2 – Learners Who Are Exceptional WHY ARE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN LABELED AND these children at “child with physical

ese children at “child with physical disability” or

CLASSIFIED? “child with intellectual disabilities. These terms just
WHO ARE EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN?
• Some educators believe labels used to identify and acknowledges that there are other things we should
• The physical attributes and/or learning
classify exceptional children stigmatize them and serve know about them
characteristics of exceptional children differ from the
to deny them opportunities
norm (either below or above) to such an extent that
• Others argue that a workable system of classifying WHAT IS SPECIAL EDUCATION?
they require an individualized program of special
exceptional children is a prerequisite to providing • Special Education is, first of all, purposeful
education and related services to fully benefit from
needed special educational services and using more intervention designed to prevent, eliminate, and/or
education
“pleasant” terms minimizes and devalues the overcome the obstacles that might keep a child with
• The term Exceptional Children includes children who
individual’s situation and need for supports disabilities from learning and from full and active
experience difficulties in learning as well as those
participation in school and society
whose performance is so advanced that modifications
SOME OF THE POSSIBLE BENEFITS OF LABELING AND
in curriculum and instruction are necessary to help
CLASSIFICATION SPECIAL EDUCATION PROVIDES THREE BASIC TYPES OF
them fulfill their potential
• Labeling recognizes meaningful differences in INTERVENTION:
• Thus, exceptional children is an inclusive term that
learning or behavior and is a first and necessary step in 1. Preventive Intervention - special educators design
refers to children with learning and/or behavior
responding responsibly to those differences preventive interventions to keep a potential or minor
problems, children with physical disabilities or sensory
• Labeling may lead to a protective response in which problem from becoming a disability. Prevention can
impairments, and children with superior intellectual
peers are more accepting of the atypical behavior of a occur at three levels: Primary prevention, Secondary
disabilities and/or special talents
child with disabilities. prevention. & Tertiary prevention
• Labeling helps make exceptional children’s special • Primary prevention - designed to reduce the number
RELATED TERMS needs more visible to policymakers and the public. of new cases (incidence) of a disability; it consists of
IMPAIRMENT - refers to the loss of reduced function of efforts to eliminate or counteract risk factors so that a
a particular body part or organ (ex: missing limb) SOME OF THE POSSIBLE BENEFITS OF LABELING AND child never acquires a disability. Ex. of this are schools
DISABILITY - exists when an impairment limits a CLASSIFICATION providing positive behavior support to all students
person’s ability to perform certain tasks (ex: walk, see, • Labeling recognizes meaningful differences in • Secondary prevention - aimed at individuals who
read) learning or behavior and is a first and necessary step in have already been exposed to or are displaying specific
- A person with a disability is not handicapped, responding responsibly to those differences risk factors and is intended to eliminate or counteract
however, unless the disability leads to educational, • Labeling may lead to a protective response in which the effects of those risk factors Ex. of this are
personal, social, vocational, or other problems peers are more accepting of the atypical behavior of a specialized interventions for those students exhibiting
HANDICAP - refers to a problem or a disadvantage a child with disabilities. troubled behavior
person with disability or impairment encounters when • Labeling helps make exceptional children’s special • Tertiary prevention - aimed at individuals with a
interacting with the environment needs more visible to policymakers and the public disability and intended to minimize the impact of a
- Many people with disabilities experience handicaps specific condition or disability Ex. of this is the
that are the result of negative attitudes and ALTERNATIVES TO LABELING AND CLASSIFICATION provision of intensive interventions for students
inappropriate behavior of others who needlessly • Some special educators have suggested that identified with emotional or behavioral disorders
restrict their access and ability to participate fully in exceptional children be classified according to the
school, work, or community activities curriculum and skill areas they need to learn 2. Remedial Intervention - remediation attempts to
• Instead of calling exceptional children “physically eliminate specific effects of a disability. It aims to teach
handicapped” or “mentally retarded”, we can call the person with disabilities skills for independent and
successful functioning. In school, those skills may be - Some of the students in the regular classrooms spend ❑Prevent relatively minor problems from worsening
academic (e.g., reading, writing, computing), social a portion of each day in a resource room where they to a degree that would eventually require special
(e.g., initiating and maintaining a conversation), self- receive individualized instruction. education
care (e.g., eating, dressing, toileting), or vocational PLANNING AND PROVIDING SPECIAL EDUCATION ❑Strengthen teachers’ capacity to effectively
