Characteristics of Learners

with Special Educational

Needs (SEN)
 NORMS OF DEVELOPMENT

Developmental norms are defined as standards by which the

progress of a child's development can be measured.
 Why is it important to know the
Characteristics of SEN?
 It will help us understand the child's disorder.

 To adjust learning styles of the learners.

 To know their strength and weaknesses.

 To provide accurate assessment, accommodation and

intervention to them.
IDEA- Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act
 IDEA is the nation’s special education law or the four-part
piece of American legislation.

 It gives rights and protections to kids with disabilities.

 Requires to provide special education and related services to

eligible students

According to IDEA, or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,

to be covered, a child’s school performance must be “adversely
affected” by one of the 13 conditions.
 13 Conditions under the IDEA

1. Autism 9. Other Health Impairment

2. Deaf- Blindness 10. Specific Learning Disability
3. Deafness 11. Speech or Language
4. Emotional Disturbance Impairment
5. Hearing Impairment 12. Traumatic Brain Injury
6. Intellectual Disability 13. Visual Impairment
7. Multiple Disabilities
8. Orthopedic Impairment
 AUTISM
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Tend to do:
Repetitive Activities
Stereotyped Movements
Resistance to Change
Intellectual Disability
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SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES
IDEA defines a specific learning disability as:
Students who have learning disabilities may exhibit a wide range of traits,
including:

 problems with reading comprehension

 spoken language
 Writing
 reasoning ability
 Hyperactivity
 Inattention
 perceptual coordination problems may also be associated with learning
disabilities.
 behaviors such as impulsiveness
 low tolerance for frustration
 problems in handling day-to-day social interactions
and situations
 inconsistent school performance
Common Types::
 Dyslexia - a language-based disability in which a
person has trouble understanding words, sentences, or
paragraphs.

 Dyscalculia - a mathematical disability in which a

person has a difficult time solving arithmetic problems
and grasping math concepts.

 Dysgraphia - a writing disability in which a person

finds it hard to form letters or write within a defined
space.
Common Types:
 Dysorthographia:

Auditory and Visual Processing Disabilities

Causes:
Heredity. It is not unusual to discover that people with
learning disabilities come from families in which other
family members have reported similar difficulties.

Problems during pregnancy and childbirth caused by

illness or injury during or before birth. Learning disabilities may
also be caused by the use of drugs and alcohol during pregnancy,
RH incompatibility with the mother (if untreated), premature or
prolonged labor or lack of oxygen or low weight at birth.

Incidents after birth. Head injuries, nutritional

deprivation, poisonous substances, (e.g., lead), and child abuse
can contribute to learning disabilities.
Emotional Disturbance
 Hyperactivity
 Aggression or Dangerous Behavior
 Withdrawal
 Immaturity
 Learning Difficulties

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Traumatic Brain Injury

Possible Characteristics of a person with

a Traumatic Brain Injury:
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Glascow Coma Scale score 13-15
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Glascow Coma Scale score 9-12
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Glascow Coma Scale score 8 or less

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Speech and Language Impairment

Examples:
stuttering or problems producing particular sounds, whereas
A language impairment is the difficulty or inability to
express emotion, ideas, or needs.
• articulation, the production of speech sounds
• fluency, the rhythm and flow of speech
• voice, the quality of pitch, resonance, or loudness
Students with language disorders may have trouble understanding or being
understood through all forms of communication — verbal, nonverbal, and
written. This can cause difficulty understanding the meaning of words and
putting words together to form an idea

Causes Of Speech & Language Disorders

 Genetic abnormalities
 Emotional stress
 Any trauma to brain or infection
 Voice disorders are caused by problems when air passes from the lungs, through the vocal
cords, and then through the throat, nose, mouth, and lips.

 DISLUENCY- Stuttering is the most common type of disfluency.

 ARTICULATION DISORDER- The child is not able to produce speech sounds clearly,
such as saying "coo" instead of "school.“

 PHONOLOGICAL DISORDER- The child does not use some or all of the speech
sounds to form words as expected for their age.

