Introduction to

special education

EDB 422

Written by:

T F Attah
Charlotte Donani
E K Dovi
Joseph Essel
Grace Y Gadagbui
Samuel K Hayford
Mark A Ocloo
Alexander Mills Oppong

ED
UC CE
ATI VI
ON FOR SER

Institute for Educational Development and Extension

University of Education, Winneba
© IEDE - UEW
ED
UC CE
ATI VI
ON FOR SER

All rights reserved including translation. No part of this publication

may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or
duplication in any information storage or retrieval system, without
prior permission in writing from the Director, IEDE.
University of Education, P. O. Box 25, Winneba

Inreoduction to special education EDB 422

First published 1996 by
The Institute for Educational Development and Extension
University of Education
P O Box 25
Winneba
Tel: (0)3323 22 046
Fax: (0)3323 22 497
Email: [email protected]

Reprinted in 2001 & 2012

© Institute for Educational Development and Extension, 2012

ISBN 9988-620-01-2

Printed in Ghana
 U NI T

C
1 NATURE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

ON S
TENT
INTRODUCTION 12

SECTION 1 SPECIAL EDUCATION AND RELATED CONCEPTS 14

What is special education? 14
Terminology 14
Principles of Special Education 17
Contemporary Issues In Special Education 19

SECTION 2 DEVIATION FROM THE 'NORM' AND ITS IMPLICATIONS 22

The concept of the 'norm' 22
Deviation from the norm 23
Effects of deviation on a child's peers 25

SECTION 3 THE NEED TO STUDY SPECIAL EDUCATION 30

Review of the concept of Special Education 30
The relevance of Special Education to the classroom teacher 31
Special Education in relation to teaching methods 33
Public Law 94:142 34
Education of all handicapped children act of 1975 34
Education: a 'right' for all children 35
Meeting the special needs of exceptional children 36
Advocacy and the teacher 37
Meaning of advocacy 37

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 U NI T
INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

C
2
ON S
TENT
INTRODUCTION 42

SECTION 1 CONCEPT OF MENTAL RETARDATION 44

What is mental retardation? 44
Intellectual functioning level 44
Adaptive behaviour essential for daily functioning 46
The developmental period 46
Mental retardation and mental illness 47
Classification of mental retardation 49
The new classification system 49

SECTION 2 CAUSES OF MENTAL RETARDATION (PART 2) 54

Perinatal causes 54
Hypoxia and anoxia 55
Prematurity 57
Postnatal causes of hazards 58

SECTION 3 CHARACTERISTICS OF MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN 66

Intellectual characteristics 66
Adaptive behaviour 67
Speech and language characteristics 68
Physical characteristics 70

SECTION 4 IDENTIFYING THE MENTALLY RETARDED 74

Identification of mental retardation during prenatal period 74
Identification of mental retardation at birth 75
Normal and abnormal childhood development 76
Identification of mental retardation at childhood 79

SECTION 5 MANAGEMENT OF MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN 84

Curriculum for the mentally retarded 84
Related services - therapies 86
Educational provision for mentally retarded children 89
Management of behaviour problems 91
Some behaviour problems of mentally retarded children 92

UEW/IEDE, BEd iii

 U NI T

C
3 VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

ON S
TENT
INTRODUCTION 98

SECTION 1 THE CONCEPT OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT 100

Meaning of visual impairment 100
Degrees of visual impairment 105

SECTION 2 IDENTIFICATION OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT 110

Noticing visual impairment 110
Signs of a seeing problem 110
Testing the sight of a baby 112

SECTION 3 MANAGEMENT OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT 116

Managing the visually impaired 116
Arranging the learning environment 118
Mainstreaming the visually impaired child 123

iv UEW/IEDE, BEd
 U NI T
HEARING IMPAIRMENT

C
4
ON S
TENT
INTRODUCTION 128

SECTION 1 CONCEPT OF HEARING IMPAIRMENT 130

What hearing impairment means 130
Types of hearing impairment 133

SECTION 2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HEARING IMPAIRED 138

The mildly hearing impaired 138
Identifying mildly hearing impaired 139
The moderately hearing impaired 140
The severely hearing impaired 141

SECTION 3 IDENTIFYING HEARING IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS 146

Definition and explanation of hearing impaired 146
Identification process of hearing impairment 148
Services for identifying hearing impairment 149

SECTION 4 MANAGEMENT OF THE HEARING IMPAIRED 154

Curriculum for the hearing impaired 154
Educational programmes for the hearing impaired 156
Helping the hearing impaired person in the classroom 164

UEW/IEDE, BEd v
 U NI T
TYPES OF EXCEPTIONALITY

C
5
ON S
TENT
INTRODUCTION 172

SECTION 1 EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOUR DISORDERS 174

The concept of emotional and behaviour disorders 174
Differences between emotional and behaviour disorders 176
Principles of applied behaviour analysis 178
Causes of behaviour and emotional disorders 179
Strategies for managing children with emotional and
behaviour disorders 180

SECTION 2 LEARNING DISABILITIES 184

Explanation of learning disabilities 184
Classification of learning disabilities 186
Causes of learning disabilities 187
Characteristics of learning disabled children 188
Educational remediation for the learning disabled 189

SECTION 3 THE CONCEPT OF GIFTEDNESS AND TALENTEDNESS 194

Definition 194
Why identify the gifted and talented? 195

SECTION 4 IDENTIFICATION OF THE GIFTED AND TALENTED 200

Identification processes 200

SECTION 5 MANAGEMENT OF THE GIFTED AND TALENTED 210

Acceleration programmes 210
Other acceleration programmes 211
Enrichment programmes 213
Promoting creativity and problem solving in the gifted and talented 216

vi UEW/IEDE, BEd
SPECIAL EDUCATION COURSE INTRODUCTION

We are pleased to welcome you to the very beginning of an interesting

course: Introduction to special education.

You may be a mathematician, or a scientist; or you may be specialising in

one of the arts subjects such as English or life skills. So you may be
wondering why you have to spend time on a course which has nothing to
do with your own subject. You may wonder why Introduction to special
education is a core course, that compulsory for all the post-diploma BEd
students like you. These questions need answering.

We at UEW think that special education is very special: so special, that we

feel all students should be exposed to the ideas in this course. This is
because we think that every teacher needs to be aware of the problems
caused by special needs. Before you finish this course hope you will think
as we do.

Every teacher needs to be competent in a subject specialism. But teachers

must also be aware of the problems children have if learning: no
classroom or lecture theatre is filled with only I students. Every teacher
has to grapple with the problems cal some pupils who are especially
talented, and others who have problems with learning. You need to be able
to identify the gifted pupils so as to devise strategies for developing their I
the full; and you need to recognise and deal with children w learning
difficulties so that you can devise ways of helping much as possible. All
this has to be done against the usual constraints of large classes and a
shortage of materials and equipment.

The importance of special education has been underscored by two events

that have taken place in the Ghana Education Service (GES) in recent
times.

The first of these events was the establishment of a Directorate for Special
Education. One may ask, how many special schools are there in the
country to warrant the establishment of a Directorate? There are certainly
less than 50 special schools, therefore, in terms of numbers, the
establishment of the directorate cannot really be justified. The decision to
establish a directorate was obviously not based on numbers but on how
crucial it is to give the branch of education a special attention.

In the early eighties a representative group of education tutors from

training colleges met at Akrokerri College of Education with the Sole aim
of pruning what was obviously an overloaded and bloated education
syllabus. The tutors were unanimous that in spite of evening and week-
end classes, it was difficult to complete any of the six sections of the
education syllabus. However, even before they set to work they
recognised that the absence of a special education component from the
education syllabus was, to say the least, a serious oversight. So, side by
side with the purning of the syllabus, special education was born into the

viii UEW/IEDE, BEd

Course Introduction SPECIAL EDUCATION

Colleges of education. This then, was the second event which confirmed,
the importance of special education.

At the end of this course we hope that you:

— will have changed your attitude towards the pupils or students you
teach by becoming more able to cope with those who have special
needs
— will be competent to diagnose the signs of learning problems in the
children you teach
— will be able to put right many of the learning problems you find in
your classes
— will in future see yourself as responsible for providing the ideal
learning situation for each and every one of your pupils rather than
as an expert in one particular subject specialism

UEW/IEDE, BEd ix
SPECIAL EDUCATION COURSE PLANNER

Use this page to make your course planner.

Planned completion date Actual completion date

Unit 1: Nature of Special
Education

Unit 2: Intellectual Disability

Unit 3: Visual Impairment

Unit 4: Hearing Impairment

Unit 5: Types of Exceptionality

x UEW/IEDE, BEd
 U NI T
SPECIAL EDUCATION

C
1
ON S
TENT

NATURE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION

SECTION 1 SPECIAL EDUCATION AND RELATED CONCEPTS 14

SECTION 2 DEVIATION FROM THE 'NORM' AND ITS IMPLICATIONS 22

SECTION 3 THE NEED TO STUDY SPECIAL EDUCATION 30

the adinkra symbol used in the UEW crest

Mate masie I have heard what you have said

UEW/IEDE, BEd 11
SPECIAL UNIT NATURE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION
EDUCATION 1
Unit 1, section 4: Hydroelectric (water) energy

This is unit I of the entire course of five units which have all been care-
fully structured for you to read and understand with case.

Activity 1.1
The unit introduces you to the concept of special education. However,
before you proceed, we want you for a moment to jot down a few points
on what you think special education is. We want you to do this so that
you can compare your initial ideas with the outcome of your study.