(career and job skills to prepare students for the world SERVICES intervene with a greater diversity of problems, thereby
of work) THE PROCESS OF SPECIAL EDUCATION reducing the number of future referrals for special
• The Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) education
3. Compensatory Intervention - teaching a substitute mandates a sequence of events schools must follow: ❑Prevent the costly and time-consuming process of
skill that enables a person to engage in an activity or • Prereferral assessment for special education eligibility by solving
perform a task despite a disability. For example, a child • Evaluation and Eligibility Determination the problems that originally caused teachers or
with cerebral palsy can engage in a compensatory • Program Planning parents to be concerned about the child
approach which is learning to use a head stick and a • Placement ❑Provide IEP teams with valuable baseline data for
template placed over a computer keyboard to • Progress Monitoring, Annual Review, and planning and evaluating special education and related
compensate for her limited fine-motor control. Reevaluation services for students who are referred and found
eligible for special education
SPECIAL EDUCATION I. Prereferral - a child who may need special education
- An interdisciplinary team of professionals, working usually comes to the school’s attention because: II. Evaluation and Eligibility Determination
together with parents and families, bears the primary a. A teacher or parent reports concern about
❑IDEA requires that all children suspected of having a
responsibility for helping exceptional children learn. differences in learning, behavior, or development
disability receive a nondiscriminatory multifactored
- This team may consist of both general education b. The results of quick, inexpensive, and easy-to-
evaluation (MFE)
teachers and special education teachers administer assessments suggests a possible disability
❑The school or the parents can request an evaluation.
- For the content of special education, special - Before referring these children for formal testing and
However, if the school is the one requesting for the
educators often use the term functional curriculum to evaluation for special education, most schools initiate
evaluation, consent from the parents should also be
describe the knowledge and skills that some students a prereferral intervention process
requested
with disabilities need to achieve as much success and - Conducted by a building-based early intervention
❑In this evaluation, a variety of assessment tools and
independence in different settings. assistance team which helps teachers devise and
strategies will be used to gather relevant functional,
- Also, children may be taught different skills, such as implement interventions for students who are
developmental, and academic information
reading Braille or using a voice-output device, to experiencing academic or behavioral difficulties in the
compensate for or reduce the effects of a disability. regular classroom ❑The tools or instrument must also be technically
- Special education also differs from general education - Regardless of its form, this intervention is designed to sound
by its use of specialized or adapted materials and achieve the following: ❑Should be administered by trained and
methods. ❑Provide immediate instructional and/or behavior knowledgeable personnel
- This difference is obvious when you observe a special management assistance to the child and teacher ❑The MFE must do more than provide information in
educator use sign language with students who are ❑Reduce the frequency of special education the existence of a disability for determining eligibility
deaf. placement for children whose learning or behavioral for special education
- Although majority of children with disabilities spend problems are the result of inappropriate instruction ❑It must also provide information about the child’s
most of the school day in regular classrooms, others educational needs and how to meet them
are in separate classrooms or separate residential and
day schools.
 ❑At least once every 3 years, the school must conduct
III. Program Planning an MFE of each child with a disability to determine if The Function of IEP
❑If the evaluation team determines that a child has a the child needs special education - An IEP discusses where the child is, where he/she
disability that is adversely affecting his or her ❑If the IEP team decides that a disability is no longer should be going, how he/she will get there, how long it
educational performance, an IEP is developed present or that the child’s education is no longer is expected to take, and how to tell if and when he/she
❑The IEP is the centerpiece of the special education adversely affected by the disability, special education has arrived
process discontinues - An IEP provides teachers and families with the
The IEP Team determines the following: opportunity and the responsibility to first be realistic
❑WHAT (Learning Goals and Objectives) Individualized Education Program about the child’s needs and goals and then to be
❑HOW (Specialized Instruction and Related Services) ❑IDEA requires that educators develop and creative about how to meet them
implement and IEP for each student with disabilities - The IEP is also a measure of accountability for
❑WHO (Teachers and related-service providers)
between the ages of 3 to 21 years teachers and schools.
