Caring for Our People: Special Education

1. Caring for Our People:Special Education Training by Spirit Lake Consulting, Inc.

2. Our training is... • Being created with input from community members • Designed to be useful for people with disabilities, family members and staff • Under constant development to provide the latest up-to-date information and meet community needs

3. Introduction Who gets special education? • More than 10% of children nationwide • 20-30% on most reservations It’s the law! • Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires quality services for students with disabilities, including preschoolers & infants

4. WHO QUALIFIES? There are thirteen categories for special education: • Mental Retardation • Learning Disabilities • Serious Emotional Disturbance • Visual Impairment • Hearing Impairment • Deafness • Deaf-Blindness

5. WHO QUALIFIES?(continued) • Autism • Speech or Language Impairment • Traumatic Brain Injury • Orthopedic Impairment • Multiple Disabilities • Other Health Impairments

6. DEFINING THESE CATEGORIES…Mental Retardation .... a condition in which a person has trouble learning, absorbing, and practicing every day skills, which slows them from being able to take care of themselves and interact with others. This disorder is usually present from birth, although some cases of retardation can occur later in life.

7. DEFINITIONS (continued)…Learning Disabilities … defined by law as "an imperfect ability to read, write, speak or perform mathematical calculations and which is not due to physical, sensory or emotional impairment, mental retardation or socio-cultural disadvantage."

8. DEFINITIONS (continued)… Serious Emotional Disturbance Includes depression, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Conduct Disorders An ADHD child may impulsively push someone too hard on a swing, knock the child down on the ground and be sorry she did this afterward. A child with a conduct disorder might push the kid out of the swing and say she didn't do it.

9. DEFINITIONS (continued)… Visual Impairment The terms partially sighted, low vision, legally blind, and totally blind are used to describe students with visual impairments. • "Partially sighted" indicates a visual problem that has resulted in a need for special education; • "Low vision" generally refers to a severe visual impairment, not necessarily limited to distance vision. • "Legally blind" means that a person has less than 20/200 vision in the better eye or a very limited field of vision. • “Totally blind” students learn via braille or other non-visual media.

10. DEFINITIONS (continued)… Hearing Impairment … is when there is an impairment in hearing that affects a child's educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness (see next slide). Each state defines the degree of hearing loss which determines a student's eligibility for special education services. Hard of hearing is defined as a hearing loss of 35-60 decibels in the better ear.

11. DEFINITIONS (continued)… Deafness …is a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in understanding speech. Deafness is usually defined as a hearing loss of 70 decibels or greater in the better ear.

12. DEFINITIONS (continued)… Deaf-Blindness …refers to a combination of hearing and visual impairments which cause such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.

13. DEFINITIONS (continued)… Autism …this category includes individuals with all levels of pervasive development disorder – the most known of which being autism. People with PDD have deficits in social interaction and communication. Asperger’s Syndrome, Rett’s Syndrome and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder are also classified under PDD.

14. DEFINITIONS (continued)…Speech or Language Impairment … includes communication or language disorders that affect communication and/or oral functioning that affects speech. Speech disorders include articulation disorder and phonological disorder. Children with language disorders may have trouble with matching a word with its meaning, creating sentences, or comprehending what someone is saying.

15. DEFINITIONS (continued)…Traumatic Brain Injury … usually occurs in an accident when the brain literally bounces back and forth inside the skull, often hitting in both the front and the back of the brain. Brain injury can also occur due to lack of oxygen. Brain injury is the most common cause of death and disability in children. Effects can be as serious as mental retardation, learning disabilities, loss of vision or speech, inability to remember new things and number of other complications.

16. DEFINITIONS (continued)…Orthopedic Impairment … according to the ADA (2005), an individual with a physical disability is a person who either : • has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; • has a record of such an impairment; • is regarded as having such an impairment. These conditions can be related to any physical disorder or condition or anatomical loss affecting one or more body systems. The loss can be muscular-skeletal (e.g., a missing limb) or neurological (I.e., the body part does not function, such as in paraplegia).

17. DEFINITIONS (continued)…Multiple Disabilities … refers to a combination of disabilities, such as mental retardation and orthopedic impairment, that cannot be served in programs for either individual disability alone.

18. DEFINITIONS (continued)…Other Health Impairments … cover a variety of diseases and disorders focused on a special education category that refers to people who have limited strength, energy or alertness that affects their ability to learn in a normal classroom. Less than .5% of students are diagnosed with other health impairments. Some of these disorders are present at birth, such as sickle cell anemia, asthma, hemophilia or epilepsy. Other impairments are caused by acquired conditions such as lead poisoning, rheumatic fever, HIV, or cancer.