lesson 3

• Giftedness


  • Ability significantly ABOVE the norm for their age, may manifest in intellectual, creative, artistic, leadership, or specific academic fields
• Diversity


  Encompasses acceptance and respect, understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing individual differences
• Exploration of differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment is important in diversity
• Blind and Low Vision (Visual Impairment)


  • Difficulty performing visual tasks even with the provision of corrective eyeglasses, includes totally and partially blind (low vision), those who use large print reading materials
• Learning Disabilities (LD)


  • Normal mental ability, difficulty in listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, or doing mathematical calculations
• Dimensions of diversity

  • Race
  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Sexual orientation
  • Socio-economic status
  • Age
  • Physical abilities
  • Religious beliefs
  • Political beliefs
  • Other ideologies
• Categories of learners with special educational needs

  • Learners who are Gifted and Talented
  • Learners with Difficulty Seeing
  • Learners with Difficulty Communicating
  • Learners with Difficulty Walking/Moving
  • Learners with Difficulty Remembering and Focusing
  • Learners with Difficulty with Self-care
• Types of Learning Disabilities

  • Dyslexia
  • Dyscalculia
  • Dysgraphia
  • Dyspraxia (Sensory Integration Disorder)
  • Dysphasia/Aphasia
  • Auditory Processing Disorder
  • Visual Processing Disorder
• Intellectual Disability


  • Significant deficits in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior, including conceptual, social, and practical skills
• Difficulties faced by individuals with hearing impairment

  • Deaf and hard of hearing
  • Those whose hearing organs are not functioning
  • May or may NOT need hearing aid
• Special educational needs in other contexts

  • Situated in Armed Conflicts
  • Socially Maladjusted
  • Emotionally Disturbed
  • Difficult Circumstances
• Emotionally Disturbed characteristics

  • Display symptoms of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem
  • Worry excessively, present with physical complaints, and display feelings of inferiority in social situations
  • Socially withdrawn, nervous, and lacking in self-confidence
  • Inability to form interpersonal relationships
• Difficulties faced by individuals with physical/orthopedic impairments

  • Impairment interferes either permanently or temporarily with normal functioning of the nerves, joints, muscles, or limbs
  • Polio
  • Cerebral Palsy
  • Amputee
  • Tetra-amelia syndrome
• Difficult Circumstances characteristics

  • Children who are abandoned, neglected and abused whether physically, verbally or sexually
• Difficulties faced by individuals with autism spectrum disorder


  • Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts
  • Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, activities
• Difficulties faced by individuals with speech and language disorders/delays

  • Tends to draw unfavorable attention to their manner of speaking rather than the idea they are trying to communicate
  • Usually occurs with other disabilities e.g. ID, autism, LD, cerebral palsy and brain injury; may be caused by damage to the brain or other nerves, by developmental abnormalities such as cleft palate and environmental toxins; others have no known cause
• Difficulties faced by individuals with visual impairment

  • Difficulty performing visual tasks even with the provision of corrective eyeglasses
  • Include totally and partially blind (low vision)
  • Those who use large print reading materials and other aids and devices to improve their sight
• Socially Maladjusted characteristics

  • Aggressive and willfully disobey authorities
  • Follow their own rules and repeatedly violate social and moral conventions
  • Behaviors that are willful, deliberate, planned, or otherwise within the control of the student
  • Pattern of engagement in purposive anti-social, destructive, and delinquent behavior