NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY, AWKA

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF EARLY CHILDHOOD & PRIMARY

EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL EDUCATION

CEP 024

ASSOCIATE CERTIFICATE PROGRAMME

(SANDWICH)

DR. T.U. CHIGBO-OBASI

Introduction

Special Education is the design and delivery of teaching and learning

strategies for individuals with disabilities or learning difficulties who may or
may not be enrolled in regular schools. Pupils who need special education may
include pupils who have vision impairment or are blind, pupils with physical
disabilities, pupils with intellectual disability, pupils with learning difficulties,
pupils with behaviour disorders or emotional disturbance, and learning
difficulties.

There are pupils who require special education of some kind in most
elementary and primary school classes, and with changing social values, increased
acceptance and tolerance, and growth in the provision of services and resources for
special education across Nigeria, it is likely that the number of pupils with special
educational needs attending regular schools will increase rapidly. Consequently, it
is essential that all teachers develop practical and effective special educational
skills so that they may ensure that all pupils in their classes, including those
with special educational needs, learn effectively.

Reasons for Special Education

Special education is now included in all primary and elementary teacher

training programs in Nigeria. The major emphasis in the course is on preparing
teachers to work with pupils with special learning needs in regular school
classes. It is also intended to encourage trainee teachers to become advocates in
villages and other communities for inclusion of all with disabilities in their
local school. Over many years and in many countries, special education in regular
schools has been shown to dramatically improve educational performance and the

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overall quality of life of pupils with learning difficulties, disabilities and other
special educational needs. At the same time, teachers with good skills in special
education have been shown to be more effective teachers with the full range of
their pupils. These things only occur, however, when teachers know and
implement good special education methods. Quality special education in regular
schools benefits all pupils, including those with and without special educational
needs. When pupils with difficulties or disabilities are simply placed in regular
classes without implementation of quality special education strategies however, it
seems that no one benefits. It is the teacher that makes the difference.

Course Description

What is Special Education?

Special Education is the design of teaching and learning strategies for

individuals with disabilities or learning difficulties. It is also about attitude,
because teachers need a positive attitude to be effective special educators (that
means teachers need a positive attitude to be good teachers). Special education
is also about understanding the different needs that pupils have, including the
different types of disability and learning difficulties. Put simply, whenever a
teacher makes any kind of adaptation to their usual program so that they can
assist a pupil with a special need, that teacher is implementing special
education. The most effective teachers have an attitude that helps them to be
successful with all of their pupils. Which can be stated as follows:

Effective teachers don’t blame their pupils for not learning and they don’t
exclude pupils who don’t learn well. They blame their instruction and try to alter it
so that it works better. This kind of positive attitude is an essential part of special
education and is the path to success for all pupils and their teachers.

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Who is special education for?

Special education is for pupils with special educational needs.

1. These may be pupils who have a general difficulty with some part of their
learning at school or who seem to have difficulty with all kinds of
learning.
2. They may be pupils with a particular disability, such as a hearing
impairment, or intellectual disability.
3. They may be pupils with behaviour disorders, emotional problems or a
medical condition of one kind or another.

Their special need might be permanent or it might be temporary; this

depends on the nature of the need and, to some extent, on what action is taken
by their parents, teachers and other community members. Any pupil can have a
special educational need at some time or another, any pupil can develop a
special need. This is why it is sometimes said that special education is for all
pupils.

Special Education Terminology

Advocacy groups, and others representing people with disabilities in recent

years, have asked that professionals, the media and schools discontinue the use
of disability terminology that devalues people with disabilities. People with
disabilities do not wish to be known as a ‘Down syndrome person’ or ‘the
handicapped’, or by such term. They wish to be recognized as valued

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members of society, that is, people, who have a disability. People with
disabilities therefore prefer terms such as:

1. A person with a disability

2. People with disabilities
3. The child with cerebral palsy
4. Precious has a physical disability
5. Do you have a hearing impairment?

