The document outlines the objectives and content of a course on educating physically dependent children, including understanding health issues, developing functional skills, using assistive technology, and implementing infection control procedures through a collaborative team approach. It discusses defining characteristics of physical dependence, addressing related mental, social, and physical health concerns through appropriate educational programming and instructional strategies. Personnel must consider students' cognitive abilities and needs to determine functional goals and curricula while teaching critical self-management skills.

1. EA-260
Session 1

2. Objectives
An understanding of the course curriculum
An understanding of the definition, identification and assessment, planning and
implementation, and evaluation and reporting for the physically dependent child
An understanding of personnel and resources for these children
Knowledge of health problems of physically dependent children and their impact
Knowledge of infection control and steps for protection against germs and disease
An understanding of hand hygiene procedures
An understanding of assessment and content selection for students with physical and health
needs
An understanding of instructional strategies to use with these students
An understanding of error correction and analysis

3. Children who are Physically Dependent
A student with dependent needs is completely dependent on others for meeting all major daily living needs
They will always require assistance for feeding, dressing, toileting, mobility, and personal hygiene
Without such assistance and personal care support, attendance at school would not be possible
Some students are born with conditions or disabilities that make them dependent, while others acquire conditions or disabilities
For some students, increasing independence as they learn, and grow is a reasonable expectation
For others, decreasing independence may occur due to degenerative conditions or terminal illness

4. Reading
◦ Each person review a section and then review for the group using this resource:
Standards for Special Education (alberta.ca)
◦ Access: Informed Consent/Assessment (Pgs. 6-7 –Nissreen)
◦ Access: Specialized Assessment/Coordinated Services (Pgs. 7-8 –Alex)
◦ Appropriateness (Pgs. 9-11 –Raquel)
◦ Accountability (Pgs. 12-13 –Eduardo)
◦ Appeals (Pg. 14 –Irene)
This resource is for your reference regarding different severe disabilities
2019-20 Handbook for ID and Review SDF (alberta.ca)

5. Health Concerns/Problems
◦ Health may be defined as a state of optimal mental, social, and physical well-being, not
merely the absence of disease and infirmity (Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 1994)
◦ Students, who have physical or health impairments, just as any student, may have any
number of health concerns such as depression, poor socialization skills, and poor physical
fitness
◦ Unique concerns, however, can arise because of their disabilities
◦ In the area of mental health, learned helplessness is a concern
◦ In the area of social health, ineffective communication systems can be a problem
◦ In the area of physical health, specific problems can result from the student’s physical or health
impairment

6. Mental Health
Learned helplessness
•This is the lack of persistence at tasks that can
be mastered
A student with learned helplessness
behaves as if he or she is not capable
of performing certain tasks and relies
on others to perform the task instead
As a result, the student does not learn
critical skills necessary to be as
independent as possible and may feel
helpless
Learned helplessness can occur when
well-meaning school personnel or
parents provide more assistance than
is necessary
Learned helplessness can be avoided
by having reasonable expectations,
using systematic teaching techniques,
implementing modifications, and
using adapted equipment

7. Learned Helplessness
https://youtu.be/C3a65C4kT-8

8. Social
Health
Includes ineffective communication systems
Many students with severe physical impairments, such as cerebral palsy, are
unable to speak effectively and need alternative forms of communication
Frustration or depression may occur when effective augmentative
communication is missing or inadequately provided
To promote social wellbeing, a student needs a communication system that
allows him to convey thoughts and needs and maintain social interactions
Educators must thus be sure that appropriate communication system(s) are
available

9. Physical Health
◦ The largest category of health concerns for students with
physical and health impairments is how the disability itself
can adversely impact physical health
◦ This may include:
◦ impact of orthopedic impairments
◦ impact of other heath impairments
◦ impact of multiple disabilities

10. Reading (20 mins)
Review information in the handout entitled “Impacts on Health.”
Sections include:
◦ Orthopedic Impairments
◦ Other Health Impairments
◦ Multiple Disabilities

11. Team
Approach
The education of students with physical and health disabilities
requires the coordinated effort of an educational team
To implement and teach students the various physical
management and self-help procedures correctly, a
collaborative effort is required among all team members
The educational team may have several members, depending
on the student’s needs and the type of objective being
considered
• Some teams may include parent, student, special education teacher, regular
education teacher, administrator, physical and/or occupational therapists,
speech/language therapist, physicians, nurses, educational assistants, and others.

