mental disability.
 Inability to use appropriate word context. These are children who tend to produce utterances
not related to context as found in children with autistic spectrums. They tend to repeat sentences at
random. This language behaviour is known as echolalia.
 Inability to program and activate the relevant parts of the body to convey the intended
meaning. For example, paralysed person knows what to say but may not be able to activate the
organs of speech to move in order to produce the intended message.
 Word finding difficulty: Difficulty in finding specific words when engaged in a conversation or
when confronted with a question.
 Difficulty deciding how to respond to an incoming message.

Learners with communication difficulties have speech and language problems due to inability to receive
and express language as expected
Characteristics of learners with communication difficulties
The following are some of the possible indicators, which may help you, identify learners with
communication difficulties. These may include, learners who:
 Stammer or stutter
 Speak abnormally too fast
 Have disorganised sentence structure.
 Substitute, omit, distort or add speech sounds
 May have too high or too low tone
 May have hoarse or nasal voice under normal conditions
 Do not engage in activities that involve talking, such as asking questions in class
 Tend to speak in isolated words or short sentences
 Have tendencies to breathe through the mouth
 Have difficulties in controlling saliva
 Have phonological awareness problems
 Produce sounds through the mouth instead of through the nose.

Incidence of learners with communication difficulties

According to research studies in developed countries, the prevalence of those with communication
difficulties is about 5% or 50/1000 children.
Learners with emotional and behavioural difficulties

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Emotional and Behavioural difficulties (EBD) are emotions and behaviours that are not appropriate in
relation to age and socio-cultural expectations. EBD significantly interferes with one’s learning and
development and the lives of others.
EBD’s are classified into:
 Attention deficit and hyperactive disorders
 Aggression
 Social problems
 Conduct disorders
 Personality disorders
 Juvenile delinquency

What is “behaviour”?
Behaviour is anything that a person does or says. Some commonly used synonymous include activity,
action, performance, response and reaction. Since everyone acts, performs and reacts at some particular
time, it means everyone has behaviour.
What then does “emotional and behavioural difficulty” mean?
Emotional and behaviour difficulty are a deviation from appropriate behaviour for certain age, which
significantly interferes with the learner’s learning and development or the lives of others.
Practically, all learners display age-appropriate behaviour at one time or another. As a teacher you may
have come across learners who seem to be unhappy or distressed. You may have also met some who are
aggressive. It is therefore not right for you to conclude that such learners have emotional and behavioural
difficulties.
Learners with emotional and behavioural difficulties
These include learners who:
 Have learning difficulties which cannot be explained through intellectual, sensory and health
difficulties
 Are unable to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with family members, peers
and teachers
 Have tendencies to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school
difficulties
 Show general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression
 Have inappropriate types of behaviours or feelings under normal conditions

Characteristics of emotional and behavioural difficulties

Some kinds of behaviours that can make you be sensitive to the possibility of emotional and behaviour
difficulties are, learners who:

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 Are most of the time lonely and have no friends

 Have inappropriate types of behaviours or feelings under normal circumstances, such as:
 Verbal and physically aggressive and threatens others,
 Disruptive, destructive, dominating and hyperactive
 Inattentive, blames others and seeks attention
 Disobedient and rude
 Depressed, cries easily and extremely shy
 Bored and untidy
 Do not take criticism positively
 Are unable to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers
 Are unable to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, motor or health factors
 Are absent from school for no apparent reason
 Steal from other learners
 Have temper tantrums at late childhood and adolescence
 Have tendency to develop physical symptoms of pain or fears associated with personal or school
difficulties
 May have temper tantrums at late learners hood and adolescence
 May consistently consider themselves as stupid and incapable with words such as “I don’t know”, “
I can’t do it” and “I don’t understand”

It is not enough for you to know the behavioural difficulties of learners. It is also quite important to establish
the cause of the difficulty so that you may advise the parents, guardians or anybody else taking care of
these learners.

