CHAPTER 3 - Basic Concepts and Components of Special and Inclusive

Education

Overview

Over the years, the aspects of special and inclusive education have been put
under the microscope of the social model, which supports that disability is not an
individual difficulty but a problem caused by barriers in society (Nind& Seale, 2009).

Nowadays, inclusion and special education are the prevalent educational policy
for the instruction of students with disabilities or special educational needs in many
countries (Ferguson, 2008) established in the argument that all students should have
equal learning opportunities with the rest of the students in a „school for all‟ (Keil, 2012).

The notion of inclusion and its multi- level structure is high in the educational
agendas and has led to many educational reformations. Clifton (2004) argues that
“inclusion, and thereby participation, in the educational system, is more than simply
access to education.

LESSON 1 - MEANING OF SPECIAL EDUCATION AND CATEGORIES OF CHILDREN WITH

SPECIAL NEEDS

Pre discussion

It is said special education is tailored to meet the needs of students with

disabilities. The services and supports one child receives may be very different from
what another child receives. It’s all about individualization. What’s important is giving
kids the resources they need to make progress in school.

In this lesson let us discuss the meaning of special education to understand it

completely and the concept of individual educational plan or programs.

What to expect: after the lesson you can define special education and explain the
meaning of individually planned instruction for children with special needs.

Here are some of the definitions of special education:

What Is Special Education?

1. Current literature defines special education as individually planned systematically

implemented and carefully evaluated instruction to help exceptional children to
achieve the greatest possible personal self-sufficiency success in present and future
environments.
2. Special education refers to a range of educational and social services provided by
the public school system and other educational institutions to individuals with disabilities
who are between three and 21 years of age.

3. Special education is tailored to meet the needs of students with disabilities. The
services and supports one child receives may be very different from what another child
receives. It’s all about individualization. What’s important is giving kids the resources
they need to make progress in school

The definition may vary in some aspects according to the author however one
thing is common it is about fitting instruction or education to the individual need of the
learner with special needs.

Between 2012 and 2016, the number of school-age students covered under
IDEA has dramatically increased, rising from 5.67 million in 2011 to 5.83 million in 2014.
Recent statistics reveal the rapid growth in autism and similar disabilities account for
much of the growth being seen in special education. For example, the number of 6- to
21-year-olds classified with autism increased a staggering 165 percent nationwide
between the 2005-06 and 2014-15 school years. (Retrieved fromhttps://www.masters-
in-special-education.com/what-is-special-edu).

BASIC CONCEPTS OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

1. 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 for all IEPs include statements of: (1)
the child’s present performance, academic achievement, social adaptation,
prevocational and vocational skills, psychomotor skills, and self-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 annual goals; (4) specific
educational services; and (5)needed transition services from age 16 or earlier before
the students leaves the school setting.

The Principles of IDEA and IEP

The government or the state responsible for providing special education to their citizens.
To do so, they are expected to follow a set of principles:

1. Schools must educate all children with disabilities, regardless of the nature or
severity of the disability.
2. Schools must use a set of nonbiased methods of evaluation for determining if a child
has a disability. Testing and evaluation must not discriminate based on race, culture, or
native language.

3. All children with disabilities must receive a free, appropriate public education. An IEP
must be developed and implemented to meet the needs of children with disabilities.
4. Children with disabilities must be educated with children without disabilities as much
as possible. Students can only be moved to separate classrooms or schools if they
cannot receive an appropriate education in a general education classroom.