You will find the course practical and useful: do not be scared of any
technical terms you come across which might sound difficult. All such
terms will be explained at the appropriate times.

You will require about 14 hours to complete this unit. We therefore urge
you to plan your study time well.

At the end of this unit you should be able to:

state the principles of special education
outline the relevance and importance of special education
explain some beliefs and altitudes towards exceptional individuals
describe the development of special education in Ghana
outline programmes that are available for exceptional individuals in
Ghana

There are three sections in this unit. Each section has activities you
should do as you proceed.

You are ready to begin now! Go on to section 1.

12 UEW/IEDE, BEd
 SPECIAL
SPECIAL
Unit
This 1, section
page 4:blank for your notes
is left EDUCATION
EDUCATION

UEW/IEDE, BEd 13
SPECIAL
UNIT 1 SECTION
EDUCATION 1
Unit 1,SPECIAL EDUCATION
section 1: Special AND
education and RELATED CONCEPTS
related concepts

This is the beginning of the course: Introduction to special education. We

can assure you that you will find this course, every section of it,
interesting. You are welcome to the study.

In this section we shall be discussing the fundamentals of special

education. To help you study easily, the section has been broken down
into parts. There are a number of activities for you to do. These are
important – they will help you to understand the material better. Try and
spend about two to three hours on this section.

Next we have outlined some objectives for you to achieve in this section.
These will help you to evaluate yourself after the study.

At the end of this section, you should be able to:

explain and discuss the concept of exceptionality, disability, handicap
and impairment
analyse and apply the concept of special education and its principles
discuss very specifically current issues in special education

We shall now begin with the section.

What is special education?

Two people were asked this question, and each gave it different answer.
One commented that special education could be described as ‘an enriched
form of general education', the other said that special education is a
subject that ‘seeks to improve the overall status of exceptional children
and adults'.

These two descriptions given may be different, but actually they both
explain what special education is. This proves that special education has
many definitions, or could be described in various ways.

Suppose we asked you. "What is special education?" what would

your answer be? Spend a few minutes thinking about it.

UNESCO (1983) defines special education as:

a form of education provided for those who are not achieving, or
are unlikely to achieve through ordinary educational provision, the
levels of educational, social and other attainments appropriate to
their age, and which has the aim of furthering their progress
towards these levels.

Let us consider one more definition so that we can begin to discuss them.
Special education has also been defined as:
the course and content of education, including specially defined
classrooms, material and equipment designed to meet the unique

14 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
 SPECIAL
Unit 1, section 1: Special education and related concepts EDUCATION

needs of a handicapped child (Shown, 1986).

These two definitions give us a comprehensive idea of special education.

They both emphasise the child or adult who has a problem of coping with
the regular school system; and they both suggest the use of modified
methods of teaching and the role of specially designed materials. These
steps are specially taken to 'meet the needs of the exceptional individual'.

So, special education looks at the other side of education (which is often
ignored). Special education makes it possible for the handicapped child to
learn. The focus of special education is on helping individuals who have
specific problems (disabilities) which prevent them from learning through
the regular educational system. In special education emphasis is placed
on tile uniqueness of every child. This is taken into consideration during
the planning and the teaching: and it is also important when we choose
teaching materials, teaching methods and the learning environment.

Special education is designed to ensure that every child benefits from the
learning situation. When you walk into your classroom, and you begin to
take note of that partially-sighted girl or that 'crippled' boy, you are
starting to adopt the special educational concept.

People often consider special education as a strange subject. But it is only

an addition to what we do in our classrooms every day. Also, it is often
thought that special education is only concerned with the blind, mentally-
retarded, and those with other handicapping conditions. Special education
includes all of these, but goes beyond them. Special education takes care
of the gifted and talented child; the child in a class who has no physical or
visible disabilities, but cannot learn; and many more. (We shall be
discussing this in detail in unit two. By the end of that unit you will have
been introduced to the many other types of people who can benefit from
special education.)

As you continue your study, you will realise that knowledge of special
education should be mandatory for every teacher. No matter what you
teach: whether you teach mathematics, English language, science or
whatever special education enables you to ensure that all children in your
classroom are learning.

Terminology
Let us consider important concepts that you would come across quite
often in your study of this course.

We want to explain the meaning of these terms which are often used in
special education. Sometimes, they are mixed up and used
interchangeably. However, we want you to be able to understand their

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 15
SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 1, section 1: Special education and related concepts

differences. We shall therefore explain each one of them and at the end
we will ask you to write down their difference. So take careful note of
each one of them.

Commenting on the difficulty in differentiating some of the terminology

used in special education, Mandell and Fiscus (1981) had this to say:

Frequently, the terms 'disabled', 'handicapped' and "exceptional'

are used interchangeably to refer to the same individual. Yet,
they are often defined differently. A child is identified as
exceptional if he or she is atypical, if performance deviates from
what is expected. Broader in scope than 'disabled', 'exceptional'
includes not only those people who have limitations, but those
whose performance excels or goes beyond normal expectations.
A disability refers to either a total or partial behavioural, menial,
physical, or sensorial loss of functioning. All disabled people are
exceptional; the reverse, however, is not true. Whereas a
disability or exceptionality is within an individual, a handicap
refers to the environmental restrictions put on a person’s life as a
result of his or her disability or exceptionality.

Illustrating the distinction among 'disability', 'exceptionality', and

'handicap' is the case of a six-year-old boy, James, who has spina
bifida, which is failure of the spinal column to close. In this
disability, the degree of paralysis and loss of body function is
related to the severity of the defect. James has limited use of his
legs and no bowel or bladder control. Despite these physical
limitations, he is able to attend a regular first-grade class because
he is mobile with crutches. Regarding academic potential, James
has been identified as intellectually gifted. His school made
arrangements to have his diapers changed with minimum
disruption to the school day. However, he is handicapped
physically because of environmental barriers such as stairs.

Wright (1960) for example, considers disability purely as a medical

condition. This means that she focuses only on the deformity or that
which makes the individual unable to perform.

Most experts view handicap as reflecting the demands and limitations

placed on an individual as a result of the disability. Disability and
handicap go hand-in-hand. We cannot talk of disability without handicap
and vice versa. Though an individual may have a disability, yet that
person may not be completely handicapped, except in very specific
functions.

For example, an individual whose right hand is paralysed or even

amputated may experience some limitations when using the right hand.
The person may have to learn to use the left hand to eat, write, and dress.
When it comes to walking or talking, or the use of the legs for any

16 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
 SPECIAL
Unit 1, section 1: Special education and related concepts EDUCATION

function, this individual is not handicapped. This person has the full use
of every other part of the body except the right hand. That is why we say
that an individual is only handicapped up to the point where the specific
disability inconveniences them.

Impairment – is, usually used in place of disability. Impairment, like

disability, denotes weakening of or damage to the body function.

Activity 1.1
Having read through and studied the four terms, (exceptionality,
disability, handicap and impairment) explain their differences (if any), as
clearly as possible. Illustrate your answers with examples.

Principles of special education

We hope that you have been able to understand what we have been
discussing. You certainly will find more interesting ideas as you go on.

We said earlier that special education is 'that education which is an

addition to regular education'. The general principles, therefore, that
govern regular education also apply to special education.

In addition to regular educational principles, however, special education

concerns itself with the world of exceptional individuals. It embraces the
child who is extremely gifted. These children perform much better than
their counterparts. Special education at the same time places emphasis on
the disabled, or on that child who has profound mental limitations. The
first principle, then, is that special education covers all children. It

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 17
SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 1, section 1: Special education and related concepts

includes any child who needs help of any kind.

Another important principle is that of mainstreaming, also known as

integration. Special education encourages children with special needs to
be educated, as far as possible, together with the non-handicapped.
Putting the handicapped and the non-handicapped together in the same
environment to learn is what is referred to as mainstreaming or
integration.

This course is an introductory course: therefore we shall not discuss these

issues in detail. We want you to be aware of these concepts, so that you
can apply them in your own classroom.

Whenever we talk about mainstreaming, we also discuss another term

known as the least restrictive environment (LRE). LRE means that a
handicapped child should be educated in an environment that is not
restrictive. It should be an environment that will bring the child closer to
the society. By this principle of LRE, except where it cannot be helped,
special schools are not encouraged. Handicapped children should not be
thrown into one big school and told to remain segregated by themselves.
The non-handicapped and the handicapped are encouraged to learn in the
same environment. The reason for this theory is that every person
(handicapped or not) lives in society: therefore all persons must be
educated within the larger society. When this is not done, the
handicapped may eventually experience problems in adjusting.

Mainstreaming also helps the non-handicapped to accept the

handicapped. The non-handicapped are able to appreciate and understand
the strengths and weaknesses of the handicapped.

Another principle in special education which will be the last to be

discussed in this section is the team-work approach.

Activity 1.2
Before we proceed, do you have handicapped children in your present
school? What type of handicapping conditions do they have? Discuss
briefly how these children are treated by their peers as well as by the
teachers in the school.

18 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
 SPECIAL
Unit 1, section 1: Special education and related concepts EDUCATION

Due to the different types of handicapping conditions, there are different

areas of specialisation in special education. It's just like in any school:
there may be many teachers, but all teach different subjects. There are
teachers of mathematics, science, language, cultural studies, religious
studies and so on.

In special education there are also different areas, though we all work
together for the benefit of the handicapped child. This working together is
what we call team-work. We have teachers for the hearing impaired,
teachers for the mentally retarded, brain experts, vocational teachers of
the visually impaired and many more.

Often special education teachers work in collaboration with other

professionals from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of
Employment and Social Welfare. So it is not only the educational needs
of the handicapped that are met, but their health and social needs as well.