Since most learners will show emotional and behaviour problems at one time or another, the criteria for
determining whether learners have an emotional and behaviour difficulties should be based on:
 How often the behaviour is repeated
 How intense the behaviour is
 How inappropriate the behaviour is

Educational intervention strategies of learners with emotional and behaviour difficulties

In order for you to help learners with emotional and behaviour difficulties, you need to use various
approaches. These approaches include:
 Behaviour modification
 Individual and group counselling
 Creating good school climate
 Explaining to the learners that you expect a reasonable standard of behaviour to be maintained

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 Telling the learners what you expect of them in a firm and clear way
 Rewarding the learners’ appropriate behaviour and ignoring inappropriate behaviour as stipulated
by the school rules
 Structuring the learning environments so that the learners have no room for displaying the
inappropriate behaviour
 Guiding and counselling play as a major role in improving the behaviours

Prevalence of learners with emotional and behaviour difficulties

The prevalence of learners with behavioural and emotional difficulties varies from one country to another
and even from one region to another within a country. Various factors contribute to the complexity of
determining the prevalence. These include the perception among different persons and cultures as to what
constitutes emotional and behaviour difficulties. For example, high economic societies are more likely to
notice some odd behaviour in learners and adults while pastoral and rural societies may register little non-
acceptable social behaviour.
Learners with physical and multiple disabilities
Physical disabilities include conditions that may make it difficult for learners to move or to manipulate the
physical environment, interact freely and communicate easily. These may be put into two major groups,
namely:
 Orthopaedic disabilities
 Neurological disabilities

Learners with orthopaedic disabilities

These are learners with motor impairments resulting from difficulties related to bones and muscle systems.
Muscles and bones act in a coordinated way to effect the movement of body parts. Bones and muscles
suffering deformities will display difficulties in movement which is also uncoordinated. Example of learners
with orthopaedic difficulties who may be found in our schools are those with:
 Amputation
 Scoliosis
 Muscle cramps
 Brittle bone disease (osteogenesis imperfect)
 Leg perthes disease
 Muscular or dystrophy

Learners with amputation

Amputation refers to a condition where limbs are greatly reduced in size or missing at birth or to limbs that
have been lost or severed in the course of one’s life. Amputation may be either acquired or congenital. A
person with one or more of the limbs missing is called an amputee.
Amputees may encounter various difficulties. These may include difficulties in

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 Walking
 Writing
 Turning pages of books if all limbs are amputated
 Feeding
 Dressing
 Playing

Educational implications faced by learners with amputated limb or limbs

Learners with amputated limbs may be faced with numerous difficulties in an inclusive setting. Some of
these difficulties will include the following:
 Inability to walk properly
 Inability to hold pens if upper limbs are missing
 Inability to turn pages in a book to read
 Inability to feed and dress himself/herself

Intervention strategies to support learners with amputated limbs

Learners with amputated limbs have normal intelligence and can therefore integrate and learn well in a
regular school but with some modifications and adaptations of the classroom and environment. Some of the
interventions measures include:
 Rehabilitation and provision of facilities that will facilitate performance of learning tasks, such as:
 Mobility and adaptive devices, for example prosthesis (artificial limbs) for those with lower
limb amputation, crutches, and walking sticks.
 Typewriters
 Pencil holders
 Book holders
 Head pointers
 Page turners
 Training in the proper use of mobility and other adaptive devices
 Adapting suitable materials for the learners
 Adapting physical education activities to ensure maximum fitness and exercise
 Allowing extra time to complete their tasks, if need be
 General nursing care
 Encouraging the learner to learn to live with and accept his/her condition
 Advising the parents/guardians to take learner to health centres for checkups in case of sores due
to prosthesis.

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Learners with brittle bone disease

Brittle bone disease is an inherited bone disease characterised by a defective development in the quantity
and quality of bones (i.e the bones fail to grow into normal length and width). They are weak, soft and
fragile.
Characteristics of learners with brittle bone disease
 Keep on getting fractures from time in school and at home.
 Mobility problems or difficulties to walk around
 May have writing problem
 Stunted growth

Educational implications encountered by learners with brittle bone disease

Due to the delicate skeletal framework of bones, learners with this problem may experience some of the
following problems:
 Keeping on getting fractures from time to time
 Missing class regularly fractures from time to time
 Missing class regularly due to fractures and hospitalisation
 Having mobility difficulties
 Having writing difficulties
 Not able to participate in strenuous learning exercises such as physical education, games and
athletics.