The principle to be followed is people first, disability second. (Foreman,

2020)

People with disabilities do not wish to be seen as the object of a punishment

or blight, or as victims, either. Nor do they wish to be seen as continually
suffering or in need of sympathy. They don’t like terms such as ‘suffers
from’, ‘afflicted with’, ‘physical problem’, etc. They prefer their disability to
be referred to as something that they just have.

The World Health Organization (WHO) determined the following definitions,

which have been generally accepted throughout the world:

1. Impairment: an abnormality in the way organs or systems function. E.g.,

a medical condition, eye disease, a heart problem.
2. Disability: the functional consequence of an impairment. E.g., an
intellectual disability due to brain impairment; low vision; deafness.
3. Handicap: the social or environmental consequence of a disability. E.g., a
person with a wheelchair is not handicapped when paths and buildings are
wheelchair accessible.

In writing and speaking about, and with, people with disabilities, whether
they are young or old, it is most important to use appropriate terminology.
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Firstly, it demonstrates to all that we value people with disabilities as members
of our society. Secondly, it educates those who read and hear what we say about
appropriate terminology, and therefore gives them an opportunity too, to help
develop and promote positive, inclusive and equitable values.

Use of language when talking about disability:

1. Avoid expressions such as: Use expressions such as:

2. The cerebral palsied People with cerebral palsy
3. Epileptics People with epilepsy
4. The deaf People who are deaf
5. The handicapped People with disabilities
6. His handicap is … His disability is …
7. The disabled People with disabilities
8. A blind man A man who is blind
9. Mental retardation Intellectual disability
10 The retarded People with intellectual disability
.
11 He is crippled He has a physical disability
.
12 He suffers from Down syndrome He has Down syndrome
.
13 She is wheelchair bound She uses a wheelchair
.
14 My deaf sister My sister with hearing impairment

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 .

Disabilities: Types, Causes & Prevention

Introduction

Teachers have an important role to play in teaching pupils with special

educational needs, accessing special education support services, accessing
medical or clinical services, and even providing some medical and therapy
services. Teachers also have an important role to play in educating pupils and
their communities about strategies that can prevent pupils from becoming
disabled or more disabled.

As a general rule, teachers do not need to know a whole lot of information

about disability types. They do, however, need to be able to recognize what
kind of disability a pupil may have and how to identify pupils with less obvious
disabilities.

In Nigeria, many schools are located in remote areas and do not have
immediate access to special education support services and some medical
services, teachers also need to know what basic treatments of a non-educational
nature they may need to use, and how to educate pupils and their communities
about preventing disabilities. In any case, trainee teachers have a natural
curiosity about disability types and causes that can help build an interest in
special education.

What types of disabilities are there?

There are eight major areas of special need that teachers are likely to come across
in schools:

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1. Learning difficulties
2. Intellectual disability
3. Physical disability
4. Hearing impairment
5. Speech impairment
6. Vision impairment
7. Behavioural and emotional disorders

Some pupils have a number of disabilities or other special needs.

Sometimes, this is a coincidence but it can also be the case that a particular
disease or condition has caused a number of disabilities (E.g., a pupil with
cerebral palsy might have a physical disability, a speech impairment and
intellectual disability (although many people with cerebral palsy do not have
an intellectual disability) or it can be that one disability has caused another
(E.g., a pupil with a severe hearing impairment may have learning
difficulties because they haven’t heard all the information they need to learn
to read effectively).
Learning Difficulty:
The pupils with special educational needs that teachers are most likely to
come across in their classes are pupils with learning difficulties. These are
pupils who do not necessarily have any disability but, for some reason,
have difficulty with learning. Usually, these pupils have difficulty in only
some areas of their learning, such as literacy, mathematics, and
receptive language (understanding instructions or directions, following
stories, and so on). Put simply, pupils with learning difficulties are
pupils who are experiencing significant difficulties with at least one area
of their learning at school.
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Consequences and related difficulties

Pupils with learning difficulties sometimes have other difficulties that

may be related to their learning difficulties or may be a consequence of their
learning difficulties. Some of the frequently occurring difficulties are:
1. Low confidence
2. Poor social relationships
3. Clumsiness, lack of coordination
4. Poor expressive skills

Intellectual Disability

Intellectual disability is a substantial limitation in cognitive functioning

(E.g., thinking skills). People with intellectual disability usually have limited
communication skills, limited self-care skills, poor social skills, and very
limited academic skills. Most importantly, people with intellectual disabilities
have great difficulty with learning and usually require special teaching
methods to learn efficiently. There can be mild, moderate and severe intellectual
disability.