Each one of these professionals (eg. medical doctors, nurses,

psychologists) together with the different special educators, form the
multidisciplinary team.

This team is crucial to the well being of the handicapped. The team plans
and implements every recommendation for these children, thereby
making their disability less of a handicap.

Why don’t you also form a small team with some of your fellow teachers,
and devise strategies to help the handicapped in your school? You can
discuss your attempt with us when we meet.

While you are still pondering on the task of forming a team of teachers,
let us examine crucial issues in special education worldwide.

Contemporary Issues In special education

The field of special education is a growing one, and new concepts
frequently come up.

Many years ago emphasis was placed on the disability of people. The
weakness of the handicapped was the focus of attention. For example,
there was an emphasis on the provision of equipment and materials for
specific disabilities, and on cure or correction of the disabled body
function. Today, however, the focus has shifted from emphasising the
weaknesses of the handicapped to building on the strengths they possess.

Our thinking has now been drawn to the potential and capability of
handicapped people, rather than focusing on their inabilities. As a result,
various countries like the United States, Kenya and India are introducing

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 19
SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 1, section 1: Special education and related concepts

specific legislation to buttress this new thinking.

In the United States, for example, it has become a legal offence for an
employer to demand information on whether a prospective employee has
a disability. It is believed that the knowledge that an individual has a
disability might have a negative influence on employers; so that even
though sometimes the handicapped applicant may be more qualified, as
well as more competent, the non-handicapped might be offered the job.

In Ghana we still have many special institutions for the blind, the deaf,
and the mentally retarded. In these institutions, the handicapped are kept
away, secluded from general society as it were. Every child in these
institutions is handicapped in one way or the other. This is rather an
fashioned-old trend. Currently, there is a shift away from such
segregatory schools, towards integration. Handicapped and non-
handicapped are brought together to learn in the same environment.

In fact, there is even a shift away from placing handicapped children in

selected regular schools, to placing handicapped children in every regular
school. This is the most contemporary trend in special education and it is
called inclusive education.

Activity 1.3
What is your view of this kind of education, where handicapped children
(except the very profoundly handicapped ones) are placed in regular
schools in every community? Do you think it is also possible in our
system? As a teacher, what are some of the implications you can
anticipate?

We shall now proceed to our next section.

20 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
 SPECIAL
Unit 1, section 1: Special education and related concepts EDUCATION

Summary
You have come to the end of the first section of this first unit. I hope you
enjoyed and understood the fundamental issues discussed in this section.
What did you learn from this section? Let's try to recap.

In trying to discuss what special education is all about, we mentioned that

it is a form of education made available to the child or adult who has a
problem coping with the regular school system. Modified methods of
teaching and specially designed materials are used in educating the child
or adult. To provide this special system of education, we needed to
understand some basic terminologies which people usually mix up. These
were:
exceptionality
disability
handicap
impairment

We hope you understood these concepts clearly. Also, some principles of

special education were discussed. These were seen as additions to the
regular educational principles. The principles are as follows:
special education covers all children
special education encourages children with special needs to be
educated, as far as possible, together with non-handicapped
mainstreaming/integration
special education uses a team-work approach by relying on medical
doctors, nurses, psychologists, counsellors and so on.

References
Mandell, Colleen J and Fiscus. Edward, Understanding exceptional
people. West Publishing, St Paul, 1981

UNESCO, Terminology of special education, revised edition, 1983

Wright, B A, 1960, Physical disability, a psychological approach. New

York, Harper and Row

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 21
SPECIAL
UNIT 1 SECTION
EDUCATION 2
Unit 1,DEVIATION FROMfrom
section 2: deviation THE ‘NORM’
the AND
‘norm’ and ITS IMPLICATIONS
its implications

Having successfully completed section 1, we will now be moving on a

step further.

In section 1 we talked about the concept of Special Education and its

terminologies for the first time. However, we stated that the topic would
be discussed in detail later. Now we have come to that point. We will be
considering three topics. Try to relate each to your classroom experience
or to exceptional children you have known.

The section is particularly important because it will help you identify

exceptional children in your classroom.

Do not spend more than three hours on this section.

At the end of this section we want you to be able to:

 explain the concept of deviation from the 'norm'
 outline effects of this deviation on the child and on other children in
the classroom
 explain the implication of deviations to the classroom teacher

The concept of the 'norm'

Our main heading for section 1 was special education and related
concepts. One of the concepts we want to discuss today is the 'norm'.
When we talk about a 'norm' we must always relate it to some place:
some culture with laws, rules and regulations. This is because nothing in
itself is 'normal' or 'abnormal'. Scientifically we say, 'normalcy is relative
and not absolute'. This introductory part of the discussion should not
confuse you: keep reading you will find it quite easy and interesting.

Generally speaking, there are rules that govern or guide humanity: and
every community has its own special rules. For example, you have certain
rules in your locality or your community, don't you? Some of these rules
may be related only to your locality, while some of the rules may be
applicable in other places as well. Do you agree? Ponder over this point
for a few minutes. Then do activity 3.1 on the next page.

Activity 2.1
Write down a list of rules that guide the behaviour of people in a
community you know well. Have at least five such norms on your list.

22 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
 SPECIAL
Unit 1, section 2: deviation from the ‘norm’ and its implications EDUCATION

It is possible you listed more than five points; or perhaps you could not
think of as many as five points. Let us now consider a few examples of
some of these general norms, and some of the more specific and limited
ones. For example: in certain parts of the Dagaari society, sisters are
allowed to marry the same husband. This would be an absolute
abomination in an Akan community completely unacceptable. The
example given here is a specific norm, related only to that community. A
norm such as 'a handicapped person must not be seen in the chief's palace'
is almost a general norm, which a number of communities have,
especially among the Akans. Having read these examples, you may now
be able to list more such norms.

So some rules are fairly universal: other rules differ from place to place.
What is acceptable (normal) in one community may not be acceptable
(normal) in another.

Next we shall discuss more thoroughly the terms norm and deviation.

Deviation from the norm

We cannot separate norm from deviation. These two are linked together.
When one talks about deviation, the question that comes to mind
immediately is deviation from what?

'Norm' basically refers to 'that which is generally accepted'. Therefore

when we mention deviation from the norm, we mean a significant
difference from that which is expected either globally, or in relation to a
particular society.

For us to be able to make better meaning of deviation, let us consider the

bell-curve which will give us further clarification.

The normal bell-curve as a criterion for recognising deviation

The discussion so far will already have given you a lot to think about.
You will soon carry out an activity which will help you evaluate your
understanding of the topic.

We want to give an illustration here. In the field of special education (and

in psychology) we make use of the normal bell-curve. The normal curve
has positive indications on the right; and negative indications on the left.
For the purpose of this course, we shall not go into details of the normal
bell-curve graph. We will limit ourselves to what is relevant for our
discussion.

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 23
SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 1, section 2: deviation from the ‘norm’ and its implications

Figure 2.1 Very few people are more than two steps above the norm or more
than two steps below it.

In special education when an individual deviates from the mean (which is

'0'), and drifts two or more steps, we consider that as 'exceptional' or a
deviation. (What we are loosely calling 'steps', statisticians refer to
correctly as 'standard deviations'.)

A graph like this is normally found when many people take a test and the
results are plotted. When the deviation is to the right, it means the child is
gifted and talented; and when it is to the left, it could mean a low
intellectual functioning such as mental retardation.

On the other hand, apart from determining an individual's position on the

scale by certain tests, societal norms could also be used as criteria. We
discussed societal norms in the preceding section. Whether we use tests
or societal norms, the important issue is to be able to understand the
children who deviate from the norm and plan for them appropriately.

Let us consider this case study to elaborate on what we are discussing:

Amina is a fourteen-year-old primary five girl. She has
difficulty learning in the classroom. Amina has repeated several
classes. So eventually the school psychologist decided to
conduct some tests for her to find out her level of deviation.
After the tests, it was revealed that Amina's score was three
points of the scale below the norm. This feedback was given to
her class teacher, Miss Turkson. Initially Miss Turkson did not
know what to do: she wanted to ask that Amina be sent to

24 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
 SPECIAL
Unit 1, section 2: deviation from the ‘norm’ and its implications EDUCATION

another class or an institution for special education. Later on,

she decided to talk to Mr Fuseini the primary four teacher. It
was Mr Fuseini who explained to Miss Turkson that Amina's
score on the tests should not be such a problem as to send her
away. He advised that certain classroom activities could be
directed at Amina, that her peers should teach her at home, and
that Miss Turkson should give Amina a little bit more attention.
By the end of the year, Amina had been able to improve so well
that she was promoted to the next level.

What we are trying to explain to you is that the normal bell-curve and its
scores should only be used as a method of knowing a child's level so that
you can plan appropriate instructional activities that would benefit the
child.

Before you proceed to the next topic carry out activity 3.2 on the next
page.

Activity 2.2
How would you explain the concept of deviation from the normal bell-
curve to a fellow teacher? Write this out and include a diagram.

the space below is for your diagram

Effects of deviation on a child's peers

As a class teacher, you will have realised that children influence each
other. If anything goes wrong with one particular child, all the others are

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 25
SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 1, section 2: deviation from the ‘norm’ and its implications

affected. Whether positively or negatively, children share emotions with

each other. Therefore, a child's deviation will have an impact on other
children in the class.