5. Schools must have safeguards in place to protect the rights of children with
disabilities and their parents.

6. Schools must collaborate with parents and students when designing and
implementing special education services.

To qualify, children must fall under one of the 13 disabilities identified by IDEA:

a. Autism
b. Deafness
c. Emotional disturbance
d. Visual impairment, including blindness
e. Speech or language impairment
f. Orthopedic impairments
g. Hearing impairment
h. Intellectual disability
I Multiple disabilities
j. Traumatic brain injury
k. Other health impairment, including ADHD
l. Specific learning disability, including (among others) dyslexia, dyscalculia, and
dysgraphia

Children eligible for IDEA must have a diagnosis for one or more of the above
named disabilities and, because of that disability, require special accommodations to
make academic progress. The criteria used for determining whether a child has a
specific learning disability includes:

2. Systematically implemented and evaluated instruction. Each type of children

with special education needs requires particular educational services, curriculum goals,
competencies and skills, educational approaches, strategies and procedures in the
evaluation of learning skills.

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

become independent from the assistance of the adults in personal maintenance and
development, home making, community life, vocational and leisure activities and travel.
4. The present environment refers to the current conditions in the life of the child with
disability. The present environment includes the family, the school, the community
where he/she lives, the institution in society that extends assistance and support to the
children and youth with special education needs such as the government,
nongovernment organizations, socio civic organizations and other groups.

5. The future environment is a forecast of how the child with disability can move on
the next level of education, from elementary to secondary school and to college or
vocational program, and finally, to the work place 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 she can lead a normal life even if he or she has a disability.

In summary, special education works with the students with the different needs
under the principles and concept of IDEA and IEP that answer the real needs of this
kind of learners.

Assessment

1. Define in your own words special education. (5 points)

2. Explain individually planned of instruction in special education. (15 points)

References:

Booth, T. and Ainscow,, M. (2013). Index for Inclusion: Developing Learning and
Participation in schools Childhood and Youth Welfare Code P.D. No.603, s.1974

Department of Education -Special Education Division.Handbook of Special

Education

Department of Education - Special Education Division. Policies and Guidelines

for Special Education DepEd Orders

Gargiulo, Richard and Jennifer Kilgo (2011). An Introduction to Young Children

with Special Needs: Birth through Age 8, 3rd ed. USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Hallahan, D. Kauffman, J. and Pullen P. 2015. Exeptional learners:an

introduction to special education, 13th edition.Boston:Pearson

Inciong, T., Quijano, Y., Capulong, Y.(2013) Introduction to Special Education .

Rex Printing Company Inc., Manila

What is special education.Retrieved from https://www.masters-in-special-

education.com/what-is-special-education-2/
 https://tandfonline.com.Inciong T., Quijano Y. (2013) Inclusion of Children with
Disabilities: The Philippine Experience. Asia Pacific Journal of Education.Vol.24

Lesson 2. The Exceptional Children or Youth with Special Needs

Pre discussion

Learners or students differ from one another to varying degrees. Learners may
have different learning styles, capabilities, interest, motivation and even in learning
difficulty or disabilities. However in some students the learning difficulties are more
serious, and the children deviate more significantly in one way or another. These are
youth who are exceptional in that their learning and behavior deviates significantly from
the norm. They may show differences in the physical, intellectual, communicative,
social, or emotional domains, or in some combination of these.

What to expect: after the lesson you can discuss who are the exceptional children and
how exceptional children benefit from special education.

Lesson Outline

Children and youth who have one or more of the condition among others, are
called exceptional children. The term exceptional children and youth covers those
with mental retardation, giftedness and talent learning disabilities, emotional and
behavioral disorders, communication disorder, deafness, blindness and low vision,
physical disabilities, health impairments and severe disabilities. These are children and
youth who are experience difficulties in learning the basic 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.

Who are the exceptional children and youth with special needs?

Exceptional is the most inclusive term, since it encompasses gifted and talented
children as well as those who fall below the norm in some aspect of functioning.
However, terms such as handicaps, disabilities, impairments, atypical, special
needs, and at-risk are often used synonymously with exceptional, even though the
meanings are slightly different. Children with significant disabilities may be referred to
as developmentally delayed, developmentally disabled, having special health
management needs, medically fragile, technology dependent, or severely
handicapped. Two relatively new terms that refer to students with
multiple disabilities are dually diagnosed and comorbid.
These are four points of view about special education (Heward, 2003).