Intervention strategies to support the children

Learners with brittle bone disease have normal intelligence. They can therefore learn in a regular school
but with some adaptations such as:
 Ensuring safety in the classroom and the environment to minimise accidents
 Avoiding vigorous exercise that may affect the bones
 Availing mobility and adaptation devices for those who may require them
 Providing alternative passive activities, such as board games and cards
 Making them to understanding their weak bone conditions in order to take care of themselves
 Training those who may be using adaptive and mobility aids on how to use them properly

Learner’s with muscular dystrophy

Muscular dystrophy refers to genetic disease characterized by a gradual atrophy (wearing and weakening)
of muscle tissues. The muscles of the body become progressively weaker and wasted without presence of
a disease in the central nervous system. The causes are not very clear but are assumed to be heredity,
where the mother who is usually the carrier although unaffected, transmit the disorder more frequently to
the male children.

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The wearing and weakness of muscles begin in the shoulder and then lips and thereafter spreads to all
other voluntary muscles.
Muscular dystrophy is a condition which:
 Affects mainly boys, with mothers as carries
 Does not show apparent disability at birth, but sometimes walking may be delayed for a few
months
 Is usually first observed at about 2 – 3 years of life
 Renders learners incapable of walking by 10 – 11 years of age.
 Is progressive and continues getting worse until premature death, which usually occurs between 15
– 30 years of age
 Has no known cure.

Characteristics of learners with muscular dystrophy

 Difficulty in running, climbing and sometimes in lifting
 Progressively becoming weak and wasted
 Supporting himself/herself against the floor on his knees, walking or climbing using his legs when
getting up
 Distortion of posture with a tendency for the chest to curve forward
 Awkward and difficulty in walking or running, with frequent falls
 Difficulty in rising from a fall

Educational implications faced by learners with muscular dystrophy

A leaner with muscular dystrophy may experience the following further complications:
 Hip and knee flexing contractions which may hinder the ability to stand straight and walk. The child
may need devices such as long ort short leg braces or a wheel chair depending on the condition.
Weakness of the arms and shoulders may allow the use of crutches
 Foot deformities may interfere with the ability to stand and may require therapeutic exercise to help
strengthen joints and muscles

Intervention strategies to support learners with muscular dystrophy

There are various intervention procedures, which can minimise the effects of muscular dystrophy and help
the child lead as normal life as possible. These include:
 Providing therapeutic exercises which can help delay the onset of contractures
 Counselling to prepare the child for the eventual outcome and also to develop positive image of
himself/herself
 Providing braces to prevent deformities and keep the chest upright to facilitate breathing
 Giving drugs to ease some of the effects of the condition
 Surgery to correct early deformities of lower limbs

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 Providing mobility and adaptive aids to facilitate their movement and learning
 Avoiding vigorous exercises which may strain the muscles
 Encouraging and stimulating them academically and socially
 Guiding and counselling the parents to prepare them to cope with the deteriorating condition and
eventualities of early death.

Learners with muscular dystrophy have normal intelligence and can learn well in a regular school.
However, provision has to be made for some adaptive aids and equipment because the learner may
experience various complications as the disease progresses.
LEARNERS WITH NEUROLOGICAL DISABILITIES
It is good for you first to understand about neurological disabilities in neurological disabilities refers to
paralysis or lack of function resulting from the dysfunction of the brain and the central nervous system.
The condition associated with neurological disabilities include the following among others:
 Epilepsy
 Cerebral palsy
 Spina bifida
 Hydrocephalus
 Poliomyelitis

Learners with neurological disabilities

Neurological disabilities refer to paralysis or lack of function resulting from the dysfunction of the brain and
the central nervous system.
Learners with epilepsy
Epilepsy is a brain disorder, which is characterised by a fit or sudden loss of consciousness, convulsion or
seizures
Characteristics of learners with epilepsy
 Shouted once and collapsed
 Lost consciousness
 The body became rigid with jerked movements
 Noticed saliva drooling from mouth
 Observed loss of bladder and bowel control
 Experience difficulties in breathing
 The learner appeared confused
 Performance purposeless activities such as rubbing arms or legs
 Experienced fear, anger and dizziness
 Went to deep sleep after the seizure.

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Some characteristics of epilepsy include having extreme convulsions and seiures during which the learners
may:
 Collapse and have sudden loss of consciousness and rigidity of the body followed
 Followed by jerking movements
 May shout and emit, gurgling sounds
 Be unable to control saliva (may foam at the mouth)
 Lose bladder and bowel control
 Experience difficult breathing, headache and vomiting
 Suddenly stop what he/she is doing and briefly have a strange, empty, blank behaviour
 Drop things
 Chew or smack lips
 Appear to be confused and carry out purposeless activities such as rubbing arms or legs
 Experience fear, anger, abdominal pains, dizziness or ringing in the ears
 Go to deep sleep after seizure

Epilepsy is not a mental illness and cannot be passed form one person to another through contact.