❑WHEN (Frequency of Specialized Instruction and
IEP Team - Whether a particular school or educational program
related services
❑The term “individualized education program team” is effective will be judged, to some extent, by how well
or “IEP team” means a group of individuals composed it is able to help children meet the goals and objectives
IV. Placement
of: set forth in their IEPs
❑After the IEP team determines the child’s
educational needs and the special education and 1. The parents of a child with a disability
2. Not less than regular education teacher of the child REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9442
related services necessary to meet those needs, the
(if the child, or may be, participating in the regular - “An act providing for the Rehabilitation and
team then determines an educational setting where
education environment) SelfReliance of Disabled Persons and Their Integration
the child can receive an appropriate education in the
3. Not less than 1 special education teacher, or where to the Mainstream of Society and Other Purposes
Least Restrictive Education (LRE)
appropriate, at least 1 special education provider of granting Additional Privileges and Incentives and
the child Prohibitions on Verbal, Non-Verbal Ridicule and
V. Progress Monitoring, Annual Review, and
4. A representative of the local education agency who: Vilification Against Persons with Disability”
Reevaluation
i. Is qualified to provide, or supervise the provision RULE V - Prohibitions on Verbal, Non-Verbal Ridicule
- In addition to being specialized, intensive, and goal-
of, specially designed instruction to meet the and Vilification Against Persons with Disability
directed, special education is also continuously
unique needs of children with disability The following constitutes acts of public ridicule:
evaluated
ii. Is knowledgeable about the general curriculum - Making fun of a person on account of his/her
Ongoing Progress Monitoring
iii. Is knowledgeable about the availability of disability even through jokes in a manner that is
❑Direct and frequent measurement of student degrading resulting to the embarrassment of the
performance provides the most meaningful resources of the local education agency
5. An individual who can interpret the instructional person with disability in front of two or more persons;
information about student progress and the - Making mockery of a person with disability whether
effectiveness of instruction implications of evaluation results, who may be a
member of the team described in clauses (2) through in oral or in writing;
Annual Review - Imitating a person with disability in public gatherings,
(6)
❑The established goals and outcomes, delivery of stage shows, carnivals, television shows, broadcast
6. At the discretion of the parent of the agency, other
specially designed instruction and related services, and media and other forms of entertainments that are
individuals who have knowledge or special expertise
appropriateness of placement must be thoroughly offensive to the rights and dignity of persons with
regarding the child, including related service personnel
reviewed annually to revise aspects of IEP that lacks disability or any other similar acts;
as appropriate
contribution to expected progress
- No individual, group or community shall execute any in the media they consume, in their communities, at ensure that the requisite finances are in place to
of these acts of ridicule against persons with disability school, when they seek health care, among friends, implement them.
in any time and place which could intimidate or result within their own families – and even within
in loss of self-esteem of the latter themselves, as they internalize negative beliefs and
attitudes.
The following constitutes Vilification: - When it comes to reducing stigma and discrimination,
- The utterance of slanderous and abusive statements interventions that address multiple socioecological
against a person with disability such as but not limited levels, target multiple audiences, and combine
to: (1) calling a person by his disability in public which communications, advocacy and programming are
results to humiliation; (2) using the disability of a documented to be more effective than standalone
person as an example in a manner that is embarrassing initiatives.
and humiliating to the dignity of persons with
disability. Multi-faceted Approach to Reducing Stigma Against
- An activity in public which incites hatred towards, Children with Disabilities
serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of persons - At the level of institutions like schools, a holistic
with disability. approach is a key to reducing stigma and
- Any individual, group or community is hereby discrimination and supporting real inclusion
prohibited from vilifying any person with disability - Parents and families are critical partners in reducing
which could result into loss of self-esteem of the latter. stigma and discrimination.
- Contact between members of stigmatized groups and
Stigma Encountered by Children with Disabilities others plays a key role in reducing stigma and
- Children with disabilities face widespread stigma and discrimination, if it is on equal footing and aims
discrimination based on deeply rooted negative towards a shared goal
perceptions about disability. These attitudes and - Storytelling and sharing of personal testimonies can
beliefs reflect what is known as “ableism”; a value be powerful tools to reduce stigma and advocate for
system that discriminates against people with change
disabilities based on the idea that certain ways of
appearance, functioning and behaviour are essential Countering Stigma and Discrimination Against Children
for living a life of value with Disabilities: A Call for Action
- Due to ableist assumptions, children with disabilities - Invest in integrated, evidence-based, multi-level
are considered to be in need of “fixing”, less able to strategies to negative attitudes, beliefs, norms, stigma,
contribute and participate, less worthy of attention, and discrimination against children with disabilities,
and in general to have less inherent value than others. and make services more accessible and inclusive
That is why eliminating stigma and discrimination is a - Empower service providers and communities to
human rights imperative. support the inclusion of children and adults with
- The evidence shows that real impact comes from a disabilities, and enable their access to inclusive
multifaceted approach services
- Stigma and discrimination are multi-faceted and - Enact policies that address stigma and discrimination
ubiquitous. Children with disabilities encounter them against children with disabilities and their families, and