1. Special education legislatively governed enterprises.

This point of view expressed in the legal bases of special education that are
discussed in the Chapter 1. Article IV, Section 1 and section 5, Article XIII, and Section
11 of the Philippine Constitution 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 states shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health and
other social services available to all people at affordable cost. 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 Disable person- provides for the rehabilitation,
self-development and self-reliance of disabled person 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.

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

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

program. With its modest historical beginning in 1907, special education is now a major
part of the basic education program in elementary and secondary schools. The special
Education Division of the Bureau of Elementary Education formulates policies, 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 continuous to grant scholarship to deserving school administrators and
teachers to pursue the graduate degrees at the Philippine National Normal University
and the University of 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 implementations.

WHO: the exceptional children or the children and youth with special education
needs are the most important person 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 psychologist, the
speech therapist, physical and occupational therapist, medical doctors, and specialist
who help provide the specific services the exceptional children need.

WHAT: Every exceptional child needs access to 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, quarterly objectives, 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
than what the basic education curriculum offers. Most of them are in accelerated
classes where they finish elementary education in 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

Special education may be best described as a purposeful intervention designed

to overcome or eliminate the obstacles that keep children with disabilities from learning.
In other words, it is about providing children with disabilities with individualized plans of
instruction to help them succeed.

There are three, specific types of special education interventions:

a. Preventive Interventions: Preventive interventions are designed to prevent

potential or existing problems from becoming a disability. Special education in this form
seeks to either stop something from happening or reduce a condition that has been
identified.
b. Remedial Interventions: Remedial interventions are designed to eliminate the
effects of a disability. They are generally used to teach children with disabilities skills
that allow them to function successfully and independently. They may be aimed at
academic, social, personal, and/or vocational goals.

c. Compensatory Interventions: Compensatory interventions involve teaching

special skills or using special devices to improve functioning. Compensatory
intervention may be best identified as teaching a child to perform a task or conquer a
skill in spite of a disability. It involves providing children with disabilities an asset that
non-disabled children do not need.

The concern of special education to exceptional learners too will reflect the wide
scope of this area in education. Individual differences, needs, identification,
classification of this kind of learners will be a great challenge to the teaching-learning
process.

Assessment :

1. Compare and contrast two (2) exceptional condition of children. Show intervention
that is applicable to the condition. 20 points

References:

Booth, T. and Ainscow,, M. (2013). Index for Inclusion: Developing Learning and
Participation in schools Childhood and Youth Welfare Code P.D. No.603, s.1974

Department of Education -Special Education Division.Handbook of Special

Education

Department of Education - Special Education Division. Policies and Guidelines

for Special Education DepEd Orders

Gargiulo, Richard and Jennifer Kilgo (2011). An Introduction to Young Children

with Special Needs: Birth through Age 8, 3rd ed. USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Hallahan, D. Kauffman, J. and Pullen P. 2015. Exeptional learners:an

introduction to special education, 13th edition.Boston:Pearson

Inciong, T., Quijano, Y., Capulong, Y.(2013) Introduction to Special Education .

Rex PrintingCompany Inc., Manila

Jung, L.A, Frey, N., Fisher, D., Kroener, J. 2019. Your Students, My Students,
Our Students. Retrieved fromwww.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/books/jung2019.pdf

https://tandfonline.com.Inciong T., Quijano Y. (2013) Inclusion of Children with

Disabilities: The Philippine Experience. Asia Pacific Journal of Education.Vol.24
LESSON 3: The Basic Terms in Special Education: Developmental Disability,
Impairment or Disability Handicap and At Risk

Pre discussion

Understanding the basic terminologies use in special and inclusive education is

important to deliver the correct message to the reader, listener and to anybody involve
in area of education. Maybe by knowing these basic terms may avoid misuse and
labeling which is one of the goals of special and inclusive education.

WHAT TO EXPECT : After the lesson, you can explain and differentiate the basic terms
in special education.

