MEANING OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND CATEGORIES OF CHILDREN WITH

SPECIAL NEEDS
To the Course Professors and Students:
Exceptional children and youth like all other pupils in regular classes are
individuals with their unique traits and characteristics. Some of them learn slower than
the average pupils, like those with mental retardation. Meanwhile, those who are gifted
and talented learn very fast and show creativity in their work. There are exceptional
children who have learning disabilities, so that, although their mental ability is average
or even above average, they do not learn as much as they can. Still others have
sensory disabilities like blindness or low vision and deafness; communication disorders,
physical disabilities, like cerebral palsy, spina bifida, spinal cord injuries and limb
deficiency; chronic health impairments like epilepsy, juvenile diabetes mellitus, asthma,
cystic fibrosis and hemophilia, among others.

However, in spite their disabilities, exceptional children and youth like all other
children have the same psychological needs: they want to belong, to be accepted, to be
appreciated and to be loved. In return, they are capable of showing appreciation,
gratitude, love and friendship.

The Department of Education Special Education Division of the Bureau of

Elementary Education manages and supervises the special education programs all over
the country. Special education enables exceptional children to study in regular schools
or in special school. The special education teacher helps them participate in school
activities through a modified or functional curriculum.

At the end of the chapter, the students should be able to:

1. define special education and explain the meaning of individually planned,
systematically implemented, and carefully evaluated instruction for children
with special needs;
2. explain how special education enables exceptional children to benefit from
the basic education program of the Department of Education;
3. cite the difference between special education as essentially instruction and as
purposeful intervention;
4. define the terms exceptional children and youth and children with special
needs (CSN);
5. distinguish the following basic terms in special education from each other:
developmental disability, impairment or disability, handicap and at risk;
6. define, compare, and contrast the nine categories of CSN from each other;
and
7. develop positive attitude towards exceptional children and youth.

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 What is Special Education?

Current literature defines special education as individually planned,

systematically implemented, and carefully evaluated instruction to help exceptional
children achieve the greatest possible personal self-sufficiency and success in
present and future environments (Heward, 2003).

Individually planned instruction. In the United States, the law on Individuals

with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires that an individualized education program
(IEP) be developed and implemented for every special education student between the
ages of 3 and 21. The basic requirements of IDEA of all IEPs included statements of: (1)
the child’s present level of performance, academic achievement, social adaption,
prevocational and vocational skills, psychomotor skills, and self-help skills; (2) annual
goals describing the educational performance to be achieved by the end of each school
year; (3) short-term instructional objectives presented in measurable, intermediate steps
between the present level of educational performance and the annual goals; (4) specific
educational services; and (5) needed transition services from age 16 or earlier before
the student leaves the school setting.

Systematically implemented and evaluated instruction. Each type of children

with special education needs requires particular educational services, curriculum goals,
competencies of learning and skills.

Personal self-sufficiency. An important goal of special education is to help the

child become independent from the assistance of adults in personal maintenance and
development, homemaking, community life, vocational and leisure activities and travel.

The present environment refers to the current conditions in the life of the child
with a disability. The present environment includes the family, the school, the community
where he/ she lives, the institutions in society that extend assistance and support to
children and youth with special education needs such as the government,
nongovernment organizations, socio-civic organizations and other groups.

The future environment is a forecast of how the child with a disability can move
on college or vocational program, and finally, to the workplace where he/ she can be
gainfully employed. Special education helps the child in the transition from a student to
a wage earner so that he or she can lead a normal life even if he or she has a disability.

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 Who Are Exceptional Children or Children and Youth with Special Needs?

Children and youth who have one or more of the conditions mentioned in the
vignettes in Chapter 1, among others, are called exceptional children. The term
exceptional children and youth cover those with mental retardation, giftedness and
talent, learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral disorders, communication
disorders, deafness, blindness and low vision, physical disabilities, health impairments,
and severe disabilities. These are children and youth who experience difficulties in
learning the basic education curriculum and need a modified or functional curriculum, as
well as those whose performance is so superior that they need a differentiated special
education curriculum to help them attain their full potential.

Exceptional children are also referred to as children with special needs (CSN).
Like the children and youth in elementary and secondary schools, the mental ability of
exceptional children or CSN may be average, below or above average.