Causes of intellectual disability include:

1. Genetic conditions
2. Problems during pregnancy
3. Problems at birth
4. Problems after birth

Physical Disabilities

Physical disabilities place some limitation on a person’s ability to move

about, use their limbs or hands or control their own movement. Physical

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disabilities are the most obvious disabilities, as a rule, although there are some
conditions that limit movement and mobility in less obvious or inconsistent ways
(E.g., epilepsy, cystic fibrosis, diabetes). Pupils with more severe physical
disabilities often have related health problem and, of course, physical disabilities
are often a symptom of health problem.

Hearing Impairment

Some children are born with hearing loss while others develop hearing
loss at some time. Many children have a mild hearing loss while some have severe
or profound hearing loss. Severe or profound hearing loss is known as deafness.
Children who are deaf before they learn language (2 to 3 years old) are known as
children with prelingually deafness. Deafness is an uncommon disability in
children but many children have a mild or moderate hearing loss. Prelingual
deafness can be caused by a number of different conditions, including exposure of
the pregnant mother to German measles or certain drugs or chemicals, cerebral
palsy and some genetic condition. However, most hearing loss is caused by ear
infections or injury in the early years of childhood. Mild or moderate hearing loss
can be a temporary condition in many children due to ear infection but ear
infections often also lead to permanent damage.

Speech Impairment

Children can have communication problems for a variety of reasons. In many

cases, a communication problem is a result of another disability, such as
intellectual disability, severe learning difficulties, physical disability (E.g., cerebral
palsy, cleft lip or palate), deafness or moderate hearing loss, or an emotional or
psychological disorder. In other cases, and for no obvious reason, children have

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different learning, understanding or expressing language. There are three types of
communication problems:

1. Expressive problems
2. Problems with interacting
3. Receptive problems

Teaching Strategies

1. Provide individual assistance in a kindly way,

2. Check pupils understanding regularly,
3. Provide all pupils with memory games, rhyming games, communication
games and other word games frequently,
4. Encourage pupils to observe each other making sounds and ask pupils to
feel their own mouths as they make letter sounds, words and other sounds,
5. Encourage mouth and tongue exercises, such as blowing bubbles, blowing
paper balls, coughing, yawning and opening the mouth very wide, moving
the tongue about and sticking it in and out,
6. Encourage and praise all attempts at speech and improvements,
7. Never force a child with a speech problem in front of the class,
8. Always respect pupils’ dignity,
9. Always allow time for pupils to finish sentences,
10.Provide as many communication activities as possible.

Vision Impairment

Vision plays a vital role in school learning and it is essential that teachers
understand the visual abilities of their pupils. Serious vision problems are
common in Nigerian schools but there are some pupils who have serious
vision loss or who are blind. Many pupils who have mild to moderate vision

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 impairments are not identified as such, so teachers have an important role in
detecting vision impairment. As it is with the case with hearing impairment
and some other disabilities, pupils with vision impairment can sometimes be
mistaken for pupils with intellectual disability or learning difficulties, so
when a teacher finds that a pupil is struggling at school, they should always
check the pupil’s vision and hearing. When vision impairment is not
addressed at school, it can lead to learning difficulties and even behavioural
problems, as the pupil misses important information, struggles to keep up
with other pupils, loses confidence and becomes frustrated.