Lesson Outline:

All individuals have its developmental milestone. Skills such as taking a first step,
smiling for the first time, and waving “bye-bye” are called developmental milestones.
Children reach milestones in how they play, learn, speak, behave, and move (for
example, crawling and walking).

Children develop at their own pace, so it’s impossible to tell exactly when a child
will learn a given skill. However, the developmental milestones give a general idea of
the changes to expect as a child gets older. But to children with special needs this
milestone could be thwarted or interrupted.

In this lesson you need to understand the basic terms that are related to
developmental milestone of children.

1. Developmental disability refers to a severe, chronic disability of a child five years of

age or older that is:

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

physical impairments;
2. Manifested before the person attains age of twenty two;
3. Likely to continue indefinitely;
4. Result 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 economic self - sufficiency; and reflects the
person’s needs 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). This may have impact day to day
and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime.
2. Impairment or disability refers to reduced function o loss of a specific pat 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. This disabilities or impairments limit or restrict the functions of a
particular organ of the body. In case 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 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.

3. 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 has
physical disability such as a crippling condition cannot walk normally and uses
wheelchair, braces or artificial limbs. However, it must be remembered that is 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.

4. At Risk refers to children who have greater chances than other children to develop
a disability. The child is in danger of substantial development 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 forty-seven chromosomes instead
of normal forty-six or twenty-three pairs. At birth, infant has abnormal physical
characteristic and mental retardation. The fetus in the womb of a woman who consumes
alcohol heavily and chain-smokes, or takes prohibited is at risk for brain injury that
causes disabilities. If disability runs in the family, the fetus may inherit it and the infant
will be born with disability. Children may meet accidents; suffer from certain diseases,
malnutrition and other environmental deprivations that can lead to disabilities.

Knowing these basic terms in special education will allow every person to handle
these conditions with respect and accurate use of terms in this area of education.
Assessment :

1. Distinguish the different basis terms in special education. Use a matrix to present it.
25 points:

References:

Booth, T. and Ainscow,, M. (2013). Index for Inclusion: Developing Learning and
Participation in schools Childhood and Youth Welfare Code P.D. No.603, s.1974

Department of Education -Special Education Division.Handbook of Special

Education

Department of Education - Special Education Division. Policies and Guidelines

for Special Education DepEd Orders

Gargiulo, Richard and Jennifer Kilgo (2011). An Introduction to Young Children

with Special Needs: Birth through Age 8, 3rd ed. USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Hallahan, D. Kauffman, J. and Pullen P. 2015. Exeptional learners:an

introduction to special education, 13th edition.Boston:Pearson

Inciong, T., Quijano, Y., Capulong, Y.(2013) Introduction to Special Education .

Rex Printing Company Inc., Manila

Jung, L.A, Frey, N., Fisher, D., Kroener, J. 2019. Your Students, My Students,
Our Students. Retrieved fromwww.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/books/jung2019.pdf

Winzer, M. Children With Exceptionalities in Canadian Classroom.2010.

Pearson.Retrieved from
https://wps.pearsoned.ca/ca_ph_winzer_children_8/66/16943/4337612.cw/index.html

https://tandfonline.com.Inciong T., Quijano Y. (2013) Inclusion of Children with

Disabilities: The Philippine Experience. Asia Pacific Journal of Education.Vol.24

Lesson 4 : Categories of Children at Risk

Pre discussion

A child with an exceptionality is different from the average student in some or

many areas of functioning, the study of children with exceptionalities is the study of
differences. However, children with exceptionalities do not differ in every way from their
normally developing peers, and it would be wrong to focus the study of these children
solely on differences (Pearson, 2019).

WHAT TO EXPECT: After the lesson you can discuss and differentiate the categories of
children at risk.

Lesson Outline

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 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,

2. 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 refers to high performance in intellectual, creative or artistic

areas, unusual leadership capacity, and excellence in specific academic field (US
Governance). 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 r 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 tem does include children who have learning problem
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).