Activity 2.3
Before you read on, make a list of some of the positive and negative
effects that an 'exceptional' child would have on the behaviour of other
children. Include at least 5 points under each category.

positive negative

You might have mentioned the following:

positive negative
Peer might have sympathy for the Peers might create an atmosphere
child and give help. of apathy.
The child could be understood and Child may not be understood, and
loved. may be disliked
Stigmatisation and teasing would be Child could be viewed as a social
absent as there would be tolerance. outcast.
Friends would offer to take on Peers would make activities more
activities that the child cannot difficult for the child.
accomplish alone
Child will be integrated. The child would be isolated.
Peers would be friendly towards the Jealousy could be developed
child. against the child.

You can see from the points above that the classroom situation might
become encouraging for the 'deviated' child, or it might become very
uncomfortable. It will depend on the kinds of attitude shown towards the
exceptional child.

You, as a class teacher, should be able to recognise these potential

problems and tailor your teaching to suit the class atmosphere so that all
children in the class will benefit.
There are several ways by which you could make the classroom suitable
for all children. Here are a few suggestions:
 Involve all the children in your teaching. There should be active
learning. Encourage participation by all the children (see figure 2.2).

26 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
 SPECIAL
Unit 1, section 2: deviation from the ‘norm’ and its implications EDUCATION

figure 2.2 A group of children actively involved in learning

 Organise children into groups to teach each other as in figure 3.2.

This is also called 'peer teaching'. It has proved very effective. In
subjects like reading, and mathematics, you can put a gifted child
with an average child so they can learn from each other while you
supervise.

figure 2.3 Groups of children pairs and in threes teaching each other

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 27
SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 1, section 2: deviation from the ‘norm’ and its implications

 Another way is to emphasise the strength of the exceptional child.

Let us say, for example, you have a child in your class who is
crippled. There are certain activities (such as games) which this child
may not be able to do well. Maybe, on the other hand, the child is
good at drawing. You can show this good work to the rest of the
class. When you do this, all the children would realise that even
though that child is handicapped, yet there are certain things this
exceptional child can do very well, maybe even better than
themselves. This is a sure way of creating a positive and healthy
attitude in the classroom.

My last suggestion is for you, once in a while, to allow the children to

express how they feel about their exceptional peer. You can ask them to
write something, or to draw a picture related to the exceptional child and
submit it to you.

Try these suggestions in your classroom, and you can share your
experience with us when you come for your tutoring session at the study
centre.

Summary
We have been discussing 'deviation' of individuals, and in particular that
of children in the classroom. The normal bell-curve of ability and societal
norms were the main criteria we discussed.

We also looked at the positive and negative effects that a child's

exceptionality could have on the entire classroom situation, and how you,
the teacher, can create an atmosphere in which all children can
comfortably learn.

We hope you have benefitted from the section. You are making good
progress.

References
Wright, B A, Physical disability, a psychological approach, New York,
Harper and Row, 1960

28 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
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Unit 1,
This page
section deviation
is left2:blank fromnotes
for your the ‘norm’ and its implications EDUCATION

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 29
SPECIAL
UNIT 1 SECTION
EDUCATION 3
Unit 1,THE NEED
section TOneed
3: The STUDY SPECIAL
to study EDUCATION
special education

You are about to study the final section of this unit. You will now be used
to some of the terminology and the style of our presentation. We hope
that you have had an enjoyable study time so far.

As with the other sections, you are advised to spend about two to three
hours on this section. Make sure you carry out all the activities. This
section is specifically designed to help you evaluate all you have studied
so far, and to assess the relevance of it to your day-today classroom work.

At the end of the section you should be able to:

 explain and discuss extensively the relevance of special education to
you as a classroom teacher
 improvise and select appropriate materials and teaching techniques
that would benefit all the children in your classroom
 discuss the most popular law for special education, PL 94-142 and its
implications to teaching

Review of the concept of special education

We discussed the concept of special education extensively in our first
section for the unit. To refresh your memory, however, we shall briefly
review it.

Do you agree that:

 every individual is different?
 while some learn at a fast rate, others learn rather slowly but may
eventually become more successful? .
 different people prefer different styles and techniques when learning?

If you agree with all these points, then you are actually talking about
special education. The definition of special education, as we studied in
section one, may look complex. However, the summary of the concept is
implicit in these questions you have just considered.

Special education seeks to ensure that all children benefit from learning.
The way in which this is made possible is to give consideration to the
uniqueness and individuality of each child in the classroom, by using
additional teaching aids and constantly adjusting, and modifying the
teaching methods to suit these children. This is why special education has
been defined as:
the course and content of education, including specially
defined classrooms, materials, and equipment designed to
meet the unique needs of a handicapped child (Shown, 1986).

Others have put the definition of special education more simply by stating
that special education begins were regular education ends.

30 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
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Unit 1, section 3: The need to study special education EDUCATION

The relevance of special education to the classroom teacher

Activity 3.1
Up to this point you have learnt many new things. You now have a much
better idea about special education than when you started. In your own
words, write down at least five points to indicate the relevance to your
teaching of all you have learnt.

Let us now have a general look at the topic. Perhaps what you have listed
may become part of our discussion. Perhaps one of the points on your list
was that is important for every teacher to know about special education.

We, as teachers, make a lot of mistakes we are unaware of. However,

with a knowledge of special education, a lot of these mistakes can be
corrected. One of the most significant uses of the knowledge of special
education is that it helps every teacher who has studied the course to
identify the strengths and weaknesses of each child in the classroom. This
does not imply that teachers who have not studied special education are
ignorant of the fact that every child is different. Every teacher has this
knowledge, but in our actual practice we often overlook it. We therefore
plan and teach as if all the children learn at the same pace, have the same
intelligence, ability and background and learn best through one teaching
method.

Whereas we often overlook individuality, special education emphasises

the individuality of each child, and therefore serves as a constant
reminder as we teach. Special education, therefore, produces a 'new'
teacher, who understands and takes into consideration the specific needs
of all children in the classroom. This 'new' teacher is also able to adapt
the teaching method, material and environment so that every single child
in the class will be able to learn well.

We at UEW have realised that some teachers who do not know about
special education have often done more harm than good to some children.
In 1993 we conducted a number of workshops and seminars for teachers
in the regular primary and junior secondary schools. The seminars
introduced these teachers to the concept of special education, and
explained how teachers could help each child to learn. At the close of the
workshop, one teacher came up to us and said that there had been a child

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 31
SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 1, section 3: The need to study special education

in his class, two years back: the boy was good in oral lessons and
calculations, but was very poor in reading, at sitting down in the
classroom and following instructions. He would always refuse to work
with other children. The teacher continued that the child's behaviour got
so bad he couldn't cope. The issue was reported to the headteacher: the
parents were invited for an interview. In the end, the child was asked to
withdraw. In the course of the seminar, however, this teacher realised that
this child had a special need. He felt sorry and wished he could locate the
boy and reinstate him in the class.

With your present knowledge in special education, you could now ask
yourself how often in the past have you found yourself on the 'guilty'
side? Well, many of us are 'guilty' of some of these things. Obviously,
this child in our example had a need. He was very good in oral activities
(language) and calculation. That area of strength could have been used to
help his weakness in reading and attention. Also, it could be that the boy
preferred to work alone, rather than in a group. This also could have been
exploited. Special education affords us the opportunity to help such
children.

Activity 3.2
We would like to share in your own experiences as well. Tell us a
situation in your class, where you had a child with a special need, and
you didn't realise it or know how to manage the child, until you started
studying this course. Make a summary and write it out in the space
provided.

32 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
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Unit 1, section 3: The need to study special education EDUCATION

As you make progress in your study, you will realise that, more often
than not, it is not difficult to help a child with a special need. There are
times when shifting the child from one chair to another may be all that
the child needs in order to benefit from the lesson. However, due to lack
of knowledge on the part of teachers, the child is left to struggle and
sometimes drop out of education altogether.

Special education, therefore, is of great importance to all teachers. It is

not only those teachers trained to take care of children, with obvious
disabilities like blindness or the severely physically disabled who should
study special education. But rather, every teacher should: because there
are many children in our classrooms who have 'hidden disabilities'. They
have problems or needs that may not be obvious but need attention all the
same.

Special education in relation to teaching methods

From what we have discussed so far, do you consider the approach in
special education quite different from that of the regular education you
already know about? Yes! you may say; and that is why one writer said
that special education begins where regular education ends. Though the
approaches may look different, they are not so different from what we
already use as teachers. The approaches in special education are rather an
addition to, or modification of, regular practices. The essence is to make
learning more meaningful to every child.

As we have already mentioned, the focus of special education is to

provide for every child. The first characteristic, therefore, is the idea of
giving individual attention to every child. Whether it is a class of ten
pupils or a class of eighty pupils, the method seeks as much as possible to
make sure that every child is learning. In more technical terms, the phrase
Individual Educational Plan (IEP) is used. We may mention here that in a
class of eighty pupils it may not be possible to use IEP in the way we
would like.

The teacher, instead of standing or sitting at one place, can move among
the children, encouraging and praising them where necessary. The teacher
is expected to give them positive feedback (instead of negative feedback)
all the time, pay a little bit more attention to the weak pupils and put
children in groups to learn. These are all ways in which a teacher can
make sure that every child is catered for in the classroom.

Apart from giving individual attention to pupils, special education

methods also try to adapt, modify, and create various teaching methods.
For example the teacher, instead of always asking the pupils to 'recite
after me', can put the children in groups, and appoint a clever child to
lead the group while the teacher supervises. Or, for the sake of that blind

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 33
SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 1, section 3: The need to study special education

child in the class, the teacher can (in addition to the use of visual aids)
use speech, sounds, and things the blind child can touch.

