Module 6: Learners with Exceptionalities - Giftedness

A. Cognitive and Academic Faculties

Terminologies:
 Learning Disabilities- perception, language,
World Health Organization: memory or metacognition
- Dyslexia- Reading disorder
 3-tier terms: - Dysgraphia- writing disorder
(a) Impairment - Dyscalculia- arithmetic disorder
 Loss or abnormality of psychological, - Dyspraxia- psychomotor disorder
physiological or anatomical structure or  ADHD (Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity
function. Disorder)- inattention, distractibility; with or
 Intrinsic to the individual without hyperactivity.
 “…when the individual with an impairment was  Speech and Communication Disorder-
expected to carry out regular or routine tasks spoken language including voice disorders
that relied on the use of skills or knowledge in (e.g. difficulties pronouncing sounds, or
the area(s), affected by the impairment..” articulation disorders, and stuttering)
(b) Disability B. Social/Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties
 Measurable impairment or limitation that  Autism- social skills, repetitive behaviors,
“interferes with a person’s ability, for example, speech and nonverbal communication.
to walk, lift, hear, or learn. It may refer to a  Mental Retardation- sub-average
physical sensory, or mental condition” intelligence and deficits in adaptive behavior
(Schiefelbush Institute, 1996) - Imbecile
(c) Handicap
 Emotional/Conduct Disorders- presence of
 Disadvantage that occurs as a result of a emotional states like depression and
disability. aggression disturbing learning and
Disability has become more accepted and used, replacing performance in school.
“handicap” C. Physical Disabilities and Health Impairments
 Physical and Health Impairments- affect
**In the USA, “disability” is used in its federal laws, such individual’s energy and strength, mental
as Individual with Disabilities Act (IDEA) alertness and muscle control.
**In the Philippine Constitution, Article XIV, Section 2:  Severe and Multiple Disabilities- presence
“..provide adult citizens, the disabled, and out-of-school of two or more different types of disabilities.
youth with training” D. Sensory Impairments
 Visual Impairments- malfunction of the eyes
 Exceptional Learners or optic nerves that prevent normal vision
- Learners who are different from “normal” to even:
“average” learners, needing special needs - Myopia (farsightedness)
such related to cognitive abilities, behavior, - Hyperopia (nearsightedness)
social functioning, physical and sensory - Astigmatism
impairment, emotional disturbances, and  Hearing Impairment (otherwise known as
giftedness. hearing loss)- malfunction of the ear or
Categories of Exceptionalities auditory nerves that hinders perception of
the sounds within the frequency range of
1. Omrod’s Educational Psychology (2000) normal speech.
E. Giftedness
Exceptionalities
 Speaks of talent, which includes all areas of
- Cognitive or Academic Difficulties the child’s life: Academic, artistic, athletic,
- Social/Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties and social. (US Department of Education,
- Physical Disabilities and Health Impairment 1993)
- Sensory Impairment
  Involves significantly high levels of cognitive Dealing with Learners with Exceptionalities
development
 People-first Language
 Performance and accomplishment
- No generic labels
 Identification:
- Emphasize abilities; not limitations
- Ability vs Achievement
- No euphemisms
- Tests vs Grades
- No implication of illness of suffering
- Standardized Testing
 Brief and simple instructions
- Ability
 Clear definition of course requirements, the
- IQ
dates of exams and deadline of assignments
- Creative and Critical Thinking
 Handouts and visual aids and study guides
Achievement
 Several examples and demonstrations
 Twice Exceptional Learners
 Consultation time
 Six Areas where giftedness could be found:
(a) creative thinking, (b) leadership, (c)  Asking and providing assistance
general intellectual ability, (d) psychomotor,  Encouragement
(e ) specific academic ability and (f)  Patience, patience, patience, and PATIENCE!
visual/performing arts. Recognizing a Student with a Learning Disability
 Characteristics:
a. Perfectionist and Idealistic  How can I enable this student to show what
b. Heightened sensitivity to their own he/she knows or understands?
expectations and those of others  How can I reduce the negative impact of this
c. Maturity beyond age student’s processing difficulties in instructional
d. Problem solvers and assessment context?
e. Abstract thinkers  How can I accommodate this student’s weak
2. Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) academic skills to ensure access to the
A. Autism curriculum?
B. Deaf-Blindness  How can I continue to help this student continue
C. Deafness to develop basic academic skills?
D. Emotional Disturbance  How can I make adjustments to instructions and
E. Hearing Impairment assessment to help this student achieve
F. Intellectual Disability intended learning outcomes in a way that does
G. Multiple Disabilities not require excessive effort on the part of the
H. Orthopedic Impairment- caused by an student of excessive supports from the adults?
congenital anomaly, impairments caused by
Differentiated Instruction
disease (e.g. poliomyelitis, bone
tuberculosis); impairments from other  Universal Design for Learning- recognizes and
causes (e.g. cerebral palsy, amputations, and accommodates varied learning styles focusing on
fractures) social participation and inclusion.
I. Other Health Impairment- having limited  Adaptations- designed to accommodate a
strength, vitality or alertness student’s needs
J. Specific Learning Disability  Early Intervention- monitoring student response
K. Speech or Language Impairment to instruction and documenting difficulties
L. Traumatic Brain Injury- acquired injury to  Direct Instruction- particular skills or content to
the brain caused by an external physical be learned is presented explicitly
force, resulting in total or partial functional  Learning Strategies- maximize student strengths
disability or psychosocial impartment. and provide structures
M. Visual Impairment  Technologies- personalize the learning
experience
  Formative Assessment- uses feedback from the The main principle of connectionism was that learning
continuous monitoring of student progress. could be adequately explained without considering any
observable internal states.