There are four points of view about special education (Heward, 2003).
1. Special education is a legislatively governed enterprise.
This point of view is expressed in the legal bases of special education that
are discussed in Chapter 1. Article IV, Section 1 and guarantee that the State
shall protect and promote the rights of all citizens to quality education at all
levels and shall take appropriate steps to make such education available to
all. The State shall provide adult citizens, the disabled and out-of-school
youth with training in civics, vocational efficiency and other skills. The State
shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health and other
social services available to all people at affordable costs. There shall be
priority to the needs of the underprivileged, the sick, the elderly, the disabled,
women and children.

R.A 7277 – The Magna Carta for Disabled Persons – provides for the
rehabilitations, self-development and self-reliance of disabled persons and
their integration into mainstream society.

The Philippine Policies and Guidelines for Special Education provides that
every child with special needs has a right to an educational program that is
suitable to his/ her needs. Special education shares with regular education
basic responsibilities of the educational system to fulfill the right of the child to
develop his/ her potential.

There are many other laws, memoranda and circulars that have been
enacted the years in support of special education.

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 2. Special education is a part of the country’s educational system.

Special education is a part of the Department of Education’s basic

education program. With its modest historical beginning in 1907, special
education is now a major part of the basic education program in elementary
and secondary school. The Special Education Division of the Bureau of
Elementary Education formulates polices, plans and programs, develops
standards of programs and services. There are special education programs in
public and private schools in all the regions of the country. The government
continues to grant scholarships to deserving school administrators and
teachers to pursue the graduate degrees at the Philippine Normal University
and the University if the Philippines. In-service education programs are
conducted to upgrade the competencies of administrators, teachers and non-
teaching personnel. Networks and linkages in the country and overseas are
sustained.

3. Special education is teaching children with special needs in the least

restrictive environment.

In the final analysis, teaching is what special education is all about. From
This perspective, special education is defined in terms of the who, what, how
and where of its implementation.

WHO: The exceptional children or the children and youth with special
education need are the most important persons in special education. Then
there are the school administrators, the special education teachers, the
regular teachers, the interdisciplinary teams of professionals such as the
guidance counselors, the school psychologists, the speech therapists,
physical and occupational therapists, medical doctors, and specialists who
help provide the specific services that exceptional children need.

WHAT: Every exceptional child need access to a differentiated and

modified curricular program to enable him/ her to learn the skills and
competencies in the basic education curriculum. The individualized education
program (IEP) states the annual goals, the quarterly objectives, the strategies
for teaching and evaluation of learning and the services the exceptional child
needs.

HOW: Children with mental retardation are taught adaptive skills and basic
academic content that are suitable to their mental ability. Gifted children are
provided with enrichment activities and advanced content knowledge so that
they can learn more that what the basic education curriculum offers. Most of
them are in accelerated classes where they finish elementary education in

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 five years instead of six. Children who are blind learn braille and orientation
and mobility or travel techniques. Children who are deaf learn sign language
and speech reading.

WHERE: There are several educational placements for these children.

The most preferred is inclusive education where they are mainstreamed in
regular classes. Other types of educational placements are special schools,
residential schools, self-contained classes, homebound and hospital
instruction.

4. Special education is purposeful intervention.

Intervention prevents, eliminates and/or overcomes the obstacles that

might keep an individual with disabilities from learning, from full and active
participation in school activities, and from engaging in social and leisure
activities.

Preventive intervention is designed to keep potential or minor problems

from becoming a disability. Primary prevention is designed to eliminate or
counteract risk factors so that a disability is not acquired. Secondary
intervention is aimed at reducing or eliminating the effects of existing risk
factors. Tertiary prevention is intended to minimize the impact of a specific
condition or disability among those with disabilities. Remedial intervention
attempts to eliminate the effects of a disability.

