Republic of the Philippines

UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN PHILIPPINES

University Town, Catarman, N. Samar
Web: http://uep.edu.ph; Email: uepnsofficial@gmail.com

Module in Educ 6a
Facilitating Learner-
centered Teaching

April Fatima M. Sardeňa

Part-Time Lecturer
First Semester, School Year 2021-2022
 Learners with Exceptionalities

Introduction
Learners with
One significant factor that highlights individual differences and diversity in
learning is the presence of exceptionalities. We commonly refer to learners with
exceptionalities as persons who are different in some way from the “normal” or “average”.
The term “exceptional learners” includes those with special needs related to cognitive
abilities, behavior, social functioning, physical and sensory impairments, emotional
disturbances, and giftedness.

Advance Organizer

Mental
Retardation
Learning
Impairments
Disabilities
Sensory

Exceptionalities

Physical Disabilities
Emotional and and Health
Behavioral Disorders Impairments

Autism
 ENGAGE

Watch any of the following films

The Rain Man
I am Sam
Son-rise a Miracle of Love
The Life of Hellen Keller

EXPLORE

1. Describe the main character in the movie you watched.

_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

2. What was his/her exceptionalities? Describe. ________________________

_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

3. What problems/difficulties did the main character experience?

_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________

4. Who provided support? What support did he/she get from his/her environment?
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
 EXPLAIN

From the movie you watched you saw the challenges that confront a person with
special needs. The person’s adjustment entails the support of the people around him. As
a future teacher, you would probably encounter learners with special needs, more so if
special education is your major. It is therefore necessary that you have both the right
information and proper attitude in dealing with special learners. This will help you
perform your task to facilitate learning. Let us begin differentiating the words disability
and handicap.
Disability. A disability is a measurable impairment or limitation that “interferes
with a person’s ability, for example, to walk, lift, hear, or learn. It may refer to a
physical, sensory, or mental condition” (Schiefelbusch Institute 1996).
Handicap. Is a disadvantage that occurs as a result of a disability or impairment.
The degree of disadvantage is often dependent on the adjustment made by both the
person and his environment.

Categories of Exceptionalities

For this short introduction of categories, we are basing it on the categories found in
Omrod’s Educational Psychology (2000).

Specific Cognitive or Academic Difficulties

Learning Disabilities. Involves difficulties in specific cognitive processes like
perception, language memory or metacognition that are not due to other disabilities.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. 1. Difficulty in either focusing and
maintaining attention and 2. Recurrent hyperactive and impulsive behavior.
Speech and Communication Disorders. There is difficulty in spoken language
including voice disorders, inability to produce the sounds correctly, stuttering, difficulty
in spoken language comprehension that significantly hamper classroom performance.
Social/Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties
Autism. A condition manifested by different levels of impaired social interaction
and communication, repetitive behaviors and limited interests.
Mental Retardation. Refers to significant subaverage intelligence and deficits in
adaptive behavior.
Emotional/Conduct Disorder. Involves the presence of emotional states like
depression and aggression over a considerable amount of time that they notably
disturb learning and performance in school.

Physical Disabilities and Health Impairments

Physical Disabilities and Health Impairments. This involves physical or medical
conditions (usually long-term) including one or more of these: (1) limited energy
and strength, (2) reduced mental alertness, and/or (3) little muscle control.
Severe and Multiple Disabilities. This refers to the presence of two or more
different types of disability, at times at a profound level.

Sensory Impairments
Visual Impairments. These are conditions when there is malfunction of the eyes
or optic nerves that normal vision even with corrective lenses.
Hearing Impairments. These involve malfunction of the ear or auditory nerves
that hinders perception of sounds within the frequency range of normal speech.

Giftedness
Giftedness. This involves a significantly high level of cognitive development.
There is unusually high ability or aptitude in one or more of these aspects:
intellectual ability, aptitude in one or more of these aspects: intellectual ability,
aptitude in academic subjects, creativity, visual or performing arts or leadership.
 People-First Language

People-first language tells us what conditions people have, not what they are
(Schiefelbusch Institute, 1996). Other suggestions for referring to those with disabilities
include:
 Avoiding generic labels
 Emphasizing abilities, not limitations
 Avoiding euphemisms
 Avoiding implying illness or suffering

Activity 1

1. Make a collection of teaching guidelines or tips on how to work with students

with exceptionalities. Follow the categories shown in this Module.
2. Advocate for people-first language by telling at least 5 people about how to use
people-first language when referring to learners with exceptionalities.

Activity 2

Revise the following sentences to adhere to the people-first language and the other
guidelines given in this Module.
1. The teacher thought of many strategies to teach the mentally challenged.
2. Their brother is mentally retarded.
3. Their organization is for the autistic.
4. He is a polio victim who currently suffers form post-polio syndrome.
5. There was a blind girl in my psychology class.