Children with Exceptionalites

Teaching Methodology for Exceptional Children	History of Special Education	Brief Description of Each Disability Area
Assessment Procedures		What is IEP and IFSP?
Parents Right and Responsibility	Supportive Links for Parents of Children with Disabilities	Back Home

Teaching Methodology for Exceptional Children

All students can learn, but each student has their own unique learning style. There are four basic learning styles, visually, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile. Visually students learn better by seeing. These students would benefit from handouts and PowerPoint's. Auditory students learn best by listening. Class lectures and taped books are two of many accommodations that will help these students. Kinesthetic students learn better with their body. They like to use their body to spell their spelling words. These students also would read and comprehend better if they were moving. If the gym or the hallway is available, if the students want to go out let go read while walking they read. Tactile students like to do things with their hands. These students learn best by doing. They need to move objects in math, they need to do the processes in science. It doesn't matter what type of learner the student is, all what matters is that they have an opportunity to learn.

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History of Special Education

1963 - Samuel A. Kirk uses the term "learning disability" at a Chicago conference on children with perceptual disorders. The term sticks, and in 1964, the Association for Children with Learning Disabilities, now the Learning Disabilities Association of America, is formed. Today, more than one-half of all students in the U.S. who receive special education have been diagnosed as having learning disabilities.

1971 - In the case of Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children (PARC) v. Pennsylvania, the federal court rules that students with mental retardation are entitled to a free public education.

1972 - The case of Mills v. the Board of Education of Washington, D.C. extends the PARC v. Pennsylvania ruling to other students with disabilities and requires the provision of "adequate alternative educational services suited to the child's needs, which may include special education . . ." Other similar cases follow.

1973 - Public Law 93-112 Vocational Rehabilation Act of 1973, Sections 503 and 504 is passes. The Vocational Rehabilitation Act relates to nondiscrimination. All disabled individuals shall not be denied any benefits of financial assistance.

1975 - The Education of All Handicapped Children Act (PL 94-142) becomes federal law. It requires that a free, appropriate public education, suited to the student's individual needs, and offered in the least restrictive setting be provided for all "handicapped" children. States are given until 1978 (later extended to 1981) to fully implement the law.

1990 - Public Law 101-476, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), renames and amends Public Law 94-142. In addition to changing terminology from handicap to disability, it mandates transition services and adds autism and traumatic brain injury to the eligibility list.

2001 - The controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is signed into law by President George W. Bush. The law, which reauthorizes the ESEA of 1965, holds schools accountable for student achievement levels and provides penalties for schools that do not make adequate yearly progress toward meeting the goals of NCLB.

2004 - H.R. 1350, The Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEA 2004), reauthorizes and modifies IDEA . Changes, which take effect on July 1, 2005, include modifications in the IEP process and procedural safeguards, increased authority for school personnel in special education placement decisions, and alignment of IDEA with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

Read more about the History of Education at http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/educationhistorytimeline.html#2000

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Brief Description of Each Disability Area

Disability	Description
Autism	Autism is a developmental disability that significantly affects verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction and results in adverse effects on the student’s educational performance.
Deaf-Blindness	Deaf-blindness means that hearing and visual impairments affect a student at the same time. Students may be identified as deaf-blind when both vision and hearing impairments exist which are so severe that their sensory acuity cannot be determined and adaptations in both auditory and visual modes are required, or there is no response to auditory and visual stimuli.
Deafness	Deafness is a hearing impairment that is so severe that the student is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, even with amplification.
Hearing Impairment	A student may be identified as hearing impaired if an unaided hearing loss of 35 to 69 decibels is present that makes the acquisition of receptive and expressive language skills difficult with or without the help of amplification.
Mental Retardation	Mental retardation is significantly below-average intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and is generally manifested before age eighteen.
Multiple Disabilities	Multiple disabilities means that two or more of the following disabilities affect the student at the same time: deafness, mental retardation, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, serious emotional disturbance, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairment including blindness. The term does not include deaf-blindness.
Orthopedic Impairment	Orthopedic impairment is an impairment caused by a congenital anomaly, such as club foot or absence of some member; a disease, such as poliomyelitis, or bone tuberculosis; or another cause, such as cerebral palsy, an amputation, or a fracture or burn that causes contractures.
Other Health Impaired	Other health impaired means having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, because of a chronic or acute health problem, such as a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes, that adversely affects a student's educational performance.
Emotional Disturbances	An emotional disturbance is not a transient expected response to stressors in the individual’s environment ; or misbehavior that can generally be corrected by environmental intervention. Environmental intervention includes feedback to the individual, advice to parents, and modifications and strategies addressed through teacher assistance team programs, or similar programs.
Specific Learning Disability	Specific learning disability is a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The terms does not apply to students who have learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; mental retardation; emotional disturbance; or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
Speech/Language Impairment	Speech or language impairment is a communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language disorder, or a voice disorder.
Traumatic Brain Injury	A traumatic brain injury is an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in a total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The terms do not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
Visual Impairments	Visual impairment including blindness is an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a student’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.
Developmental Delay	A student three, four, or five years old may be identified as a student with a disability if the student has one of the major disabilities listed in §24:05:24.01:01 or if the student experiences a severe delay in development.

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Assessment Procedures

The process your child goes through to qualify for an IEP or IFSP. A teacher, counselor, or physician may recommend to have your child tested. However, they need your permission first. The school should go through what your child will be tested on. Be sure to ask questions. Once your permission is obtained testing may begin. If your child qualifies for services, the school will contact you and schedule a meeting to discuss options.

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What is IEP and IFSP

What is an IEP?

From ages three through twenty-one, the student has an Individualized Education Program. The school district is responsible for serving or seeing that children age three to five are served in preschools. The primary focus of the IEP is the education of the student.

What is an IFSP?

In the birth to three program, the student and the family have an Individualized Family Service Plan written to serve both student and family. One requirement for an IFSP is to document family concerns, resources and priorities, in order to increase the quality of care to further enhance the student's abilities.

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Parents Right and Responsibility

Parents Right and Responsibilities vary state to state. South Dakota Parents Right and Procedures. http://doe.sd.gov/oess/specialed/prosafe/ Below is a list of tips.

Read over Parent's Rights pamphlet. Don't be afraid to ask questions.
Look over all your child's records
Be involve with your child's placement and evaluations of your child
Make sure to be notified of all changes made to your child's program
Don't be afraid to question anything that is decided in your child's education
Be sure to read all reports and the IEP's of your child

Also here is a Parents Rights Video from DECA's Website Parental Rights Video

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Supportive Links for Parents of Children with Disabilities

Schwab Learning: A parents guide to Helping Children with Learning Disabilities http://www.schwablearning.org/

CEC: Council for Exceptional Children http://www.cec.sped.org

NCIP: National Center to Improve Practices in Special Education http://www.edc.org/FSC/NCIP/

LDonLine: A website designed for parents, educators, and anyone else wanting to learn about Learning Disabilities http://www.ldonline.com

Kids Together, Inc: Information & Resources For Children and Adults with Disablilites http://www.kidstogether.org/

CCHS: Children's Care Hospital and School http://www.cchs.org

Bright Start: A program sponsored by the state of South Dakota to give information on children's development stages http://www.sdbrightstart.com

SD Parent Connection: Information and assistance for families with children with disabilities. http://www.sdparent.org/

South Dakota Advocacy Services To protect and advocate the rights of South Dakotans with disabilities through legal, administrative, and other remedies http://www.sdadvocacy.com/

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