Causes and Treatment of Vision Impairment:

Eye Condition Observable effects Management at school

Cortical visual Often occurs with other Use clear and simple
impairment: eyes disabilities (E.g, objects to try to teach
appear normal but there cerebral palsy). Very visual recognition. Use
is damage to the nervous low or no vision. other senses (touch and
system that the brain Problems making sense hearing) for teaching
uses to process visual of visual information and communicating.
information. CVI is

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caused by brain damage
Dry eyes: also called Night blindness and Leafy vegetables and
keratomalacia. A gradual loss of vision. vitamin A supplements
vitamin A deficiency The white part of the can reverse the
resulting from eye become dull and condition.
malnutrition. The eye wrinkles. The cornea
becomes very dry and may bulge and burst,
the cornea softens and causing blindness. The
forms ulcers condition is reversible
in its early stages.
Glaucoma: high Fluctuating vision loss. Children with glaucoma
pressure inside the Over-sensitivity to experience pain, which
eyeball. Eye becomes light. Loss of visual worsens during times of
enlarged and blindness field. Glaucoma can be stress.
can occur. stopped with medicine.
Hypermetropia: long- Eye strain when No special management
sightedness reading. Glasses are is needed if the child
needed. wears glasses.
Macular disease: Loss of clear vision and Pupils need to sit close
degeneration of the extreme short- to the chalkboard.
central part of the retina. sightedness. Over- Visual information
sensitivity to light. Loss needs to be very clear
of colour vision. Tinted and well-marked.
glasses and very strong
glasses for distance
viewing can help.
Myopia: short- Blurry distance vision. No special management
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 sightedness Glasses are needed. is needed if the child
wears glasses. very
clear, materials need to
be provided if glasses
are not worn.
Optic atropy: Fluctuating vision loss. Larger, clearer printed
Degeneration of the Very strong glasses material. Visual
optic nerve. needed for close and information needs to be
distant viewing. very clear and well-
marked.

Prevention

Many types of vision impairments are inherited and can be prevented. However,
some vision impairment can be prevented, as follows:

1. Pupils need to be educated to never throw stones, sticks or other small or

sharp objects at other children.
2. Pupils need to be educated about keeping chemicals such as lime, cement,
petrol, and cleaning products away from their hands and eyes.
3. Pupils and parents need to be educated about hygiene, especially keeping
eyes, faces and hands clean.
4. Eyes should only be cleaned with clean water; no chemicals should be
placed in or near the eye.

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5. Children should always be taken to health clinic if they have any kind of eye
problem or irritation.
6. Children and mothers need a diet that is rich in vitamin A. the best foods for
vitamin A are leafy vegetables, cassava, paw paw and other yellow and
orange vegetables.
7. Girls should be vaccinated against rubella (Geraman measles).

Behavioural and Emotional Disorders

Behavioural disorders are regarded as those behaviours that pupils
sometimes exhibit that are inappropriate and unacceptable in the
classroom or school. Sometimes, pupils exhibit inappropriate behaviour
because of emotional disorders but it is often impossible to determine
whether or not a pupil’s behaviour is actually caused by an emotional
disorder. For practical reasons, behavioural and emotional disorders can be
grouped as one area of special need.
Most pupils exhibit inappropriate behaviour at some time but pupils
regarded as having behaviour disorders perform inappropriate
behaviour more often and usually with greater intensity. The behavioural
disorders that usually concern teachers most are those that can affect their
teaching and other pupils, such as classroom disturbances, aggressive
teasing or bullying, continual taking and calling out, taking or
interfering with other students’ property, inability to work
independently or cooperatively, and refusal to comply with the teacher’s
instructions. However, some pupils have behaviour disorders that are less
obvious and only harm their own education, such as extreme shyness, very
low confidence and self-esteem, poor attendance and avoidance of

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academic work. These behaviour disorders could be called passive
behaviour disorders.