The Basic Terms in Special Education: Developmental Disability, Impairment or

Disability, Handicap and At Risk

Development disability refers to a severe, chronic disability of a child five years

of age or older that is:

1. attributable to a mental or physical impairment or a combination of mental and

physical impairments;
2. manifested before the person attains age 22;
3. likely to continue indefinitely;
4. results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the areas of major
life activities such as self-care, language, learning mobility, self-direction,
capacity for independent living and eco- nomic self-sufficiency; and
5. reflects the person's need for a combination and sequence of special care,
treatment or other services that are lifelong or of extended duration and are
individually planned and coordinated. (Beirne-Smith, 2002)

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 Impairment or disability refers to reduced function or loss of a specific part of
the body or organ. A person may have disabilities such as blindness or low vision,
deafness or hard of hearing condition, mental retardation, learning disabilities,
communication disorders, emotional and behavioral disorders, physical and health
impairments and severe disabilities. These disabilities or impairments limit or restrict the
normal functions of a particular organ of the body. In the case of the sensory disabilities
- blindness and deafness-vision or sight and audition or hearing do not function normally
and restrict the person's seeing and hearing. The speech mechanism is impaired in
communication disorders and causes the person to have voice problems, improper
rhythm and timing in speech and even stuttering. The skeletal and nervous systems are
impaired in cases of physical and health impairments and severe disabilities. The
results are crippling conditions, cerebral palsy and other physical disabilities.
Impairment and disability are used interchangeably.

Handicap refers to a problem a person with a disability or impairment encounters

when interacting with people, events and the physical aspects of the environment. For
example, a child with low vision or blindness cannot read the regular print of textbooks.
The child either reads books that are published in large print or transcribed into braille. A
child who is hard of hearing or who suffers from deafness cannot hear regular
conversation and uses a hearing aid and reads the lips of the speaker. A child who has
a physical disability such as a crippling condition cannot walk normally and uses a
wheelchair, braces or artificial limbs. However, it must be remembered that a disability
may pose a handicap in one environment but not in another. A wheelchair-bound child
with a physical disability may not be able to compete with his classmates in the Physical
Education class, but may excel in Mathematics, Science and other academic subjects.

At risk refers to children who have greater chances than other children to
develop a disability. The child is in danger of substantial developmental delay because
of medical, biological, or environmental factors if early intervention services are not
provided. Down syndrome occurs during the early phase of pregnancy when one
parental chromosome fails to separate at conception resulting in the child's having forty-
seven chromosomes instead of the normal forty-six or twenty-three pairs. At birth, the
infant has abnormal physical characteristics and mental retardation. If a pregnant
woman contracts German measles or rubella during the first three months of pregnancy,
the fetus is at risk for blindness, deafness or mental retardation. The fetus in the womb
of a woman who consumes alcohol heavily and chain-smokes, or takes prohibited drugs
is at risk for brain injury that causes disabilities. If a disability runs in the family, the fetus
may inherit it and the infant will be born with a disability. Children may meet accidents,
suffer from certain diseases, malnutrition and other environmental deprivations that can
lead to disabilities.

Categories of Children at Risk

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 Children with established risk are those with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome,
and other conditions that started during pregnancy. Children with biological risk are
those who are born prematurely, underweight at birth, whose mother contracted
diabetes or rubella during the first trimester of pregnancy, or who had bacterial
infections like meningitis and HIV. Environmental risk results from extreme poverty,
child abuse, absence of adequate shelter and medical care, parental substance abuse,
limited opportunities for nurturance and social stimulation.

What are the Categories of Exceptionalities Among Children and Youth with
Special Needs?

1. Mental retardation refers to substantial limitations in present functioning. It is

characterized by significantly sub-average intellectual functioning, existing
concurrently with related limitations in two or more of the following applicable
adaptive skill areas: communication, self-care, home living, social skills,
community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure
and work. Mental retardation manifests before age 18 (American Association of
Mental Retardation, 1992).

2. Giftedness and talent refer to high performance in intellectual, creative or

artistic areas, unusual leadership capacity, and excellence in specific academic
field (US Government). Giftedness refers to the traits of above-average general
abilities, high level task commitment, and creativity (Renzulli, 1978). Giftedness
emphasizes talent as the primary defining characteristic (Feldhusen, 1992).
Giftedness shows in superior memory, observational powers, curiosity, creativity,
and ability to learn (Piirto, 1994).

3. Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic

psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken
or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak,
read, write, spell or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such
conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction,
dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who
have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor
handicaps, of mental retardation or of environmental, cultural, or economic
disadvantages (US Office of Education, 1977).

4. The term emotional and behavioral disorders means a condition exhibiting

one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a
marked degree, which adversely affects educational performance: (a) an inability
to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, and health factors;
(b) an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with
peers and teachers; (c)inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal

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 circum- stances; (d) a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or
(e) a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal
or school problems. The term includes children who are schizophrenic (or
autistic). The term does not include children who are socially maladjusted unless
it is determined that they are seriously emotionally disturbed (US Department of
Education).