What to do if a learner has a seizure attack in a class

 Remain calm to avoid your learners from the same emotional reactions since seizures itself is
painless to the learners.
 Never try to restrain the learners because nothing can be done to stop a seizure once it has begun.
 Clear the area around the learner so that no injury from hard objects occurs. Do not interfere with
the movement in any way.
 After the attack you may talk to the learner to help him to overcome the psychological trauma.
 Talk to other teachers and learners and ensure them that the condition is not contagious
 Refer the learner to hospital if he was not on medication
 Do not force anything between the teeth. If the mouth is already open, a soft object like a
handkerchief may be placed between the side teeth.
 Move the learner into a horizontal position. Loosen his collar; turn his/her head to the side for
release of saliva. Place something soft under the head.
 Do not call doctor unless the attack is immediately followed by another seizure or if the seizure
lasts more than ten minutes.
 When the seizure is over and the learner has gained consciousness, let him/her rest.
 Inform the learner’s parents about the seizure
 Turn the experience into a learning experience for the entire class. Explain what a seizure is, that is
not contagious and that it is nothing to be afraid of. Teach the class to understand the learners, not
pity him, so that classmates will continue to accept the learners as “one of them”.

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Educational strategies to support learners with epilepsy

Epilepsy cannot be cured but its effects can be minimised through:
 Referring the learner to hospital for medical treatment with drugs to control the condition
 Talking to others, peers and the community that epilepsy is not contagious. This would ensure
support for such learners in school.
 First aid skills and proper nursing care, especially during attack.
 Making efforts to reduce emotional and psychological stress by encouraging the child to lead as
normal life as possible.

Learners with cerebral palsy?

Cerebral palsy is a disorder of the brain, which occurs as a result of brain damage, or lack of development
in the part of the brain controlling movement and posture.
Characteristics of learners with cerebral palsy
 Slowness in acquiring skills and knowledge in some leaners
 Facial abnormalities and or drooling in some cases
 Stiffness or rigidity of body parts especially the wrists, hips, knees and ankles
 Increased muscle tension when the learner is excited or upset
 Abnormal position of the body
 Lack of muscle co-ordination
 Slow, wriggly or sudden, quick movements of the feet, arms, hands or face in excitement or in an
effort to grasp something
 Difficulty drawing straight lines due to involuntary movements
 Speech difficulties due to difficulty in controlling the muscles required to produce speech
 Poor balance and posture
 Awkward gross and or fine motor movements
 May suffer from convulsions or fits
 Poor eye-hand coordination especially in writing activities and low intelligence

Educational implications for learners with cerebral palsy

A leaner suffering from cerebral palsy may experience some of the following difficulties:
 Difficulties in performing functions requiring the use of their hands and legs
 Communication difficulties due to weakness of the speech organ muscles
 Low intelligence as a result of delayed milestone, which may affect their academic work
 Hearing and sight problems which may affect their learning activities
 May suffer from convulsions or fits
 Learning difficulties especially in areas such as reading and writing

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Interventions strategies to support learners with cerebral palsy

The damage to the brain that leads to cerebral palsy cannot be repaired. However, affected individuals can
be supported to become independent in life through:
 Providing suitable therapeutic exercises and mobility and functional or supportive aids and nursing
care
 Giving psychological counselling and guidance
 Referring the child to other professionals such as occupational therapists and physiotherapists
 Providing activities to develop eye-hand coordination
 Encouraging them to use speech and for those who can not produce intelligible speech, devise for
them other modes of communication such as communication boards, bliss symbols, sign language
or gestures
 Providing appropriate learning and technical aids and adapted physical education and sports
equipment
 Providing them with mobility devices such as crutches, walking sticks, standing/walking frames and
wheel chairs and training them on how to use them.
 Providing them with alternative communication aids and mobility aids or other services
 Organising and preparing activities which will stimulate growth and development especially to
children with delayed milestone
 Enriching the classroom with a variety of educational resources to raise interest in the learners
 Modifying the curriculum for them to learn at their own pace.