Causes of Behavioural and Emotional Disorders

There are many reasons why pupils have behavioural and emotional
disorders and it can be very difficult to identify a specific cause. Some
causes can be dealt with and changed but others cannot be resolved by the
teacher. Some typical causes are:
1. Home and community factors: abusive home, conflict at home,
inconsistent management at home, lack of sleep, lack of attention, love or
care.
2. School factors: disorganized teacher and teaching, unfair school
discipline practices, conflict with other pupils, difficult or confusing or
boring schoolwork, lack of praise for good behaviour, intolerant teacher,
poor relationship between school and home.
3. Pupil factors: low confidence, poor self-esteem.
4. Lack of interest: learning difficulties, unidentified disability (E.g.,
hearing or vision impairment, headaches, other illness) poor training in
social skills mental illness need for attention.

Teaching Strategies for Children with behavioural/Emotional Disorder

1. Effective, interesting, organized teaching.

2. Ignoring poor behaviour
3. Rewarding good behaviour
4. Time out
5. Punishment
6. Talking and investigating

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 7. Being consistent

Provisions that Distinguishes Special Education from Regular Education

Includes;

1. Special trained teachers

2. Special curricular content
3. Special methodology and
4. Special instructional materials

It might be pertinent to expatiate a little bit.

Special Trained Teachers

By Nigerian standard, a trained teacher could be said to be one who

underwent and has completed a planned programme of training in the principle and
practice of education, in a formal teacher training institutes. The said person should
have obtained Teachers Grade II, or national Certificate of Education or any other
higher degree. Special trained teachers here simply refer to those who in
addition to the professional certificate, are trained in teaching exceptional
children. A teacher of the deaf is considered a special trained teacher when in
addition to his Teachers grade II certificate which equips him with the knowledge
and experience of teaching normal children acquires more knowledge and skill in
sign language, finger alphabets and other communication skills that enhance the
teaching and learning of the deaf.

Special Curricular Content

It is noteworthy that the curriculum for moist exceptional children is not

entirely different from that of the normal children. Most of these are mere
modification of the regular curriculum to suit the needs of the exceptional

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child. In several cases, it might be necessary to develop and make use of special
curriculum. The curriculum for the blind should include typing, mobility training,
physical education, listening skills among others.

Special Methodology

It is known that a lot of individual differences exist among the exceptional

children as they differ in severity of their conditions, medical health, intelligence,
socio-economic background among others, these requires special methods to suit,
their individual need for example, individual instruction which takes into account
the totality of the child before presenting him with a task and other behaviors
modification approaches are normally advocated.

Special Instructional Material

Most of these include Braille writer, Dictaphone, and larger print typewriter
for the visually impaired, paper holders, stand up table and moveable chalk-boards
for the physical and health impaired.

What are the Aims and Objectives of Special Education?

The aims and objectives of Special Education are to:

1. Give concrete meaning to the idea of equalizing educational opportunities

for all children, their physical sensory, mental psychological or emotional
disabilities not withstanding
2. Provide adequate education for all people with special needs in order that
they may fully contribute their own quota to the development of the nation.
3. Provide opportunities for exceptionally gifted and talents, natural
endowments /traits at their own pace in, the interest of the nation’s economic
and technological development.

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4. Design a diversified and appropriate curriculum for all the beneficiaries.

Special Education Service Delivery System Models

The service delivery system can be categorized into:

HOME BASE: This is designed to provide special education services for

exceptional children from one month to three years at home. Here professionals
who handle five to eight exceptional children at a time move from house to
house to render special education service within a locality. The parents also
receive training from the professional on how to demonstrate or train the
exceptional children as well as keeping records of their activities. This service
is provided at pre-school-age, and helps prepare the exceptional child for the
school activities at end.

HOSPITAL BASE: Services are here provided for the severely sick that are
hospitalized. The professionals provide training for the hospital officials and the
parents on the how to instruct, demonstrate or provide exercise for exceptional
child. The professionals also provide periodically instruction on self-help skills,
cognition, socialization, motor skills to the exceptional child. An inventory of
all these activities are recorded in the developmental checklist and can be
referred to by the nurses/parents, and serve as a guide on what has been
provided and what is required further.

INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAMME (IEP): This takes into

account the totality of the child in terms of his needs, interests, abilities and
disabilities before presenting him with any task. It is individualized in the sense
that the programme is directed towards learning, while it is a programme
because it has systematic and clearly formulated goals.

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A well planned individualized educational programme should be systematically
based on the following steps:

a. A description of the child’s level of educational performance.

b. Selection of annual or long range objectives or goals.
c. A description of the special education needed to meet the peculiar needs of
the child. These include special instructional methods, materials and
physical education programmes. The extent to which the child should
participate in regular classes is also an issue that should be addressed here.
d. There should be an indication of individuals responsible for the
implementation of the programme. These may include, psychologists,
special educations, social workers, guidance counselors etc.
e. The last step should describe the criteria and schedules of evaluation, to
determine at least on annual basis the extent to which the objectives have
been achieved.

MAINSTREAMING
This is sometimes referred to as integration, normalization, or open
education connoting the fact that it accommodates children of all abilities
and disabilities. It is the process of educating all pupils regardless of their
physical or mental handicaps along with their non- handicapped peers.
Mainstreaming refers to the temporary instructional, and social
integration of eligible exceptional children with normal peers based on an
on-going, individually determined educational planning and programming
process, and requires clarification of responsibility among regular and
special education administrators, instructional and supportive personnel.

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 It is important to state that mainstreaming is more complex procedure
than just placing a handicapped child in a regular classroom, it is not another
dumping ground for the handicap.
A point to consider is the child’s ability to benefit from a regular
classroom setting i.e., his learning handicap should not be such that will
make him unable to learn in a regular classroom. It requires the use of
Individualized Educational Planning (IEP) resource room and itinerant
teachers for the exceptional children and the training and re-training of
regular class teachers to cope with the differences in the children.

EMOTIONAL DISTURBANCE
There is always the danger of parents not accepting the fact that their
child is emotionally disturbed, but they are found in most homes, schools
and societies.
Emotional disturbance is variously referred to as emotional
instability, emotional disorder, and emotional or social maladjustment.
In school, teachers refer to the emotional disturbed children as aggressive or
heady children, social workers label them “socially maladjusted” while
psychiatrists and psychologists may call them “delinquent”.
A child is considered emotionally disturbed depending on the behavior
exhibited, his age, the context of exhibiting the behavior, his person and the
presence of an observer.
When one exhibits behavior that do not in any way hamper his well-
being or those of others in contact with him, he is said to be emotionally
normal while one is said to be emotional disturbed when he exhibits
behaviour that inhibit his development or those of people staying
around them. There is general consensus that emotional disturbance
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consists of behaviour that go the extreme, which is constantly
maintained are not accepted to the society in which one finds himself.
Behaviour disturbance can be classified according to the degree of the
problem, i.e. Mild, Moderate or Severe, but there are two major categories of
emotional disturbance. These are the Withdrawn and Aggressive children.
A child is said to be withdrawn when he is mentally and socially
alienated to his environment, though he is not mentally retarded. Under this
withdrawn attitude, he may be unwilling or afraid to participate in whatever
goes on in the classroom, whether social or intellectual, but rather choose to
stay alone, play alone, work alone and associate with none of his mates. A
characteristic of withdrawn child is the exhibition of non-goal oriented but
self-stimulating behaviour like turning a spoon, a piece of stick, tossing a
coin and arranging, disorganizing, and rearranging things. The behaviour of
such children interfere with their own growth as they refuse to interact with
their own environment hence do not learn. Such children have been
variously referred to as “autistic” “neurotic” or “chizophrenic”. It is
unfortunate that this group of children are often neglected in our schools
because they are too quiet to disturb anybody.
The aggressive children exhibit behaviour that not only interfere with
their growth process but also those of others through repeated conflicts with
their siblings, mates, teachers etc. He rushes from one thing to another,
engages in non-goal oriented, non-self-directed or outright purposeless
activities. He moves around unnecessarily disrupting, beating, and fighting
other children. He may display unnecessary excessive anger with everything
and even himself, characteristics of temper tantrums.
They may tear books, papers, other children’s dresses, push over
chairs and desks etc. Children of this type are extra-punitive, blaming their
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 difficulties on the outside world, takes out their problems on the other
children and are constantly drawing attention to themselves. He noted
further that they learn little or nothing from objects, activities or events, and
where they learn at all, they seem incapable of using earlier, knowledge in
acquiring new ones, as they do not recognize cues, or the guiding principles
offered to assist them to learn.

