Revised ch1 cd45

Chapter 1
Children with
Exceptionalities

• Exceptional vs. Disabilities vs. Handicapped
vs. Special Needs??
• Exceptional Child: Child with disability and
child with gifts and talents
• What’s a typical child?
• 6.0 million children can be classified in one of
the categories of Exceptional children
• 1 in every 10 children may be classified as
Exceptional
Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. 1 | 2

RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION
MODEL:RTI
• Evidence based instructional practices
• Hierarchy of supports and services
• www.ncld.org National Center for Learning
Disabilities RTI Action Network
• www.Idanatl.org Learning Disabilities
Association(LDA)
• www.TeachLD.org The Division for Learning
Disabilities, Council of Exceptional Children
• Council of Exceptional Children Foundation
• www.eparet.com Exceptional parent
magazine

• Council of Exceptional Children Foundation was
funded in 1922 in order to organize teachers
who worked with children with exceptionalities.
• 1975: FAPE! LRE! IDEA!

Historical Overview
• Early History: Era of Superstition (1500 BC–1700 AD):
Early beliefs centered on superstitions, witchcraft and
generally not a supportive environment for someone with
disabilities.
• Nineteenth Century: Era of Institutions (1790–1870):
Jean-Marc Itard and Edouard Sequin were the first
individuals to work with children with intellectual and
developmental disabilities. Toward the end of this era,
many institutions were in existence in the United States.
Dr. Thomas Gallaudet started programs for students with
hearing impairment and deafness.
• Early Twentieth Century: Era of Public School Classes
(1900–1950): Isolated classes for students with disabilities
were started in the United States. In 1922, the Council for
Exceptional Children was founded in order to organize
teachers who were working to help children with
exceptionalities.

• 1950s and 1960s: Era of Legislation and
National Support: In 1950, the post–World War
II era saw the beginnings of special programs for
children with exceptionalities. This era included
the civil rights movement for our country.
• 1970s: Era of Normalization, Child Advocacy
and Litigation: During this era, many lawsuits,
class action suits, and laws were established to
provide services for students with disabilities.
The courts were enacting legislation that
mandated that schools provide students with
disabilities a free and appropriate education.
• 1990s: Era of Rededication, Redefinition, and
Refinement

Children with Exceptionalities
We consider a child to be exceptional when the
child requires either a modification of school
practices or special educational services to
develop his or her unique capabilities.
There are 13 different legal categories for
exceptionalities (IDEA 2004)p.7 &8
IFSP (0-3) Regional centers
IEP(Local educational agencies: School District)
IPP: Regional Centers

Standard categories of exceptionalities
• Intellectual differences: From gifted to severe intellectual
delays
• Communication differences: Communication is impaired
or delayed
• Learning disabilities: Difficulties with learning and
attention in the class.
• Sensory differences: Includes children with visual and
hearing impairments
• Behavioral differences: Includes children who are
emotionally or socially challenged.
• Multiple and severe disabilities: children with combination
of impairments: deaf and blind, CP and intellectual delays
• Physical Differences: Children with mobility , health
impairments.

• Federal Legislation does not address the needs
of children who are gifted or with talents!
• What do you think??
• Interindividual and Intraindividual differences
(p.8 &9)
• Inter-individual differences - The general gap in
ability or performance between the child with
disabilities and his/her peers.
• Intra-individual differences- A major variation in
the abilities or development of a single child.

How do children learn?
• Steps Information Processing Model:
1)Children receive information from their
senses (attention)
2) Information is processed through memory
classification and reasoning
abilities(thinking)
3)Children respond to information through
output (Response) : speaking, writing, motor
response, dancing, running, social
interactions

Interaction
Heredity & Environment
• Pre – 1960 Heredity determines intelligence
• 1960’s: many exceptionalities can be created or
intensified by environmental conditions: delays and
giftedness! Environment determines intelligence
• Around 1990:Heredity and environment interact. Early
years can be affected by environment: 1997(Gotlieb)
Early Intervention programs!
• Human Genome Project: International project intending
to identify all human genes and make them available for
further biological studies. Goal was accomplished in
2003!!!