Learners with Spina Bifida

What is spina bifida?
This is a condition in which spinal tissue is exposed during foetal development,

Characteristics of learners with spina bifida

 Dark bags or lumps which develop at any level of the spine but in most common at the level of the
waists
 Lower limb paralysed and have little or no sensation, so burns or pressure sores may develop
without the learners being aware of them
 One or both hips may be dislocated
 May develop club foot
 Poor urine and bowel control
 Water developing in the brain and in the head which may enlarge leading to hydrocephalus
(usually big head). This may lead to brain damage.
 Poor visual perception and lower intelligence as compared to an average learner in the class.
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Educational implications faced by learners with spina bifida

 May be absent from school to go to hospital frequently for neurological, urinary and orthopaedic
consultations and procedures.
 May have paralysis of the lower limbs and poor bladder and bowel control resulting in unpleasant
odours which you and the rest of the class or school must learn to put with.
 Some learners especially those who develop hydrocephalus may have the following problems:
 Lower intelligence
 Poor vision perception

Many learners with spina bifida may have normal or near normal intelligence, so that in spite of absence
from school, they can learn if proper adaptations and facilities are provided according to their needs.
Interventions strategies to support learners with spina bifida
Interventions measures can be taken to minimise the effects of spina bifida through:
 Nursing care to prevent pressure sores
 Referring them to health centres for medical attention and surgery to:
 Insert a shunt which drains the fluid from the head (for those with hydrocephalus)
 Correct foot and spinal deformities

Learners with hydrocephalus

Hydrocephalus (commonly known as “water in the brain”) is a condition caused by abnormal accumulation
of fluids (cerebrofluid), which expands the bones of the skull, and if untreated can cause damage to brain
cells. This may result into intellectual disabilities (mental retardation), fits and occasionally paralysis of
lower limbs. The condition can also cause slow general development of the learners.
There are two types of hydrocephalus that I want you to learn about. These are:
 Congenital hydrocephalus
 Acquired hydrocephalus

Congenital hydrocephalus
This refers to a condition born with the child. It is due to the malformations of the brain causing blockage in
the flow of fluid and separation of the bones of the skull. This results to an enlarged skull.
Acquired hydrocephalus
This is a condition acquired after birth due to head injuries, cerebral haemorrhage of diseases such as
meningitis and cerebral malaria.
More than 80% of the babies born with spina bifida also have hydrocephalus condition.

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Educational implications encountered by learners with hydrocephalus

The following are some difficulties encountered by learners with hydrocephalus condition, which may affect
learning:
 Low intelligence as compared to average learners
 Poor motor activities
 Communication difficulties
 Poor visual perception
 May be absent from school for many days since they have to go to hospital for medical check ups
 May have poor body balances as a result of the big head which may result from falling from time to
time.

Intervention strategies to support learners with hydrocephalus conditions

 Plan for activities which will improve:
 Stimulation and development
 Communication skills
 Balance and coordination
 Be tolerant and encourage them in all possible ways
 Refer them for medical checkups
 Prepare individualised and educational plan for the children
 Train them on balance and coordination to prevent them from falling which may cause further
injuries to the brain or fractures to the limbs

Learners with Poliomyelitis (Polio)

Polio is caused by a virus that destroys the nerve in the spinal cord. There is no cure for this condition but
victims are advised to take long hours of bed rest to control the activation of the virus until they recover.
Post polio victims will have weak limbs and will require support for mobility.
Characteristics of poliomyelitis (polio)
 Paralysis
 Degeneration (wasting away) of muscles and bones
 Stunted growth of the affected limb or limbs
 Non-progressive disorder of movements

Educational implications encountered by learners with poliomyelitis

 Mobility problems which prevent them from moving about
 Weaknesses in fine and gross motor muscles
 Slowness in accomplishing academics tasks, such as writing notes and exercises
 Frequent absenteeism from school due medical appointment for checkups, and surgical operations
to correct deformities and physiotherapy

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Intervention strategies to support learners who suffered from poliomyelitis

The following are measures that you can take to ensure full participation of learners with who suffered from
poliomyelitis:
 Training them on how to use mobility devices and corrective appliances such as wheel chairs,
crutches, special orthopaedic boots, caliphers and braces. Modifying and adapting the classroom
and school environment to facilitate free movements and use of other facilities in the school.
 Providing adaptive materials for those who require them such as head-pointers, page-turners,
book-holders and pencil-grips.
 Ensuring that the child has good posture when writing at a desk or table.