 VOICE DISORDERS- Other speech problems include:

 Hoarseness or gaspiness to the voice

 Voice may break in or out

 Pitch of the voice may change suddenly

 Visual Impairments
A person's vision may drastically change throughout life due to several internal and external
factors, such as genetics or stress. This results in problems known as visual impairment,
which describe an abnormal level of eyesight even with the use of eyeglasses, medication,
surgery, or contact lenses

 The definition of vision impairment is that a visually impaired person’s eyesight cannot be
corrected to a “normal level”.
 It may be said that visual impairment is the functional limitation of the eye or eyes or the
vision system. This leads to (1-5) –
 Loss of visual acuity and inability of the person to see objects as clearly as a healthy person
 Loss of visual field meaning inability of an individual to see as
 wide an area as the average person without moving the eyes
 or turning the head.
 Photophobia – inability to look at light
 Diplopia – double vision
 Visual distortion or distortion of images
 Visual perceptual difficulties or difficulties
 of perception Or any combination of the above features
Deafness and Hearing Impairments
Deafness is defined as "a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in
processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification." And Thus
why deafness may be viewed as a condition that prevents an individual from receiving
sound in all or most of its forms.
More severe hearing loss can be described
according to severity, as follows:

 Mild hearing loss: Hearing loss of 20 to 40

decibels.

 Moderate hearing loss: Hearing loss of 41 to

60 decibels.

 Severe hearing loss: Hearing loss of 61 to 80

decibels.

 Profound hearing loss or deafness: Hearing

loss of more than 81 decibels.
 Orthopedic Impairment
 Orthopedic Impairment is a severe impairment
that adversely affect a child’s educational
performance. Which it can affect the
musculoskeletal system, it has a big impact on a
child.

 Impairments caused usually by disease (such as

poliomyelitis and bone tuberculosis)

 Impairments from other causes (such as cerebral

palsy, amputations)

 And fractures or burns that cause contractures.

Here some of the examples that has an
orthopedic impairment:
 OTHER HEALTH IMPAIRMENT

Means having limited strength, vitality, or alertness

including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited
alertness with respect to the educational environment that;
(i)is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder
or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), diabetes, epilepsy, a heart
condition hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell
anemia, and Tourette Syndrome.
(ii)Adversely affects a child’s educational performance

Diagnosis of health impairments is usually made by physicians, who identify the

health problems, and school personnel, who identify the educational disability.
 Example:
A student may require nursing services to administer
medication, times and places to rest during the day, and
provisions for instruction I n the home. When health
impairments adversely affect educational progress even with
the curricular adaptations and modifications, special
education is indicated.
 Deaf – Blindness
It means concomitant hearing and visual
impairments;

The combination of which causes such severe

communication and other developmental and
educational needs that they cannot be accommodated
in special education programs solely for children with
deafness or children with blindness

Only a small number of students are deaf-blind, and

their assessment is typically complex.
Gifted and Talented
 Typically The six types of
giftedness
By: Betts G. and Neihart M.

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Typically The six types of
giftedness
By: Betts G. and Neihart M.
Typically The six types of
giftedness
By: Betts G. and Neihart M.
 NOTE
 The terms impairment, disability, and handicap are sometimes
used interchangeably, they are not synonymous.

Impairment - refers to the loss or reduced function of a particular body part or

organ (e.g., a missing limb)

Disability exists when an impairment limits a person’s ability to perform certain

tasks (e.g., walk, see, add a row of numbers).

Handicap refers to a problem or a disadvantage that a person with a disability

or an impairment encounters when interacting with the environment.
 ACTIVITY TIME!

ARRANGE AND MATCH!

Instruction: Each group will be given 5 scrambled words with
definitions a Cartolina; words consisting the different disabilities
discussed by the reporters as well as each definition. Each group
must arrange the scrambled words as fast as they could and then
match the characteristics of each. Winning group will be given a
reward. So, let’s go! Let us ARRANGE AND MATCH!
THANK YOU!