High Incidence Disabilities & Low
Incidence Disabilities
• High Incidence: Categories of disabilities that
are most prevalent (at least 1% of school
population) It does not include children who are
gifted. 88% of exceptional children exhibit high-incidence
disabilities
• Low Incidence: categories that are less than
1% of school population

Figure 1.2: Percentage of Total Disability
Population of High Incidence Children
Source: U.S. Department of Education (2005). Twenty-sixth Annual Report to Congress. Washington, DC:
Offi ce of Special Education Programs.

Figure 1.3: Percentage of Total Disability
Population of Low Incidence Children

Culture and Language in Special
Education
• There is an overrepresentation of some culturally and
linguistically diverse students assigned to special education.
• 50% of Black and Latino students are falling below basic skills
in reading, while only 20% of white students are falling below.
• There are at least three possible explanations:
(1) The tests and measurements employed in diagnosing the
conditions are biased against the minority students and provide
inaccurate information about them.
(2) Many minority family situations have unfavorable ecological
conditions that can cause the inadequate development of abilities in
early life. This disadvantage can be seen in the lower performance
of their school-age children. The schools are discriminating against
minority students by removing them from the regular classes and
placing them in special programs away from the other students.
(3) Office of Civil Rights to look at many individual school districts in
which disproportionate membership in special education programs
has occurred in order to determine whether the third possibility is
true in those schools.

Figure 1.5: National Special Education
Percentages by Race and Ethnicity
Source: U.S. Department of Education (2002). Fall 1998 Elementary and Secondary School Civil Rights Compliance
Report. Washington, DC: Offi ce for Civil Rights.

Ecological Approach & Family
• Improving the context where a child lives, learns and
plays will make a positive impact on child’ development.
– Family, School, Peers, Community
• Family responses to a disability:
1. Shock/ loss
2. Denial
3. Guilt
4. Anger
5. Sadness
6. Adjustment
7. before adjusting to situation. Few parents will experience
severe depression.
Family Quality of Life Scale(Evaluation and
assessment for family supports)p.19

Siblings of children with
exceptionalities
• There is not evidence that the siblings of
children with exceptional needs are more
stressed or face greater adjustment problems
than siblings of children without exceptionalities.
• There are support groups for siblings of children
with exceptionalities!
• It is important for teachers to identify the
strengths of the students and their families
who are from different cultures: “The Spirit
catches you and you fall down”

Intervention
• Family Centered Model
– Power provided to family
– Strengths orientation
– Entire family is unit of support for intervention
• Ecological Model
– Interactions with environment
– Role of the environment in the development of the
child
– Modify learning and improve the environment

Family as Advocate
• ARC
• UCP
• Learning Disabilities Association of America: LDA
• Autism Society of America
• Parents of children with Down Syndrome
• Protection and Advocacy
Organizations like the ones listed above have made
a difference with state and federal legislature related
to services and education of children with
disabilities.
• Organizations supporting the needs of children who are
gifted do not have the same political influence than the
organizations for children with disabilities.

Cultural Influence
• Cultural attitudes, values, customs and
language must be taken into account when
working with children with exceptionalities and
their families!!!
• Cultural reciprocity: A “meeting place”
between the cultural goals and expectations of
the family and those of the professionals who
work with the child.

• As a team of four, list individually and then compare responses to identify the extent
of interindividual and intraindividual differences on the following items:
• 1. Interindividual differences
• a. Physical differences (color of hair and eyes, shape of face, size)
• b. Interests and hobbies
• c. Place of birth
• D Aim in life
• e. Attitude toward exceptional children
• f. Academic standing
• g. Preference of time of day to study
• h. Characteristics of home culture
• 2. Intraindividual differences
• a. Best subject
• b. Worst subject
• c. Greatest fear
• d. Person or thing loved most
• e. Person or thing hated most
• f. Foods liked
• g. Foods disliked
• In what ways might these differences enhance and in what ways might they
hinder your ability to communicate and work together?

Revised ch1 cd45

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