Teaching and Learning Skills

Course Code: EDU 103

Topic: Low-Incidence Disabilities
Lecture 6 
BS Applied Psychology
Instructor : Faisal Mumtaz Chahal
Department of Psychology
Email:drfmc@lgu.edu.pk
 Objectives
At the end of this presentation, the students will be able
to:
• Learn about severe, profound and multiple disabilities.
• Teaching methods for students with profound and
multiple disabilities.
• Learn about educational approaches.
 Severe, Profound And Multiple disabilities

Severe disability
• Significant impairments in intellectual, motor, and/or social functioning
• IQ scores of 35 to 40 or 40 to 55
Profound disability
• Profound developmental disabilities in all five of the following areas: cognition,
communication, social skills, motor-mobility, and activities of daily living
• IQ scores of 20 to 25 and below
Multiple disabilities
• Multiple disabilities means concomitant impairments,
“The combination of which causes such severe educational needs that
they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for
one of the impairments”.
 Characteristics
Most students with severe disabilities
• Exhibit significant deficits in intellectual functioning
• Possess more than one disability
• Need special services and supports because of motor
impediments; communication, visual and auditory impairments;
and seizure disorders
• Treatment of medical conditions and health problems results in
frequent and often extended absences from school
• Exhibit significant and obvious deficits in multiple life-skill or
developmental areas.
Characteristics and Prevalence
Characteristics
• Slow acquisition rates for learning new skills
• Poor generalization and maintenance of newly learned skills
• Limited communication skills
• Impaired physical and motor development
• Deficits in self-help skills
• Infrequent constructive behavior and interaction
• Stereotypic and challenging behavior
Prevalence
• Estimates range from 0.1% to 1% of the population
 Causes
• Severe intellectual disabilities can be caused by biological conditions,
that may occur before birth (prenatal), during (perinatal),or after birth
(postnatal)
• In almost every case, a brain disorder is involved
• Brain disorders are the result of either
• Brain digenesis (abnormal brain development)
• Brain damage (caused by influences that alter the structure or
function of a brain that had been developing normally up to that point)
 Teaching Students with Severe and
Multiple Disabilities
•Teaching students with severe disabilities requires teachers to:
•be well organized, firm, and consistent
•be knowledgeable about one-to-one and small group instructional
formats
•be able to work cooperatively with other teachers and related service
professionals
•maintain accurate records and constant planning for future needs of
students
•be sensitive to small changes in behavior
 Educational Approaches
Curriculum: What Should be Taught

• Functional skills - activities of daily living skills (ADLs)

• Age-appropriate skills-activities that are appropriate for same age
peers with disabilities
• Communication skills -an essential quality of human life
• Literacy -provides access to information and further learning
• Recreation and leisure skills-the ability to play and later to occupy
themselves constructively and pleasurably during free time
• Making Choices -opportunities to make choices and the ability to
make choices
 Educational Approaches
Instructional Methods: How Should
Students Be Taught
• Select and prioritize instructional targets that are meaningful for
students and their families
• Instruction must be carefully planned, systematically executed,
continuously monitored for effectiveness
• The student’s current level of performance must be assessed
• The skill must be defined clearly and actively engage the student
• The teacher must determine how the student can actively participate,
provide a clear prompt, and gradually withdraw the prompt
• The student must receive feedback and reinforcement
 Educational Approaches (cont.)
•Partial participation
• Students can be taught to perform selected components or an adapted version
of the task
•Positive Behavioral Support
• Use of functional assessment methodologies to support student’s placement
and guide the development of positive behavior support plans
•Small group instruction:
• Skills learned in small groups may be more likely to generalize
• Provides opportunities for social interaction
• Provides opportunities for incidental or observation learning from other students
 Educational Approaches
Where Should Students with Severe
Disabilities be Taught?
•Benefits of the neighborhood school and inclusion:
• Peers without disabilities are more likely to function responsibly as
adults in a pluralistic society
• Integrated schools are more meaningful instructional environments
• Parents and families have greater access to school activities when
children are attending their home schools
• Helps develop range of relationships with peers without disabilities
• Benefits of inclusion on social skills and relationships have the
most extensive empirical support
 Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Definition:
• An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external force, resulting in
total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both
that adversely affects a child’s educational performance
• Applies to open or closed head injuries
• TBI is the most common acquired disability in childhood and the leading
cause of death in children
 Types and Causes of TBI
•Head injuries are classified by the type of injury

• Open head injury-the result of penetration of the skull

• Closed head injury-occurs when the head hits a stationary object with such
force that the brain slams against the inside of the cranium
• Concussion, a mild brain injury, is a brief loss of consciousness

• Contusions usually accompany a moderate brain injury and consists of

bruising, swelling, and bleeding
• Hematoma occurs when blood vessels in the brain rupture

• Coma is a severe head trauma

• Anoxia is the loss of oxygen to the brain for a period of time during a severe
brain injury
 Traumatic Brain Injury
 Prevalence
 250:100,000 children
 A “silent epidemic”
 Males more prone than females
 Effects and Educational Implications
of TBI
• TBI is complex with symptoms varying depending on severity, extent
and site, age of the child at the time of the injury, and time passed
since the injury
• Three categories of impairments from brain injuries
• Physical and sensory changes
• Cognitive impairment
• Social, behavioral, and emotional problems
• Recovery is a long and unpredictable process
 Deaf-Blindness
• Deaf-blindness 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
• The majority have some functional hearing and/or vision
• More than 90% have one or more additional disabilities
• 57% also have physical disabilities
• 66% have cognitive impairments
• 38% have complex health care needs
 Characteristics and Prevalence of
Deaf-Blindness
• Poor central visual acuity or/and a field defect
• Hearing, so severe speech cannot be understood without
amplification
• Combination has extreme affect on daily life activities,
psychosocial adjustment, or obtaining vocation
• Criteria vary from state-to-state
• Rare: 1,583 students received services in 2011
 Causes of Deaf-Blindness
• Genetic/chromosomal syndrome
• CHARGE syndrome: abnormalities of pupil, retina, or optic
nerve
• Usher syndrome: retinitis pigments (night blindness and
tunnel vision)
• Down syndrome
• Prenatal conditions
• Rubella or German measles
• Congenital cytomegalovirus
• Postnatal conditions
• Meningitis
• TBI
Educational Considerations for Deaf-
Blindness
Direct teaching
Structure and predictability
Communication
Orientation and mobility
Behavior
 Early Intervention for Children with
Low-Incidence, Multiple, and Severe
Disabilities
• Many begin life in neonatal intensive care units. “Early
intervention” may be early in life, or as soon as possible after a
disability is detected.

• Family-centered practices
• Multicultural perspective
• Cross-disciplinary collaboration
• Developmentally and chronologically age-appropriate
practices
 Transition for Students with Low-
Incidence, Multiple, and Severe
Disabilities
• Self-determination
• Person-centered plans
• Natural supports
• Vocational programming
• Shift to actual work settings in secondary school
• Community and domestic living skills
 References
• Exceptional Children book Ch no 12