Signs/Characteristics of Emotional Disturbance

It is a fact that there is no uniform behaviour among emotionally

disturbed children, but it is known that each of them exhibits one or more of the
following behaviour consistently within his environment which may be the home,
the school or the society in general.

1. One of the most significant signs of emotional disturbance is the show of

aggression which includes biting, fighting, hitting, kicking and the use of
vulgar languages.
2. Truancy is also another of their features as they show marked dislike for
school and school routine which makes them to stay away from school.
3. The child is in the habit of destroying both school and home materials.
4. The child is excessively careless loses his belongings quite often and may be
tempted to steal other children’s own as a replacement in order to avoid the
scolding of the parents.
5. Dresses in a shabby and tattered manner. Its frequent involvement in
aggressive behaviour leaves him with torn and dirty clothes.
6. There is the problem of poor attention as he shifts excessively from one
assignment to another.

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 7. He may be withdrawn, always day-dreaming and refuses to interact with his
environment.
8. He may be hyperactive, running about or climbing on objects excessively.
9. He may express unnecessary fears, like he may not want to get close to big
trees or a chicken.
10.He may have a very poor self-concept, that is, not knowing his abilities and
disabilities.

Assessment of Emotional Disturbance

Assessment here implies the tests and non-test methods of identifying

emotional disturbances. They can be identified using the following techniques:

1. Observation
2. Interview
3. Questionnaire
4. Rating scale
5. Checklist

Causes of Emotional Disturbances

1. Biological factors- genetic, neurological or biochemical factors

2. Family factors- parenting style; autocratic, permissive or democratic parents.
3. School factors- leadership styles; autocratic, permissive or democratic styles.
4. Societal factors.

GIFTEDNESS

It is a truism that every individual is endowed with some natural gift but
some seem to have gotten a greater portion of it. Such people should be

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recognized and given the support required for their meaningful contribution to the
society they belong and the world in general.

Most definitions of giftedness emphasize intelligence quotient (IQ) as

determined by an intelligence test, while others are based on performance or
the percentage into which one falls in a group.

Gifted and talented children are those who have outstanding ability
capable of high performance in any of the following abilities or aptitudes
either singularly or in combinations of the following:

1. General intellectual ability

2. Specific academic aptitude
3. Creative or productive thinking
4. Leadership ability
5. Visual performance ability and
6. Psychomotor aptitude

Signs/ Characteristics of Giftedness

The following are some of the characteristics of giftedness:

1. Vocabulary that is more in number and complexity than those of his age and
grade level.
2. Advanced ability to do logical thinking and to generalize or transfer
knowledge.
3. A demonstration of independent reading habit and task imposed discipline.
4. Learns faster and has a quicker recall of information.
5. High interest in discovery, experimentation and investigation necessary for
mastering object characteristics.
6. Ask complex and intelligent questions.
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Creative Characteristics

Some characteristics that shows creativity include the following:

1. Shows a sense of curiosity about things.

2. Prolific in ideas and solutions to problems.
3. Greater sense of humor.
4. Ever ready to venture into unfamiliar areas.
5. Highly initiative and innovative
6. Not bordered about maintaining the status quo.
7. Does not hide his feelings about issues.

Leadership Characteristics

Leadership characteristics include the following:

1. Truthfulness and trust worthiness.

2. Always concerned about people’s welfare.
3. Highly co-operative with others.
4. Adapts easily to new situations.
5. Associates well with both his peers and adults.
6. Participates in most social activities and sports.
7. Highly critical of adults values.
8. Highly confident of himself.

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