Activity 3.3
We want you to be actively involved in this particular topic. Carry out
this activity carefully. Suppose you have two deaf children in your class
of forty. How would you modify your teaching methods and materials to
help these two pupils to learn? Suggest practical ways, taking into
consideration the pressure involved in teaching forty pupils.

Public Law 94:142

Education of all handicapped children act of 1975
This is one of the most significant world-wide laws (though enacted in
America) that has greatly advanced special education: in fact, the
education of all children.

This law, PL 94:142 of 1975, has been re-written and is now known as
Public Law (PL) 101-476 Individuals with Disabilities Educational Act
of 1990 (IDEA).

Let us now consider the details of this law.

This law was passed by the United States of America's Congress. PL

94:142 was an Education of all handicapped children act. It stated that:
all handicapped children between the ages of 3 and 21" regardless
of the severity of their handicap, must receive a free appropriate
public education which emphasises special education and related
services, designed to meet their unique needs.

34 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
 SPECIAL
Unit 1, section 3: The need to study special education EDUCATION

Included in the Act was the commitment that, as much as possible,

handicapped individuals should be educated in the Least Restrictive
Environment (LRE). This means that every child should be educated as
close to normal society as possible. The idea of special schools and
segregation of these individuals was unacceptable, except where it could
not be avoided.

Activity 3.4
We shall use this Public Law to discuss our next topic. But before we
proceed, why do you think the American Congress came up with this
Act? Do you think Ghana should or should not have such legislation?
Discuss your reasons.

Education: a 'right' for all children

Would you say that education in Ghana is a 'right' or a 'privilege' for the
child, including the handicapped? Keep this question at the back of your
mind as you continue the study.

The focus of Public Law 94: 142 is that all handicapped children must
receive education. If the country adopts a free education policy, then this
free education must cover exceptional children. This provision of
education is not affected by the individual's handicap. No matter how
severe the disability may be, all of these children are entitled to
appropriate education by this law.

It may be said, therefore, that the PL 94:142 makes sure that nothing
prevents handicapped children from receiving education commensurate
with their ability.

It is true that the provision of special education is much more expensive

than regular education: the law, however, makes it mandatory for these
children to be educated, in spite of the cost. Also, some exceptional
individuals (eg, the severely mentally retarded) may never be able to
contribute to their national economy, yet it is demanded by law that they
receive education.

From the above discussion, we may safely conclude that education for all

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 35
SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 1, section 3: The need to study special education

children is a 'right'. There are specific laws that make it mandatory that
they receive education. It therefore becomes an offence to deny
handicapped children their legal right to education. Not just any kind of
education: but education that is meaningful, helpful and of relevance to
the individual receiving it.

Meeting the special needs of exceptional children

According to PL 94: 142, all handicapped children are to be educated.
This is made possible by the provision of special education and its related
services, which are designed to meet the specific needs of handicapped
children.

In order to ensure that all the needs of handicapped children are met, the
law requires a comprehensive diagnosis of the child by a group of
professionals. This group of professionals is known as the
multidisciplinary team. The team is composed of professionals such as: a
psychologist, a speech/language therapist, an occupational therapist, a
physiotherapist, special educators, social workers and medical staff.

Activity 3.5
State four reasons why you think that the diagnosis on an exceptional
child should be carried out by a multidisciplinary team.

These professionals evaluate the child one after the other. When they
have carried out their various tests on the child, they then meet to discuss
their findings, put ideas together, and finally present a report with
recommendations on the child.

The planning of the educational programme for the handicapped child is

based on these recommendations. The child's educational programme
must, however, be acceptable to the parents. Otherwise the parents may
not give the necessary assistance when they are asked to. For example, if
the team recommends that the child should be trained as a hospital
attendant while the parents feel that the child should be an office clerk,
there could be a conflict of interest. It is therefore important to get the
consent of parents for the programme. One way to get the parents'
consent is to involve them in the programming (we have discussed this
thoroughly in our work on programming).

You will notice that meeting the needs of exceptional children demands a

36 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
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Unit 1, section 3: The need to study special education EDUCATION

lot of professional expertise. No one individual does all the planning.

Also, because of the different types of exceptionality, a lot of factors and
different considerations have to be borne in mind in order to meet the
child's needs adequately.

Advocacy and the teacher

You will agree that being a teacher does not merely mean going to the
classroom, picking up your chalk and teaching. The work of a teacher
involves much more than that.

Activity 3.6
Before we proceed, could you just write three other functions you
perform as a teacher apart from teaching in the classroom?

If you had finished this topic, you would have added one more function
to your list. This is what we want to discuss now: advocacy.

Meaning of advocacy
We can simply say that advocacy is pleading another's cause or speaking
up for the rights of others. Advocacy is giving support to a cause. The
essence of advocacy is to support individuals by providing them with the
knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes necessary for them to advance
their own course.

Advocacy is a day-to-day process of defending, as well as fighting for,

the rights of individuals; especially those who are prone to
discrimination, abuse, and who are incapable of fighting for their rights.

You will agree that the handicapped fall directly under this group of
people. The handicapped of all categories are often discriminated against
and abused: sometimes they are unable to fight for themselves. It is for
these people that you, as a teacher, with your knowledge of special
education, need to fight for. You should become an advocate.

Advocacy is done by calling public attention and sometimes stimulating

public responses to the needs of the vulnerable.

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 37
SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 1, section 3: The need to study special education

Advocacy can take diverse forms: for instance, it could be legislative or

administrative. When it is legislative, it seeks to ensure that the laws
themselves are appropriate to the needs and rights of children.
Administrative advocacy on the other hand is usually directed at those
who administer governmental agencies and services. Advocacy can also
be on behalf of an individual, in which Case issues affecting the child are
addressed. Group advocacy is, however, more powerful and effective
than individual advocacy. Some examples of group advocacies are 'class
action' litigations, where legal actions are initiated on behalf of a class of
children, using the courts usually to promote change.

All special educators must take on the role of advocates in order to help
the exceptional children.

Activity 3.7
From what we have discussed about advocacy, do you think you have any
role to play in it? Why do you think so? Make a short note of your
position below.

Teacher's role in advocacy for exceptional children

Perhaps you have realised there is much you can do as an advocate for
the handicapped. Basically, there are four major roles that teachers can
play in advocacy for exceptional children.

First is identification; then assessment; IEP development, and

implementation.

In addition to creating public awareness, the teacher can perform any of

these four roles. The teacher can participate in the identification of
exceptional children; provide information to parents about their
exceptional children; prepare teaching programmes for the child; and help
with the implementation of the programme for the child.

The teacher, therefore, becomes the general co-ordinator of the entire

process of educating the exceptional child. The teacher performs between

38 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
 SPECIAL
Unit 1, section 3: The need to study special education EDUCATION

the multi-disciplinary team, the child and the parents, the law, the
administration, and ensures the success of the child's education.

You may wonder how you fit in here. You can also begin the work of
advocacy in your own small way, by providing all the help you can for
exceptional children in your class.

Summary
Learning is a process in life that has no end. You must have been
teaching for some time now, but I guess from the study of this unit, you
have gained new knowledge. I also hope that your attitudes have
changed.

You have read, studied, and carried out various assignments on the nature
of special education. At this point you should be able to discuss more
knowledgeably what special education is.

We hope that, in the long run, this knowledge will improve your teaching
and equip you with skills to handle some of the children with special
needs who you come across in your class.

As you progress to the next unit, we hope you will learn more.

Congrats, dear student!

References
Mandell, Colleen J and Fiscus, Edward, Understanding exceptional
people, West Publishing, St Paul, 1981

Wright, B A, Physical disability, a psychological approach, Harper and

Row, New York, 1960

Answers to activities
Activity 3.3
 Sit the deaf children in front of the class or very close to the teacher
 Ensure that when talking in class you directly face the children with
need so that the pupils can read your lip movement
 Individualise your lesson occasionally
 Use concrete objects, photographs, pictures, gestures and facial
expressions during teaching

Activity 3.4
a. The United States came out with the PL 94-142 in order to make
education free and appropriate to all handicapped.

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 39
SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 1, section 3: The need to study special education

b. • There is every advantage in having a law like PL 94-142 so as to

make
education free and appropriate for children with special needs in
Ghana.
• A law like PL 94-142 would also enable provisions and services to
be made available that are required by people with special needs.

Activity 3.5
 The child is professionally guided and assisted
 It enables all the problems of the child to be thoroughly examined
 Many individuals with special needs are multiply handicapped
 The very nature of special education is interdisciplinary (especially in
relationship to services delivery)

Activity 3.6
 Pastoral care for pupils
 Counselling parents especially those of children with special needs
 Education and awareness campaign in the communities
 Accompanying students on excursions
 Supervising co-curricular activities
 Filling in assessment records of students

Activity 3.7
 Every teacher should be an advocate. It is therefore a teacher's
responsibility to ensure that children's rights are protected.
 Many children with special needs cannot act as advocates for
themselves because of their peculiar needs. It is therefore important
for every teacher to champion their causes.

40 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
 U NI T SPECIAL EDUCATION

C
2
ON S
TENT

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

SECTION 1 CONCEPT OF MENTAL RETARDATION 44

SECTION 2 CAUSES OF MENTAL RETARDATION (PART 2) 54

SECTION 3 CHARACTERISTICS OF MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN 66

SECTION 4 IDENTIFYING THE MENTALLY RETARDED 74

SECTION 5 MANAGEMENT OF MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN 84

the adinkra symbol used in the UEW crest

Mate masie I have heard what you have said

UEW/IEDE, BEd 41
SPECIAL UNIT INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY
EDUCATION 2
Unit 1, section 4: Hydroelectric (water) energy

Case 1
Kojo Amoah, a six-year-old boy, is not yet fully mobile.
He can stand on his own and does so frequently. Kojo is
able to take a few steps when he holds on to someone's
hand. He usually gets around by crawling. He is quite
adept with his hands and can build a tower of bricks. He
can drink from a cup and let you know when he wants to
use the toilet. Kojo can follow simple instructions and also
expresses himself in two-word utterances. Kojo likes to
have attention from adults. His favourite toy is a wind-up
musical box.