5. Speech and language disorders or communication disorders exist when the

impact that a communication pattern has on a person's life meets any one of the
following criteria: (a) the transmission and/or perception of messages is faulty; (b)
the person is placed at an economic disadvantage; (c) the person is placed at a
learning disadvantage, (c) there is negative impact on the person's emotional
growth; (d) the problem causes physical damage or endangers the health of the
person (Emerick and Haynes, 1986).

6. Hearing impairment is a generic term that includes hearing disabilities ranging

from mild to profound, thus encompassing children who are deaf and those who
are hard of hearing. A person who is deaf is not able to use hearing to
understand speech, although he or she may perceive some sounds. Even with a
hearing aid, the hearing loss is too great to allow a deaf person to understand
speech through the ears alone. A person who is hard of hearing has a significant
hearing loss that makes some special adaptations necessary (Paul and Quigley,
1990, cited in Heward, 2003).

7. Students with visual impairment display a wide range of visual dis abilities from
total blindness to relatively good residual (remaining) vision. There is a visual
restriction of sufficient severity that it interferes with normal progress in a regular
educational program without modifications (Scholl. 1986, cited in Heward, 2003).
A child who is blind is totally without sight or has so little vision that he or she
learns primarily through the other senses, such as touch to read braille. A child
with low vision is able to learn through the visual channel and generally learns to
read print.

8. Physical impairments may be orthopedic impairments that involve the skeletal

system-the bones, joints, limbs, and associated muscles. Or, they may be
neurological impairments that involve the nervous system affecting the ability to
move, use, feel, or control certain parts of the body. Health impairments include
chronic illnesses, that is, they are present over long periods and tend not to get
better or disappear.

9. The term severe disabilities generally encompass individuals with severe and
profound disabilities in intellectual, physical and social functioning. Because of
the intensity of their physical, mental or emotional problems, or a combination of

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 such problems, they need highly specialized educational, social, psychological
and medical services beyond those which are traditionally offered by regular and
special education programs in order to maximize their potential for useful and
meaningful participation in society and for self-fulfillment. Children and youth with
severe disabilities include those who are seriously emotionally disturbed,
schizophrenic, autistic, profoundly and severely mentally retarded, deaf-blind.
mentally retarded-blind and cerebral-palsied-deaf (US Department of Education).
“Imbecile, moron, idiot, mental deficient, dunce and fool.” Even the words “mute”
and “dumb” are unacceptable and inappropriate to describe persons who
manifest speech and language problems as a result of deafness.

Is It Correct to Use Disability Category Labels?

There are two points of view regarding the use of labels to describe children and
youth with disabilities. The first point of view frowns on labeling these children as
mentally retarded, learning disabled, emotionally disturbed, socially maladapted, blind,
deaf or physically disabled. Use of disability labels calls attention to the disability itself
and overlooks the more important and positive characteristics of the person. These
negative labels cause the "spread phenomenon" to permeate the mind of the able-
bodied persons. The disability becomes the major influence in the development of
preconceived ideas that tend to be negative, such as helplessness, dependence and
doom to a life of hopelessness. The truth is, persons with disabilities are first and
foremost human beings who have the same physical and psychological needs like
everybody else. They need to belong, to be loved, to be useful.

The second and less popular point of view is that it is necessary to use workable
disability category labels in order to describe the exceptional learning needs for a
systematic provision of special education services.

Nevertheless, decades of research and debates on the issue have not arrived at
any conclusive resolution of the labeling problem. A number of pros and cons have been
advanced by various specialists and educators (Heward, 2003).

Pros and Possible Benefits of Labeling

 Categories and relate diagnosis to specific types of education and treatment.
 Labeling may lead to “protective” response in which children are more accepting
of the atypical behavior by a peer with disabilities that they would be if that same
behavior were emitted by a child without disabilities
 Labeling helps professionals communicate with one another and classify and
assess research findings.
 Funding of special education programs is often based on specific categories of
exceptionality.

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  Labels enable disability-specific advocacy groups to promote specific programs
and to spur legislative action.
 Labeling helps make exceptional children’s needs more visible to public.