 Learning has taken place when a strong

Module 7: Behaviorism: Pavlov, Thorndike, Watson,
connectionism or bond between stimulus and
Skinner.
response is formed.

Thorndike’s Three Primary Law

 Law of Effect- connection between a stimulus

and response is strengthened when the
consequences is positive (reward) and the
connection between the stimulus and the
response is weakened when the consequence is
negative.
 Law of Exercise- the more S-R (stimulus
response) bond is practice the stronger it will
become.
Behaviorism
 Law of Readiness- the more readiness the
Ivan Pavlov learner has to respond to the stimulus, the
stronger will be the bond between them.
A Russian psychologist, well known for his work in
classical conditioning or stimulus substitution. Principles Derived from Thorndike’s Connectionism
Experiment involved meat, a dog and a bell.
1. Learning requires both practice and rewards (law
Pavlov’s Findings of effect/exercise)
2. A series of S-R connectionism can be chained
 Stimulus Generalization- once the dog has
together if they belong to the same action
learned to salivate at the sound of the bell, it will
sequence (law of readiness)
salivate at other similar sounds.
3. Transfer of learning occurs because of previously
 Extinction- if you stop pairing the bell with the encountered situations.
food, salivation eventually cease in response to 4. Intelligence is a function of the number of
the bell. connections learned.
 Spontaneous Recovery- extinguished responses
can be “recovered” after an elapse time but it John Watson
will soon extinguished again if the dog is not
First American psychologist to work with Pavlov’s ideas.
presented with food.
He considered that humans are born with a few reflexes
 Discrimination- the dog could learn to
and the emotional reactions of love and rage.
discriminate between similar bells (stimuli) and
discern which bell would result in the All other behavior is learned through stimulus-response
presentation of food and which would not. associations through conditioning.
 High Order Conditioning- once the dog has been
Experiment of Albert
conditioned to associate the bell with food,
another unconditioned stimulus, such as a light His work did clearly show the role of conditioning in the
may be flashed at the same time that the bell is development of emotional responses to certain stimuli.
rung. This may help us understand the fears, phobias,
prejudices that people develop.
Edward L. Thorndike

Connectionism theory gave us the original S-R

framework of behavioral psychology.
Burrhus Frederick Skinner Implication of Operant Conditioning

 Believed in the S-R pattern of conditioned 1. Practice should take the form of question
behavior. (stimulus)- answer (response) frames which
 Wrote Walden Two (1948) and Science and expose the student to the subject in gradual
Human Behavior (1953) steps.
 Studied operant behavior (voluntary behaviors 2. Require that the learner makes a response for
used in operating on the environment) every frame and received immediate feedback.
3. Try to arrange the difficulty of the questions so
Operant Conditioning the response is always correct and hence, a
 Based upon the notion that learning is a result of positive reinforcement.
change in overt behavior. Change in behavior are 4. Ensure that good performance in the lesson is
the result of individual’s response to event paired with secondary reinforces such as verbal
(stimuli) that occur in the environment. praise, prizes and good grades.
 Reinforcement- is the key element in Skinner’s Principles derives from Skinner’s Operant Conditioning
S-R theory.
 Reinforcer- anything that strengthen the desired 1. Behavior that is positively reinforced will
responses. reoccur; intermittent reinforcement is
 Positive Reinforcer- any stimulus that is given or particularly effective.
added to increase the response 2. Information should be presented in small
 Negative Reinforcer- any stimulus that results in amounts so that responses can be reinforced
the increased frequency of a response when it is (shaping).
withdrawn or removed. A negative reinforce is 3. Reinforcements will generalized across similar
not a punishment, it is a reward. stimuli (stimulus generalization) producing
 Punishment- consequence intended to result in secondary conditioning.
a reduced response.
 Extinction or Non-reinforcement- responses
that are not reinforced are not likely to be
repeated.
 Shaping behavior- successive approximation of
the behavior are rewarded.
 Behavior chaining- comes about when a series of
steps are needed to be learned.
 Reinforcement schedules- once the desired
behavioral response is accomplished,
reinforcement does not have to be 100%
 Fixed interval schedule- target response is
reinforced after a fixed amount of the time have
passed since that last reinforcement.
 Variable inter schedule- similar to fixed interval
schedule but the amount of time that must pass
between reinforcement varies.
 Fixed ratio schedule- fixed number of correct
responses must occur before reinforcement may
recur.
 Variable ratio schedule- number of correct
repetitions of the correct response for
reinforcement varies.