Case 2
Amina is a twelve-year-old girl. She is very mobile and
can imitate words as well as actions. She likes to play
imaginatively with toy animals: feeding them and putting
them on a mat to sleep. She loves looking at pictures and
can name pictures of many familiar objects.

You may be wondering why Kojo Amoah, a 6-year-old boy, cannot walk
and only crawls about like a one-year-old child. You will be even more
surprised by Amina (12 years old) who delights in infantile play with toys
like a 5- or 6-year-old.

This unit will help you to understand why some children continue to be-
have as infants or babies even when they are well into their teens. The
unit comprises seven sections that discuss intellectual disability. Each
section deals with one specific aspect of the broad concept of intellectual
disability.

Factors that cause intellectual disability are so numerous and are dis-
cussed in this section. Other issues discussed include: Can the intellectu-
ally disabled child learn like their non-retarded counterpart? How do
teachers handle a group of intellectually disabled children in a learning
situation?

Spend about two hours on each section and try to respond to the various
activities before you look at our suggested answers.

42 UEW/IEDE, BEd
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SPECIAL
Unit
This 1, section
page 4:blank for your notes
is left EDUCATION
EDUCATION

UEW/IEDE, BEd 43
SPECIAL
UNIT 2 SECTION
EDUCATION 1
Unit 2,CONCEPT OF INTELLECTUAL
section 1: Concept DISABILITY
of mental retardation

Section one discusses what constitutes intellectual disability. It provides

the current definition of intellectual disability and distinguishes
intellectual disability from mental illness.

At the end of the section you should be able to:

 explain the AAMD definition of intellectual disability
 discuss the current AAMR (1992) version of the definition of
intellectual disability
 explain the key elements in the definition of intellectual disability
 describe a child who is intellectually disabled in your own words
 distinguish between a retarded person and a mentally ill person
 classify children who are intellectually disabled into the four main
categories

What is intellectual disability?

Intellectual disability is a type of developmental disorder. A
developmental disorder is a condition that appears early in life and has a
permanent effect on the way an individual grows, develops and acquires
skills. Intellectual disability often occurs in combination with other
developmental disorders such as cerebral palsy, autism and epilepsy.

Intellectual disability is an abstract construct: it is, therefore, not easy to

define. Experts in the field of intellectual disability have for a long time
struggled to adopt one acceptable definition. Cartwright et al (1984)
claim there are over thirty different definitions of intellectual disability.
Among the numerous definitions is the AAMD (American Association of
Mental Deficiency) definition which was quoted by Grossman (1983). It
is the most often quoted definition. It states:
Intellectual disability refers to, 'significantly sub-average
general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with
deficits in adaptive behaviour and manifested during the
developmental period',

This definition basically revolves around three key elements namely: ...
'intellectual functioning' ... 'adaptive behaviour' and... , 'developmental
period'.

Intellectual functioning level

In order to function in the world, people must be able to combine many
different intellectual skills. We must be able to pay attention to the world
around us, remember what we have experienced before, abstract or pull
out the important information, use it to solve problems, and then
generalise or apply what we have learned to new situations. How well
someone does all these things together determines how intelligent that
person is considered to be.

44 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
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Intelligence is measured by well-recognised tests called IQ tests

(Intelligence Quotient). These tests are constructed in such a way that the
average (mean) score is 100. Although 100 is the mean score, people who
score somewhat above or somewhat below 100 are still considered to
function in the' average' range. Often scores between 80 and 119 are
considered as being in the average range.

'Significantly sub-average intellectual functioning' refers to scores of two

standard deviations below the mean. As shown by figure 1.1, two
standard deviations or more below the mean score of 100 indicates a
score of 70 or less.

figure 1.1 Range of human intelligence showing one and two standard
deviations above and below the mean

Range of human intelligence showing one and two standard deviations

above and below the mean

Though in the cases of Kojo Amoah and Amina their intelligence scores
were not stated, it can be inferred that both were functioning far below
the mean score. Kojo at 6 years could only express himself in two-word
utterances; Amina at 12 years loves pictures and could only name
pictures of familiar objects (remember that a 12-year-old would normally
be in primary 6 or JSS 1).

Records show that in Ghana and elsewhere about 2 to 3 percent of the

population score in the range between 70 to 75; which is considered as
borderline range. For other information on population and IQ range
consult figure 1.1 on the previous page.

In the next few paragraphs you will find that average intelligence must
co-exist with deficits in adaptive behaviour to indicate intellectual
disability. What is meant by adaptive behaviour?

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 45
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Adaptive behaviour essential for daily functioning

Adaptive behaviours or skills are those daily living skills we need to live,
work and play in the community. Adaptive skills include communication,
self-care, home living, social skills, leisure, health and safety, self-
direction, functional academics, community use and work. When an
individual is not able to perform two or more of these skills and manifests
below average intelligence, then that case is likely to be called
intellectual disability. This can only be confirmed if the individual is
within the developmental period.

Referring to Kojo Amoah and Amina, we can state that while Kojo
lacked most of the adaptive skills enumerated above, Amina also lacked
more than two of the areas quoted above. Kojo, for instance, at 6, could
not walk, communicate effectively, lacked self-direction, self-care and
host of other skills. Amina too, could only engage in imaginative play
and imitate words and actions: all the other skills were lacking.

The developmental period

The developmental period is basically the period ranging from conception
to the age of 18 years. Inferring from the definition, an individual has to
manifest below average intelligence and adaptive skills within the
developmental period before the child will be termed intellectually
disabled. The two cases cited earlier in the section have all the three
conditions: 'below average intelligence', 'deficits in adaptive skills' and
being within the 'developmental period'. Therefore, Kojo Amoah and
Amina are intellectually disabled.

It should be noted that if an individual performs below average in

intellectual functioning and shows substantial limitations in adaptive
skills after the eighteenth birthday (due, perhaps, to a car accident or a
disease), such an individual is usually referred to as having a brain injury
or dementia (Hardman et al, 1990).

According to Smith (1993) and The Ark (1995) AAMD has been
renamed as AAMR (American Association on Intellectual disability). In
1992, the AAMR developed a specific definition of intellectual disability
which reads:
'Intellectual disability' refers to substantial limitations in
present functioning. It is characterised 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, community use, self-direction,
health and safety, functional academics, leisure and work.
Intellectual disability manifests before age 18.

46 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
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This long definition, which is self-explanatory, is not different in

substance from the 1983 definition published by Grossman.

Intellectual disability and mental illness

Intellectual disability, as already defined, refers to a state of sub-average
intelligence, coupled with poor adaptive behaviour, which occurs during
the developmental period. Mental illness occurs in people of all levels of
intelligence and at any age. It can, therefore, afflict both children and
adults. Mental illness can affect the intellectually disabled just as it can
afflict individuals with no intellectual disability.

Mental illness results mostly from a person's unsuccessful attempts to

deal with life situations. Mental illness is basically an emotional problem,
while intellectual disability (as discussed in sections 2 and 3) is caused by
numerous factors amongst which emotional problems are not included.

There is a unique case of a former university professor who is now

mentally ill. He has lost touch with reality; he looks filthy and carries a
lot of useless objects wherever he goes. He is fluent and intelligent: yet
his conduct is generally unacceptable. Here is a highly intelligent man
falling victim to mental illness.

While some cases of mental illness can be successfully cured, no case of

intellectual disability has ever been successfully cured. The basic
assistance that can be offered to the intellectually disabled (as you will
see in later sections) is to improve their conditions through education and
training. Thus Kojo and Amina cannot be cured outright: but they can be
helped to develop into useful and functional members of their
communities. No retarded child has ever succeeded in completing
secondary education. The best performance will be to complete primary
school and perhaps to do a vocational training programme.

Take a short of break of 10 minutes, then do the following activities.

Activity 1.1
1. What is meant by a developmental disorder?
A. a disability that afflicts only children
B. a disability that disrupts development
C. an impairment that originates in the early part of life
D. an impairment that manifests itself in late childhood

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2. What steps can we take to reduce the incidence of developmental

disabilities?

3. Which of the named conditions is a kind of developmental disorder?

A. visual impairment
B. hearing impairment
C. mental illness
D. autism

4. The definition of intellectual disability does not include:

A. sub-average intellectual functioning
B. limitations in adaptive skills
C. communication disorders
D. developmental period
5. Attention skills, memory, generalisation and problem solving are
classified as:
A. experience
B. foresight
C. academic skills
D. intelligence

6. Developmental period covers the age range from:

A. conception to late adolescence
B. birth to late childhood
C. birth to late adolescence
D. conception to late childhood

7. State the three key elements in the definition of intellectual disability

8. What do we mean by adaptive skills?

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9. What are the two major differences between intellectual disability

and mental illness?

10. Mental illness and intellectual disability are mutually exclusive. Do

you agree? Give reasons.