Learners with multiple difficulties

These are earners with more than one disability. Examples include;
 Deafblind
 Cerebral palsy
 Mental disabilities with visual impairments

Characteristics of learners with multiple disabilities

 Little or no communication, that is, unable to:
 Express themselves or understand others
 Use hands or other signs (gestures) meaningfully to pass messengers to others
 Delayed physical and motor development (delayed milestone), such as:
 Inability to move about independently
 Inability to sit up or support themselves
 Deformities of limbs and body posture
 Remaining in bed or home bound for most of their lives
 Frequent inappropriate behaviours, such as:
 Rocking back and forth
 Self stimulation e.g by manual stimulation of their sex organs
 Self injuring e.g banging the head

Intervention strategies to support learners with multiple difficulties

Most learners with multiple difficulties never fully outgrow their dependence on other people. The following
are some measures that can be put in place to support these learners:
 Showing the learner love, patience and affection
 Assessing the learner to determine the skills the learner can perform and those required to be
learnt. This is particularly the Activities of Daily Living, such as, eating, toileting and dressing
 Preparing individualised educational programmes using task analysis approach
 Providing special equipment and devices such as crutches and wheel chairs

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 Guiding and counselling the parents to accept and support the child
 Referring the child to health centres for medical check ups and other services
 Designing and implementing individualised programmes
 Adapting the classroom/school environment to meet the needs of the learners
 Talking to other learners to develop positive attitude towards these learners
 Designing toilets/latrines to accommodate the learner especially those using wheel chairs
 Make modification of the school environment for accessibility

Intervention strategies to support learners with multiple difficulties

Most learners with multiple difficulties never fully outgrow their dependence on other people. The following
are some measures that can be put in place to support these learners:
 Showing the learner love, patience and affection
 Assessing the learner to determine the skills the learner can perform and those required to be
learnt. This is particularly the Activities of Daily Living, such as, eating, toileting and dressing
 Preparing individualised education programme using task analysis approach
 Providing special equipment and devices such as crutches and wheel chairs
 Guiding and counselling the parents to accept and support the child
 Referring the child to health centres for medical checkups and other services
 Designing and implementing individualised programmes
 Adapting the classroom/school environment to meet the needs of the learners
 Talking to other learners to develop positive attitude towards these learners
 Designing toilets/latrines to accommodate the learner especially those using wheel chairs
 Make modifications of the school environment for accessibility

Learners with chronic health diseases

This refers to learners with chronic diseases such as:
 Asthma
 Burns
 Heart diseases
 Haemophilia
 Tuberculosis
 Diabetes
 Sickle cell anaemia
 Seizures
 Unreasonable fear of fire
 Scarred tissue leading to deformities
 Shortened muscle and tendons at the joints
 Reduced function of the affected limbs

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Children who are abused and neglected

Child abuse is any act or intention to treat learners badly by directly or indirectly hurting them. This involves
both physical and or psychological violence, for example persistent beating of the child and or calling the
child unfriendly names respectively
On the other hand, child neglect is rendering no care by parents or caregivers to children. It is also a failure
to provide for the daily needs, hence affecting the children’s social, emotional and psychological status.
Other forms of abuse and neglect include lack of affection, systematic scolding and withdrawal from
schools. Forced marriages may also interfere with their education.
Characteristics of children who are abused and neglected
Physical and behaviour indicators of children who are abused and neglected
Indicators of abuse and neglect in children can be both physical and behavioural.
These include:
 Physical abuse
 Physical neglect
 Sexual abuse
 Psychological mistreatment

Physical abuse
Physical indicators
 Unexplained bruises in various stages
 Human bite marks and bald spots
 Unexplained burns
 Unexplained fractures

Behavioural indicators
 Withdrawal and aggressiveness,
 Uncomfortability with physical contact
 Early arrival at and late leaving school as if avoiding home.
 Chronic runaway
 Complaining of soreness or moving uncomfortably
 Clothing which is inappropriate for the weather

Physical neglect
Physical indicators
 Abandonment
 Unattended medical needs

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 Consistent lack of supervision

 Consistent hunger, inappropriate dress, poor hygiene

Behavioural indicators
 Fatigue, restlessness, failing asleep in class
 Stealing food, begging from classmates
 Reports of no caretaker at home
 Chronic absenteeism from school

