Educating Special Needs Students

Educating Special Needs Students

Curriculum for Students with Disabilities

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School

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Introduction

As an adage goes , teaching is the noblest profession . But in the teaching profession , nothing can be nobler than being immersed in special education . Indeed nothing could surpass the joy of a teacher who has helped improve the condition of the child having disabilities The task is complex and the challenge is great but the joy of seeing the child learn and improve compensates for all the hard work . The goal is for the child

to ultimately be in the same class with regular students and attend regular classes (Shanon Taylor , 2005 ) This goal however cannot be realized through the sole effort of the teacher . A good teamwork between the parents and the teachers is necessary in special education

Special Education is a branch of education whose primary purpose is to teach individuals with learning disabilities , speech or language impairments , mental retardation , emotional disturbance , multiple disabilities , hearing impairments , orthopedic impairments , visual impairments , autism , combined deafness and blindness , traumatic brain injury and other health impairments (Connie Langland , 2005 . It not only involves the giving of special classes and instruction to the child but also psychological and counseling services to help develop and improve the child 's condition

Mental Retardation and Autism

Under Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA , mental retardation is defined as . significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning , existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period , that adversely affects a child 's educational performance " It is the condition where a person has certain limitations in mental functioning and in skills

Autism on the other hand , is a developmental dis affecting children from birth or the early months of life (Jennifer Humphries 2000 ) It results in delay in , and deviance from , the normal patterns of development . Those who have autism usually has difficulties with forming relationship with people , or they have difficulties understanding and communicating what other people are trying to communicate , or they have difficulties using their imagination Research shows that the number of children ages 6 through 21 diagnosed with autism receiving services under IDEA has increased more than 500 percent over the past 10 years , from under 20 ,000 in 1993 to almost 120 ,000 in 2002 , according to data collected for the Department of Education ( Children With Autism

Children with multiple disabilities may involve a child with a combination the following disabilities : speech or language impairments mental retardation , emotional disturbance , multiple disabilities hearing impairments , orthopedic impairments , visual impairments , autism combined deafness and blindness , traumatic brain injury and other health impairments

Among the possible causes of mental retardation and autism are : genetic conditions problems during pregnancy problems at birth and health problems

Children with learning disabilities do not learn in the same pace that an average student does . This is because their conditions affect the complete development of their mind . The child experiences delayed development of skills insofar as language , thinking and movement and social skills are concerned . Behavioral problems may...