Classification of intellectual disability

Until 1992, children diagnosed as intellectually disabled were
traditionally classified as having a particular level of retardation based on
their IQ scores. The American Association on Mental Deficiency
(AAMD) classified individuals with intellectual disability into four
categories namely: mild, moderate, severe, and profound. Children whose
IQ scores ranged from 55 to 70 were classified as mildly intellectually
disabled or educable. Those whose IQ scores ranged from 40 to 54 were
classified as moderately intellectually disabled or trainable. Children with
IQ scores of 25 to 39 were considered as severely intellectually disabled;
while those who scored IQ of 24 and less were referred to as profoundly
intellectually disabled. The figures quoted in this discourse are based on
the Weschler Intelligence scale (Mandell Fiscus, 1981; Smith, 1993).
Since Kojo Amoah and Amina were not given any IQ tests to determine
their levels of intelligence we cannot assign any IQ level to either of
them.

The new classification system

The AAMR's new system for classifying levels of retardation is not based
on IQs, but on an individual's unique strengths, weaknesses, and need for
special support. The intent is to describe more accurately the diversity in
the way different people with the same IQ score can function. For
instance, in the old system two children who scored in the moderately
retarded range were generally assumed to have roughly the same
potential for learning. However, the new system recognises that
capabilities and performance can vary widely between two children who

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 49
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score in the same range.

Another difference is that, under the old system, most children were
classified as having the same degree of intellectual disability all their
lives, because they usually scored in the same range on IQ tests all their
lives. The new system, however, is based on the assumption that:
Most people with intellectual disability will improve their
functioning with effective supports, allowing them to live
more productive, independent and integrated lives (Smith,
1993).

Consequently, the new system allows the description of a person to

change over time as that person manages better to get along in the world.

The new system classifies individuals with intellectual disability by the

amount of help they need to get along in their environment. Therefore the
new classification system gives a more accurate and comprehensive
picture of each individual. The four levels of support are:

1. Intermittent - does not require constant support, but may need

support on a short-term basis for special occurrences: such as help to
find new job in the event of a job loss. Intermittent support may be
needed occasionally by each individual over their lifespan, but not on
a continuous, daily basis. The case of Amina in the introduction is a
typical example of this level of support.

2. Limited - requires certain supports consistently over time, such as

handling money; or the person may need time-limited support for
employment training. That is, there is a limit on the time that is
needed to provide appropriate support for this individual. Here we
can cite Kojo Amoah’s case as an example of limited support level.
Kojo needs support to walk, but will not require such support all his
life.

3. Extensive - needs daily support in some aspects of living, such as

long term job support. Intermittent, limited and extensive supports
may not be needed in all life areas of this individual (AAMR, 1992).

4. Pervasive - requires constant, high-intensity support for all aspects of

life. Such an individual requires assistance on a daily basis across all
life areas. Sometimes this individual may need life-sustaining
measures. So the majority of these individuals are kept in hospitals
over long periods of time. In Ghana, most of these cases are kept at
the Psychiatric Hospital in Accra, and attend Castle Road Special
School.

The new system of classification shows that there are extreme differences
in the functioning level of children diagnosed as having intellectual

50 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
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disability: but despite their differences, all intellectually disabled children

can learn. With the right kind of support at school and at home, children
with intellectual disability can display many of the adaptive skills their'
normal' counterpart manages with little effort.

Activity 1.2
1. State the two main merits of the new AAMR system of classifying
individuals with intellectual disability.

2. What do we mean when we say that a intellectually disabled person

needs:
a. Pervasive support

b. Limited support

c. Extensive support

Summary
This section discussed the meaning of intellectual disability. We
explained that there are many definitions of the concept intellectual
disability, but the most often quoted definition is the one given by
AAMD in 1983. In 1992, AAMD (re-named AAMR) redefined
intellectual disability. However the previous definition and the new
definition do not have any significant difference. The new definition is
more elaborate than the previous one. Just as the definition has changed,
so the classification of retardation has been reviewed. Instead of the old
classification system which used IQ scores, the new system provides a
vivid description of each intellectually disabled individual. It indicates
the level of needs, strengths of the person and the likely duration of
support required.

Also the differences between intellectual disability and mental illness

were discussed.

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Suggested answers to activities

Activity 1.1
1. C
2. consistent medical care for women and children; good nutrition;
proper care for infants; genetic counselling before marriage;
avoidance of alcohol, 'tobacco and unprescribed drugs during
pregnancy.
3. D
4. C
5. D
6. A
7. 'Sub average intelligence' 'deficits adaptive behaviour' ... and
'developmental period '.
8. Skills that enable individuals to live and be lived with; abilities such
as caring for self-needs, communicating with others, interacting with
others and movements.
9. Mental illness can' occur at any age; it can afflict individuals of all
levels of intelligence. Intellectual disability occurs only within the
developmental period and permanently reduces the level of the
individual's intelligence.
10. No; both intellectual disability and mental illness can occur in the
same person.

Activity 1.2
1. gives an accurate description of each intellectually disabled
individual's strengths, needs and Support required.
• emphasizes the amount of support or help the individual with
retardation requires in order to live productive and integrated life.

2. a Pervasive support means life-long, constant or intensive support

in all aspects of life.
b Limited support refers to support required in a specific areas of
life within a specific period. For instance, support in adjusting to
new living quarters.
c Extensive support requires daily support in some aspects of
living, such as long term job support.

52 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
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This
Unit page is left1:blank
2, section for your
Concept notesretardation
of mental EDUCATION
EDUCATION

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UNIT 2 SECTION Unit 2,CAUSES
section 2: OF
Causes of mental retardation (part 2)
EDUCATION 2 INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY (PART 2)

This section is a continuation of section 1. It continues with the

discussion of causes of intellectual disability and centres on perinatal and
postnatal causes of intellectual disability. We shall discuss problems that
occur during birth as well as those which occur during the child’s early
years. Once more you will continue to encounter terms that are mostly
used in medicine for diagnostic purposes.

At the end of the section you should be able to:

 discuss perinatal causes of intellectual disability
 state how perinatal causes of intellectual disability can be prevented
 explain postnatal causes of intellectual disability
 examine how postnatal causes of intellectual disability can be
prevented
 distinguish between prenatal and postnatal causes of intellectual
disability
 examine whether poverty can cause intellectual disability in children

To achieve these objectives we will discuss problems associated with

placenta praevia, abruptio placenta, hypoxia and anoxia. Also we will
discuss prematurity, childhood infections, head injuries, tumours and lead
poisoning: and social factors like poverty and cultural deprivation.

Perinatal causes
Sometimes the brain of a foetus develops normally, but becomes injured
when the baby is delivered. Most often this kind of brain damage occurs
when the flow of oxygen to the brain of the baby is interrupted. A loss or
decrease of oxygen can damage brain cells by causing a build-up of
carbon dioxide in the blood and tissues, low blood sugar and other
problems in the body's metabolism. Such problems which occur during
delivery of the child are termed as prenatal causes. Among these
problems are placenta praevia and abruptio placenta.

Placenta praevia and abruptio placenta

Intellectual disability can sometimes result from problems associated
with the placenta: the organ that supplies the foetus with nourishment.
The two main problems that can develop are placenta praevia and
abruptio placenta.

In placenta praevia, the placenta extends over the cervical opening of

the uterus, rather than being attached in the usual location about two-
thirds of the way to the top of the uterus. If the condition is not diagnosed
before the woman goes into labour, the placenta tears as the cervix opens
and bleeding occurs. Intellectual disability may then result from poor
oxygen supply to the brain of the foetus.

Abruptio placenta on the other hand, involves the early detachment of

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EDUCATION

the placenta from the wall of the uterus before the baby is born. This
results in a decrease in the quantity of oxygen supply to the brain of the
foetus. The detachment of the placenta may be caused by high blood
pressure, a short umbilical cord, or physical injury, and can also be
induced by smoking or snorting crack or cocaine (Smith, 1993). The next
topic explains how an inadequate oxygen supply to the brain can result in
intellectual disability.

Hypoxia and anoxia

When the blood stream carries insufficient oxygen to an area of the body,
it is termed hypoxia. But when the oxygen supply to an area of the body
is completely cut off, the condition is known as anoxia. When either
condition occurs in a child's brain, it can lead to intellectual disability.
This implies that not all cases of hypoxia or anoxia cause intellectual
disability.

What factors prevent some cases of either hypoxia or anoxia from

resulting in intellectual disability?

Whether intellectual disability results from either hypoxia or anoxia,

depends on factors such as:
 the location and size of the area of the brain deprived of oxygen
 the length of time it is affected
 the resulting cell death
 the unavailability of glucose
 the build-up of toxins
 the infant's age, weight and health

Less serious episodes of anoxia or hypoxia may result in slight

disabilities or even no noticeable developmental problems at all.

Hypoxia and anoxia may also occur in the following ways:

1. if the pelvis of the mother is too small to allow the passage of the
baby's head, this will result in a long and difficult labour and the baby
may have an intracranial haemorrhage (bleeding in the brain) or
sepsis (blood infection).
2. if the mother's uterus contracts too forcefully or too weakly or
slowly, it can interfere with blood circulation of the foetus, leading to
hypoxic brain damage or abruptio placenta.
3. if the foetus's umbilical cord prolapses (precedes the foetus down the
birth canal), blocking the flow of blood through the cord to the child.