Sexual abuse
Physical indicator
 Torn, stained or bloody underclothing
 Pain or itching in genital areas
 Difficulty walking or sitting
 Bruises or bleeding in external genitalia
 Venereal diseases
 Frequent urinary or yeast infections

Behavioural indicators
 Withdrawal and depression
 Excessive seductiveness
 Low self-esteem, self-devaluation and lack of confidence
 Peer relation difficulties and lack of involvement
 Massive weight loss
 Suicide attempts
 Hysteria and lack of emotional control
 Inappropriate sex play or premature understanding of sex
 Feeling threatened by physical contact or closeness

Psychological mistreatment
Physical indicators
 Speech disorders
 Delayed physical development
 Ulcers, asthma and severe allergies

Behaviour indicators
 Habit disorder such as sucking and rocking
 Antisocial and destructive manifestations

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 Passive and aggressive –behaviour

 Delinquent behaviour
 Development milestone

STREET CHILDREN
“street children”is a social term that refers to those children for whom the street has replaced the family
and the home as the focal point of their existence and communal interaction. The children live in
circumstances devoid of any protection, supervision or direction from responsible adults.
There are four primary groups of children whose existence revolves around streets.
These are:
 Children on the street
 Children of the street
 Children who are completely detached from their families
 Children of street families

Children on the street: These maintain good family ties while out there. They therefore return home in the
evening after spending the day begging, working or engaging in petty offences on the streets.
Children of the street: These have loose family contacts and spend some nights or days or part of the day
on the streets and occasionally go back home.
Children who are completely detached from their families: These children lead a gang life and live in
makeshift shelters in the streets. In most cases they have completely no contacts with their families.
Children of street families: This is the most recent group of street children to emerge. It consists of
children who are born and bred on the streets. They know no other home.
Prevalence of street children
It is estimated that there are more than300,0000 learners living and working on the streets of urban
centres.

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Glossary
Ability grouping Placing learners from general classroom settings to classroom composed of
learners with similar ability levels
Adaptive behaviour Such as eating or toileting, which we need to know to function as independent
individuals in society.
Age at on set The age at which an impairment/disability or condition take place
allergy It is sensitivity to particular substances. These substances can occur in
foods, drugs (medicines), chemicals, animals, insect bites, pollen (the dust
of flowers). An allergic reaction can show as skin rash, swelling, tears in
the eyes, coughing, swollen throat, e.t.c
Anoxia Deficit in oxygen carried by the blood stream, resulting in a lack of oxygen
to any part of the body affected.
Articulation The act of speaking distinctly
Attitude A feeling, emotion or mental position with regard to a fact or state. A
manner assumed for a specific purpose. A state of readiness of a living
organism to respond in characteristics way to a stimulus.
Congenital Present in an individual at birth
Deaf The term used to describe non-functional hearing for the ordinally purpose
of life. In this group are learners with severe to profound hearing loss.
Encephalitis An infectious inflammation of the brain
Esteem The state of being regarded highly or lowly in one’s community.
Extrinsic During or motivating force from outside
Incidence Refer to the estimated number of people in a given population who
possess or exhibit a given characteristics at some point during their lives.
Hyperactivity Learners who is hyperactive has a higher degree of inappropriate motor
activity than is considered typical for a particular group
Meninges Membranes surrounding the brain and spinal
cord.
Meningitis Inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. It
is contagious through close contact. Meningitis can be caused either by
bacteria or by virus.
Motor Movement
Paralysis Loss of power and control in the muscles.

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Perception Awareness of one’s environment through sensory stimulation

Prevalence Refers to the total number of existing cases (new and old) in the
population at given time.
Prosthesis Artificial limb (arm or leg) to replace the missing (amputated) part of the
body
Talented Outside performance or showing the potential for performing at
remarkably high level of accomplishment when compared with others than
their age, experience or environment.
Therapy Treatment of disease
Wheeze Breathe hard with audible whistling sound as occurs during an asthmatic
attack
Withdrawal To turn away from social interaction and to keep to oneself from social
interaction and to keep to oneself.

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References
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Winston, P.J. (1993). Providing family support in integrated settings: Research and recommendations. IN
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Introduction to Special Needs Education, Course Notes, Compiled by Edward Kumalawi for Montfort S.N.E College Students