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 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 relationship with peers and teachers; (c)
inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; (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 disorder or communication disorder 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 persons emotional growth; (d) the
problem causes physical damage or endangers the health of the person (Emerick and
Haynes, 1986)

6. Hearing impairment is a genetic 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 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 disabilities – from
total blindness to relatively good residual (remaining) vision. There is visual restriction of
sufficient severity that it interferes with normal progress in a regular educational
program without modifications (Scholl, 1986, cited in Hewad, 2003). A child who is blind
is totally without sight or has a little vision that he or she learns primarily through the
other senses, such as touch and read Braille. A child with low vision is able to learn
through the visual channel and generally learns to read print.

8. Physical impairment may be orthopedic impairments that involved the skeletal

system 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 intensity
of their physical, mental or emotional problems, or a combination of 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 other
to maximize their potential for useful and meaningful participation in society and self-
fulfillment. Children and youth with severe disabilities include those who are seriously
emotionally disturbed, schizophrenic, and autistic, profoundly and severely mentally
retarded, deaf-blind, mentally retarded-blind and cerebral-palsied-deaf (US Department
of Education).

Labels and names that were derogatory were used in the past to describe people with
physical deformities, mental retardation and behavior problems. These demeaning
terms that are not used anymore are “imbecile, moron, idiot, mentally deficient, dunce
and fool.” Even words “mute” and “dumb” are unacceptable to describe persons who
manifest speech and language problems as a result of deafness.

It is Correct to Use Disability Category Labels?

There are two points of view regarding the use of labels to describe children and youth
with disabilities. He first point of view frowns on labeling these children as mentally
retarded, leaning 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 be long, to be love, 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, decade’s research and debates on the issue have not arrived at
any conclusive resolution of labeling problem. A number of pros and cons have been
advance by various specialists and educators (Hewad, 2003).
Assessment:

1. Choose two (2) from the different categories of children at risk. Make a checklist as to
its characteristics and risks. 30 points.

References:

Booth, T. and Ainscow,, M. (2013). Index for Inclusion: Developing Learning and
Participation in schools Childhood and Youth Welfare Code P.D. No.603, s.1974

Department of Education -Special Education Division.Handbook of Special

Education

Department of Education - Special Education Division. Policies and Guidelines

for Special Education DepEd Orders

Gargiulo, Richard and Jennifer Kilgo (2011). An Introduction to Young Children

with Special Needs: Birth through Age 8, 3rd ed. USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Hallahan, D. Kauffman, J. and Pullen P. 2015. Exeptional learners:an

introduction to special education, 13th edition.Boston:Pearson

Inciong, T., Quijano, Y., Capulong, Y.(2013) Introduction to Special Education .

Rex PrintingCompany Inc., Manila

Jung, L.A, Frey, N., Fisher, D., Kroener, J. 2019. Your Students, My Students,
Our Students. Retrieved fromwww.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/books/jung2019.pdf

Winzer, M. Children With Exceptionalities in Canadian Classroom.2010.

Pearson.Retrieved from
https://wps.pearsoned.ca/ca_ph_winzer_children_8/66/16943/4337612.cw/index.html

https://tandfonline.com.Inciong T., Quijano Y. (2013) Inclusion of Children with

Disabilities: The Philippine Experience. Asia Pacific Journal of Education.Vol.24

LESSON 5 - Components of Special Needs Education and Processes Involved

Within and Across These Components

Pre discussion
 Although special education in the country started 94 years ago, in many
respects, the demands and needs of this program have not changed. The advent of the
21 st century requires new perspectives and directions in special education to meet the
needs of the disadvantaged children against the persistent challenges and demands of
the new millennium (Ebol, 1999).