12. Team
Approach
◦ Different professionals may take the lead of the team,
depending on the type of objective being considered
◦ For example, a physical therapist would most likely take
the lead in positioning and handling techniques, but the
other team members will need to provide their input
regarding timing of the positioning and techniques to
teach the student to indicate when a position change is
needed
◦ In the area of health care procedures (e.g. tube feeding), a
nurse would most likely describe how the physical health
care procedures are to be done, while the teacher would
provide information on teaching techniques to help others
instruct the student on how to perform them
◦ Several school-based team members would also need to
learn the procedure and pertinent information so that they
can be ready to act if a problem occurs

13. Infection Control
Maintaining proper infection control in schools is the responsibility of all school personnel
To help prevent the spread of infection, all personnel can implement a number of preventative measures
These procedures are derived from a group of standards referred to as universal precautions
• These precautions encompass a method of preventing the transmission of contact infections
• These precautions include hand washing, using personal protective equipment (gloves, gowns), taking personal hygiene precautions,
following decontamination procedures (cleaning environmental surfaces), and disposing of waste
Universal precautions have been adapted and instituted into school settings
• Not only do school personnel implement infection control procedures, but students need to learn them as well
• Some of these infection control procedures for schools include hand washing, using gloves, taking personal hygiene precautions, and
instituting environmental infection control procedures

14. Hand
Washing
The single most preventative measure to prevent to
spread of infection is proper hand washing
Practicing hand washing when and where it is needed is
important for hand washing to become routine
To decrease the spread of infection, it is essential that
hands are washed before preparing food, before eating,
after using the restroom, and before taking medications

15. Hand Washing
Protecting from infectious diseases and proper techniques for hand washing (pg. 24-26):
Controlling Exposure: Protecting Workers from Infectious Disease | WorkSafeBC
Hand Hygiene (bccdc.ca)
Teaching Students Proper Hand Washing:
◦ https://youtu.be/hD5i3l99mac

16. Educational
Programming
A school program for students with physical, health, and multiple
disabilities will vary based on the student’s cognitive abilities and needs
Students with physical disabilities have seven different curriculum options
They are as follows:
• General grade-level appropriate curriculum without modifications
• General education curriculum with modifications to accommodate for physical impairments
• General advanced or above grade-level academic curriculum with or without modifications
for the physical impairment
• Parallel curriculum that uses the general education curriculum but at a reduced level of
complexity
• Lower grade-level curriculum that targets lower grade-level objectives

17. Educational
Programming
◦ Functional academic curriculum that unlike the
general education curriculum has an applied skills
focus and targets functional academics o
◦ Functional curriculum that targets life management
skills including such areas as daily living skills, social
skills, vocational skills, and leisure skills
◦ Often the student with physical disabilities will
require functional skills to be included within
standard academic curriculum tracks
◦ The disabilities of these students require that
educators look beyond standard curricula and
consider the additional requirements of the student
to learn, apply information, and function as
independently as possible
◦ These physical impairments create challenges due to
the need for the students to learn how to manage
equipment, technology, and health issues in addition
to other curriculum requirements.

18. Educational Programming
◦ Regardless of the curriculum followed, the physical and health
impairments of these students result in the need for self-
management skills, regardless of the student’s cognitive level
◦ These students require instruction in specialized physical and health
management skills to function competently in school, community, and
home environments
◦ These skills are not part of the general education curriculum and are
often omitted in typical functional curricula

19. Functional
Activities
◦ The following may be used by educators to determine
whether a skill is functional:
◦ The skill increases the student’s independence in the
environment in which the student operates
◦ The skill provides the student access to a future environment
◦ It increases the number of activities and tasks in which the
student can perform independently or with partial
participation, reducing dependence on others. o It expands the
student’s control over the environment
◦ It increases the number of environments in which the student
can function
◦ It adds opportunities for, and the number of, social interactions
for the student
◦ It reduces stigmatization

20. Determining
Functional
Goals
Determining which functional goals are appropriate the
teacher will engage in a three-step process
1. Tasks and skills must be
identified
This is known as developing an
ecological inventory
2. A student’s capability to
perform the identified tasks and
skills must be assessed
This is known as discrepancy
analysis
3. The teacher must determine whether the task or skill
should be taught directly, with an adaptation, or through an
alternative performance strategy

21. Instruction
It is the arrangement of learning materials and the systematic presentation of opportunities for student response
Instruction is presented in a systematic manner to promote student understanding of what is being asked, foster skill acquisition of
the task being presented, and provide systematic information and assistance that enables student mastery of content
The elemental unit of instruction, the dynamics of which the teacher must understand and manipulate, is known as a trial
• A trial is an opportunity for the student to perform a requested skill or task
• The components of a trial are the behaviour(s) being requested, the materials and information being presented to the student that inform and set up
performance of the behaviour (antecedents), and the environmental results of the behaviour having occurred (consequences).

22. Instruction
The selection of behaviours, antecedents, and consequences, and
their arrangements and manipulations, are the basics of instruction
These basics are addressed using instructional strategies
Some of the major instructional strategies used to teach physical
management and self-help skills are as follows:
• Antecedent prompts
• Learning strategies
• Response prompts (including time delay, system of maximum prompts, system of
least prompts, and graduated guidance)
• Demonstration-guided practice independent-practice mode

23. Homework -
Reading
Read the following handouts (found on course site
under Student Resources):
◦ The Three Step Process
◦ Instructional Strategies
◦ Data Charts
◦ Error Correction and Analysis and Expanding
Instruction
Introduction to Physical Disability:
https://youtu.be/TcJcIOpF2T0

24. Homework - Journal #1
Read the Learned Helplessness Case Study on LuAnne and respond to the following
questions:
REFLECTION:
◦ In one page, described what caused LuAnn’s learned helpless and how it can be addressed.