Possible Disadvantages of Labeling

 Because labels usually focus on disability, impairment, and performance deficits,

some people may think only in terms of what the individual cannot do instead of
what he or she can or might be able to learn to do.
 Labels may cause others to hold low expectations for and to differentially treat a
child on the basis of the label, which may result to a "self-fulfilling prophecy."
For example, in one study, student teachers gave a child labeled "autistic" more
praise and rewards and less verbal correction for incorrect responses than they
gave a child labeled "normal." Such differential treatment could hamper a child's
acquisition of new skills and contribute to the development and maintenance of a
level of performance consistent with the label's prediction.
 Labels that describe a child's performance deficit often mistakenly acquire the
role of explanatory constructs. For example, "Sherry acts that way because she
is emotionally disturbed."
 Labels suggest that learning problems are primarily the result of some- thing
wrong within the child, thereby reducing the systematic examination of and
accountability for instructional variables as the cause of performance deficits.
This is especially damaging outcome when the label provides educators with a
built-in excuse for ineffective instruction. For example, "Jalen hasn't learned to
read because he's ____”).
 A labeled child may develop poor self-concept.
 Labels may lead peers to reject or ridicule the labeled child.
 Special education labels have a certain permanence; once labeled, it is difficult
for a child to ever again achieve the status of simply being "just another kid."
 Labels often provide a basis for keeping children out of the regular classroom.
 A disproportionate number of children from diverse cultural, ethnic and linguistic
groups have been inaccurately labeled as disabled. especially under the
category mild mental retardation.
 Classification of exceptional children requires the expenditure of a great amount
of money and professional and student time that could better be spent in
planning and delivering instruction.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of America

In the United States, there is a powerful law (“blockbuster legislation”) that was
enacted in 1976. Public Law 94-142, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) has changed the American system education. It has affected every school in the

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country and has changed the roles of regular and special education teachers, school
administrators, parents and others in the educational system. The IDEA is a
comprehensive legislation regarding the education of children with disabilities. The law
clearly reflects the concern of society for citizens with disabilities to be treated like all
other citizens with the same rights and privileges.

The major provisions of IDEA states that all children with disabilities who are
between the ages of 3 to 21, regardless if the type or severity of their disabilities shall
receive a free, appropriate public education. All children with disabilities shall be located
and identified. Six major principles shall be followed in organizing and implementing
special education programs: (Heward, 2003)
1. Zero reject. Schools must enroll every child, regardless of the nature or severity
of his or her disabilities; no child with disabilities may be excluded from a public
education.
2. Nondiscriminatory testing. Schools must use nonbiased, multifactored
methods of evaluation to determine whether a child has a disability and, if so,
whether special education needed, Testing and evaluation procedures must be
administered in the child’s native language, and identification and placement
decisions must not be made on the basis of a single test score.
3. Appropriate education. School must develop and implement an individualized
education program (IEP) for each student with a disability. The IEP must be
individually designed to meet the child’s unique needs.
4. Least restrictive environment. Schools must educate students with disabilities,
with children who do not have disabilities to the maximum extent possible.
5. Due process. School must provide safeguards to protect the right of children
with disabilities and their parents by ensuring due process, confidentially of
records, and parental involvement in educational planning and placement
decisions.
6. Parent participation. Schools must collaborate with the parents of students with
disabilities in the design and implementation of special education services.

Read and Respond

Test on Content Knowledge
1. Define and explain the following terms: exceptional children, special education,
disability or impairment, handicap, and at risk.
2. In what ways is special education:
 A legislatively governed enterprise?
 A part of basic education?
 The process of teaching children and youth with special education needs?
 An intervention processes?
3. Fill in the following matrix with the definition, learning and behavior
characteristics of the categories of CSN.

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 CATEGORY OF CSN DEFINITION, TYPES, CHARACTERISTICS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Reflection And Application of Learning

Touch base with exceptional children in your community. Locate a public or

private elementary and secondary school where CSN are enrolled. Ask your instructor
for a letter requesting the school principal’s permission to visit the special education
classes.

Ask the SPED teacher for information about the children: the category of their
exceptionality, the causes, personal data like their age, family background, number of
years in school and other relevant information.

Observe how the SPED teacher goes about his or her job. You may ask how he
or she feels about teaching these children. You may also ask him or her about the future
or these children when they leave school.

Write a report on your visit and observation of CSN. Share our findings with your
classmates.

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