Inclusion and special needs education are the common approaches in handling
special education. In inclusive education means that all students in a school,
regardless of their strengths or weaknesses in any area, become part of the school
community. However, there are some individuals who by virtue of their physical and
mental abilities require a more relevant or appropriate instruction than is usually
available within formal and informal educational structures. This is called special needs
education.

WHAT TO EXPECT: After the lesson you can discuss the components and processes
of special need education among the components.

Lesson Outline

Special Needs Education is education for students with disabilities, in

consideration of their individual educational needs, which aims at full development of
their capabilities and at their independence and social participation.

This field of Special Needs Education encompasses heterogeneous groups who

demand varied services: visually impaired, hearing impaired, mentally retarded,
orthopaedic handicapped, children with behaviour disorders, gifted or talented and
finally the learning disabled or children with learning difficulties.

The first of these, held in Jomtein, Thailand in 1990, promoted the idea of ‘education for
all’, this was followed in 1994 by a UNESCO conference in Salamanca, Spain, which
led to a Statement that is being used in many countries to review their education
policies. The Salamanca Statement proposes that the development of schools with an
‘inclusive’ orientation is the most effective means of improving the efficiency and
ultimately the cost-effectiveness of the entire education system. Inclusion is a
collaborative process among students, parents, and educators which enables students
with and without disabilities to learn together in the same class to the greatest extent
possible utilizing appropriate support services

Before every disability will have a separate school like school for the blind, school
for the deaf and the like. However with the increasing number of learners with
disabilities
 To realize the successful implementation of special and inclusive education,
these important components and processes are to be considered and understood. In
the Department Order of Deped s. 2009, the following components are given emphasis.

1. Special Education in the Philippines has only served 2% of the targeted 2.2
million children with disabilities in the country who live without access to a basic
human right: the right to education. Most of these children live in rural and far
flung areas whose parents need to be aware of educational opportunities that
these children could avail of.
2. The Department of Education (DepED) has organized the urgency to address
this problem and therefore, guarantees the right for these children to receive
appropriate education within the regular or inclusive classroom setting. Inclusive
education embraces the philosophy of accepting all children regardless of race,
size, shape, color, ability or disability with support from school staff, students,
parents and the community.
3. A comprehensive inclusive program for children with special needs has the
following components:
1. Child Find. This is locating where these children are through the family
mapping survey, advocacy campaigns and networking with local health
workers. The children with special needs who are not in school shall be
listed using Enclosure No. 1. These children shall be visited by Special
Education (SPED) teachers and parents should be convinced to enroll
their children in SPED Centers or schools nearest their home.

2. Assessment. This is the continuous process of identifying the strengths

and weaknesses of the child through the use of formal and informal tools
for proper program grade placement. Existing SPED Centers in the
Division shall assist regular schools in the assessment process.

3. Program Options. Regular schools with or without trained SPED

teachers shall be provided educational services to children with special
needs. These schools shall access educational services from SPED
Centers or SPED trained teachers.The first program option that shall be
organized for these children is a self-contained class for children with
similar disabilities which can be mono-grade or multi-grade handled by a
trained SPED teacher.The second option is inclusion or placement of the
child with disabilities in general education or regular class where he/she
learns with his/her peers under a regular teacher and/or SPED trained
teacher who addresses the child’s needs.

The third option is a resource room program where the child with
disabilities shall be pulled out from the general education or regular class
and shall report to a SPED teacher who provides small group/one-on-one
instruction and/or appropriate interventions for these children.
 4. Curriculum Modifications. This shall be implemented in the forms of
adaptations and accommodations to foster optimum learning based on
individual’s needs and potentials. Modification in classroom instructions
and activities is a process that involves new ways of thinking and
developing teaching-learning practices.It also involves changes in any of
the steps in the teaching-learning process. Curriculum modifications shall
include service delivery options like cooperative or team teaching,
consulting teacher program and others. The provision of support services
from professionals and specialists, parents, volunteers, and peers or
buddies to the children with special needs is an important feature in the
inclusion program.

5. Parental Involvement. This plays a vital role in preparing the children in

academic, moral and spiritual development. Parents shall involve
themselves in observing children’s performance, volunteering to work in
the classroom as teacher aide and providing support to other parents.

4. These components are included in the School Improvement Plan (SIP)

particularly in the DepEd (DepED DO 7, 2009).

In the “Bill of Rights of children and families with disabilities” (Public Law 94-142),
these six major components or guarantees that have forever changed the landscape of
education across the United States. These components include:

1. A free appropriate public education (FAPE). All children, regardless of the

severity of the disability, must be provided an education appropriate to their unique
needs at no cost to the parent(s)/guardian(s). Included in this principle is the
concept of related services, which requires that children receive other services as
determined educationally necessary to benefit from special education. These
related services may include occupational therapy, physical therapy, orientation
and mobility instruction, and a host of other support services for the student.

2. The least restrictive environment (LRE). Learners with disabilities are to be

educated, to the maximum extent appropriate, with students without disabilities.
Placements must be consistent with the pupil’s education needs. Each state is
required to provide a full continuum of alternate placements.

3. An individualized education program (IEP). In IEP, developed with the

parent(s)/guardian(s), is an individually tailored statement describing an
educational plan for each learner with exceptionalities. The IEP is required to
address: (1) the present level of academic functioning; (2) annual goals and
accompanying instructional objectives; (3) educational services to be provided; (4)
the degree to which the pupil will be able to participate in general education
programs; (5) plans for initiating services and the length of service delivery; and (6)
an annual evaluation procedure specifying objective criteria to determine if
instructional objectives are being met.
 4. Procedural due process. Parents or guardians several safeguards pertaining to
the child’s education. Briefly, parents or guardians have the right to confidentiality
of records; to examine all records; to obtain an independent evaluation; to receive
written notification (in the parents’ native language) of proposed changes to the
child’s educational classification or placement; and the right to an impartial hearing
whenever disagreements arise regarding educational plans for the child.
Furthermore, the student’s parents or guardians have the right to representation by
legal counsel.

5. Nondiscriminatory assessment. Prior to placement, a child must be evaluated by

a multidisciplinary team in all areas of suspected disability by tests that are not
racially, culturally, or linguistically biased. Students are to receive several types of
assessments, administered by trained personnel. A single evaluation procedure is
not permitted for either planning or placement purposes.

6. Parental participation. P.L. 94-142 mandates meaningful parent involvement. This

legislation requires that parents participate fully in the decision-making process that
affects the child’s education.

References:

Booth, T. and Ainscow,, M. (2013). Index for Inclusion: Developing Learning and
Participation in schools Childhood and Youth Welfare Code P.D. No.603, s.1974

Department of Education -Special Education Division.Handbook of Special

Education

Department of Education - Special Education Division. Policies and Guidelines

for Special Education DepEd Orders

Gargiulo, Richard and Jennifer Kilgo (2011). An Introduction to Young Children

with Special Needs: Birth through Age 8, 3rd ed. USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Hallahan, D. Kauffman, J. and Pullen P. 2015. Exeptional learners:an

introduction to special education, 13th edition.Boston:Pearson

Inciong, T., Quijano, Y., Capulong, Y.(2013) Introduction to Special Education .

Rex Printing Company Inc., Manila

Jung, L.A, Frey, N., Fisher, D., Kroener, J. 2019. Your Students, My Students,
Our Students. Retrieved fromwww.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/books/jung2019.pdf
 Winzer, M. Children With Exceptionalities in Canadian Classroom.2010.
Pearson.Retrieved from
https://wps.pearsoned.ca/ca_ph_winzer_children_8/66/16943/4337612.cw/index.html

https://tandfonline.com.Inciong T., Quijano Y. (2013) Inclusion of Children with

Disabilities: The Philippine Experience. Asia Pacific Journal of Education.Vol.24

https://www.mext.go.jp/en/policy/education/elsec/title02/detail02/1373858.htm