Besides these, the manner in which the baby presents itself for delivery
also needs to be discussed. The continuous supply of oxygen and
nourishment to the foetus is a crucial factor during delivery. One threat to
these supplies is the position of the foetus at the start of delivery. A

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EDUCATION

normal position before delivery shows the foetus with the head towards
the cervix and the face towards the mother's back. In some instances this
position is altered and instead of coming head first, the baby comes with
either the legs or the buttocks first. This is referred to as breech
presentation (see unit 2 section 4). Such abnormal presentation poses
problems to the child and the mother. The process of delivery may be
prolonged, resulting in oxygen deprivation, brain trauma and other
problems that can lead to intellectual disability. This happens because the
baby is more likely to get its head trapped in the pelvic opening. Babies
who did not develop normally in utero are more likely to be born in the
breech position.

Another form of abnormal presentation is referred to as transverse

position. A baby is said to be in transverse position when, at the point of
delivery, the baby is found lying across the pelvic opening or birth canal.
In such cases it is not easy to get the baby to exit through the birth canal.
If prompt, appropriate measures are not taken, the baby will be born with
severe damage to the brain. In addition to causing intellectual disability,
hypoxic or anoxic episodes occurring during birth can result in cerebral
palsy. This is a condition that interferes with control of movement,
balance, and posture.

Activity 2.1
1. What do we mean by perinatal causes of intellectual disability?

2. Identify the factors that can cause the placenta to detach from the
wall of the uterus.

3. Distinguish between placental praevia and abruptio placenta.

4. State the difference between hypoxia and anoxia.

56 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
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EDUCATION

5. Identify two ways of preventing hypoxia and anoxia.

6. What is breech presentation?

7. Does breech presentation present health hazards to the expectant

mother alone?

8. What other problems are related to hypoxia and anoxia episodes?

Prematurity
Smith (1993) defines a premature infant as a child born at or before the
36th week of gestation; that is, one month before the expected date of
birth. Robinson and Robinson (1976) consider prematurity in terms of
weight at birth; thus infants who are of low weight at birth
(conventionally meaning under 2,500 grams or 5 1⁄2 pounds) are
referred to as premature. These infants are made up of two groups: those
who apparently were developing normally but are delivered prior to full
term, and those who are delivered close to, or at, term but whose growth
has been deficient during gestation.

According to the authors mentioned there is a strong correlation between

prematurity and low social economic status. Mothers from lower
socio-economic classes not only tend to have a greater proportion of low
birth-weight infants but are apparently less able to compensate for this
developmental disadvantage as the child grows. Other specific factors
known to predispose to low birth-weight in infants are:
 extremes of maternal ages: that is, either too young (teenager) or too
old (above 35 years)
 short stature of mother
 heavy cigarette smoking by mother during pregnancy
 the presence of certain pathological states in the mother, such as

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EDUCATION

weak cervix of the uterus or toxaemia

 poor nutrition of mother during pregnancy
 multiple births, as in twin siblings
 inadequate prenatal care

Premature infants have a greater risk of developing severe complications

such as jaundice and lung disorders. Moreover, premature infants have a
fragile network of blood vessels that supply the brain with blood. These
vessels are easily affected by changes in oxygen and pressure, such as
those that occur with lung disorders or difficult breathing. In recent years,
most hospitals have well-equipped centres (called intensive care units)
where premature infants are kept and treated for some time after birth.
Infants of low birth-weight contribute significantly to the number of
infants who die within the neonate period as well as those who exhibit
neurological abnormalities in later years.

Children who had low birth-weight exhibit increased incidences of

perceptual motor disturbances, flaws in comprehension and abstract
reasoning, gross motor deficits, immature speech and impaired IQ.

Have you read about the 'characteristics of the intellectually disabled? If

not, refer to section 4 for' information. Although any birth condition or
unusual stress may injure the infant's brain, prematurity and low birth
weight predict serious problems more often than any other conditions
(The Ark, 1993).

Postnatal causes of hazards

Injury to the central nervous system may occur after birth in many ways,
including severe blows to the head from accidents or child abuse, toxins,
tumours and infectious diseases. The complexity of factors noted with
respect to hazards occurring before or during birth applies also to
postnatal hazards. In general, injury to the brain from infection has more
widespread consequences than injury from single episodes of trauma.
Furthermore, injuries to children who have already begun to walk, speak
and develop satisfying personal relationships usually result in different
developmental problems than the generalised effects of damage that
occurs earlier.

A child may be born with average or above average intelligence, but can
then suffer damage to the brain which results in intellectual disability. It
is important to note that not all brain damage causes intellectual
disability. To be considered as having intellectual disability (rather than
brain injury), a child must have lower-than-average skills in all areas of
development as a result of the injury.

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Infections during childhood

Although most organic retardation originates prior to or during the birth
process (Ingalls, 1986), it is possible for a child to be born with an intact
central nervous system but to become intellectually disabled some time
after birth as a result of an infection of the brain. As we have already said,
the most common source of postnatal neurological damage is infection.

Most infections are caused by viruses. One viral infection that can cause
permanent brain damage or intellectual disability is meningitis.
Meningitis refers to an inflammation of the meninges, the membranes
that protect the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis is caused by several
different viruses. Other viral diseases are mumps, measles, chicken pox
and sepsis. Meningitis is a serious disease for humans of any age, but in
infants it can result in either permanent brain damage or intellectual
disability depending on its severity. The usual clinical picture is of a child
who was developing normally until contracting an acute illness. The
illness is accompanied by high fever and later by signs of brain infection
such as convulsions, headache, delirium, paralysis and even coma. After
a period the child recovers, but evidence of brain defect persists and the
child is either retarded or has a motor disability or a sensory impairment
such as nerve deafness.

Besides meningitis, other infections enter the nervous system and cause
encephalitis. Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain tissue itself. It
can be as devastating to infants as meningitis. Encephalitis is also
responsible for post-natal acquired intellectual disability. Like meningitis,
there are many different viruses that can produce encephalitis. The
symptoms are quite varied. Encephalitis can be contracted directly, or can
be a complication of mumps, measles, chicken pox, herpes viruses and
other rare viruses.

Head injuries
Another condition that can result in intellectual disability during the
postnatal period is head injury. It is a sad commentary on present-day
society that the two most common causes of severe head injury in young
children are automobile accidents and child abuse. If a child is involved
in an accident and suffers a serious head injury or great loss of blood
which reduces the oxygen supply in the brain, intellectual disability can
result.

Some children also sustain a head injury through falling downstairs and
fracturing their skull, as well as falling out of a crib or window.

Robinson and Robinson (1976) classified the possible serious

consequences of head injury in children as follows:
 acute psychosis immediately after regaining consciousness, with
recovery within a month

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 chronic behavioural disorders, characterised by irritability, emotional

instability, antisocial behaviour and less commonly, sexual
maladjustment, destructiveness, lying, disobedience, depression and
bed wetting
 seizures
 cerebral deficits, including memory defects and intellectual
deterioration

Fortunately, there is strong evidence that the effects of trauma may be

compensated better in younger children than adults or older children,
because the organisation of certain functions is more plastic at an early
age.

Lead poisoning
Lead poisoning in children is a serious health problem that can cause
intellectual disability. Lead poisoning develops most often when a child
repeatedly licks, eats or inhales chips of lead-based paints. When the
level of lead builds up in the body over the course of many months, it can
cause anaemia, seizures, brain damage and even death. Once lead
poisoning is diagnosed, medications can help the body eliminate the
excess amount. Treated children, unfortunately, may still have
developmental delays or intellectual disability.

The golden rule is to ensure that the child does not come into contact with
any lead-based substance in the environment (either at home or at
school).

Socio-cultural influences
For mildly retarded individuals the cause of their problem is not generally
apparent. There are a significant number of mildly retarded individuals
who come from poor families and different cultural backgrounds.
Individuals who are environmentally or culturally disadvantaged are
often in home situations where there are fewer opportunities for learning,
which further contributes to their problems at school. Additionally,
because these high risk children live in such adverse economic
conditions, they generally do not receive proper nutritional care
(Luckasson and Smith, 1992).

It has been observed that the highest prevalence of intellectual disability

occurs among people referred to as 'culturally deprived', 'culturally different',
'culturally disadvantaged', or some other term that connotes adverse
economic and living conditions. High risk children are those who live in
slums, and frequently are members of certain ethnic minority groups.
An interesting question about people who have grown up in adverse
socio-cultural situations is: How much of the person's ability is related to
these socio-cultural influences as opposed to genetic factors? This issue is

60 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
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referred to as the nature-versus-nurture controversy. Research has not

been able to establish the exact influence of either socio-cultural factors
or genetic factors in this problem (mild retardation). It has, however, been
established that both factors contribute to the problem.

Intellectual disability caused by both socio-cultural and genetic factors is

referred to as the cultural familial problem. Children whose retardation
results from socio-cultural factors are often described as:
 being mildly retarded
 having no known biological cause for their condition
 having at least one parent or sibling who is also mildly retarded
 growing up in a poor home environment

Take a break for 10 minutes; you deserve it. Activity 2.2

Activity 2.2
1. Name three common factors that cause pregnant mothers to have
preterm babies.

2. Why is prematurity strongly associated with a low socioeconomic

group?

3. State three strategies that can be used to counter the incidence of

prematurity.

4. What help can we provide to premature infants and their families? 5

Enumerate three factors that can cause serious injuries to the brains
of infants and children.

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EDUCATION

5. What measures would you recommend to expectant and nursing

mothers to save their infants from postnatal causes of intellectual
disability?

6. Can poverty be counted as a cause of intellectual disability?

7. How can we reduce the incidence of cultural familial cases (mildly

intellectually disabled)?

Summary
In this section we discussed prenatal and postnatal causes of intellectual
disability.

Perinatal causes of retardation occur during (or at) the child's birth.
Among the factors discussed were placenta praevia and abruptio placenta.
Hypoxia and anoxia are associated with insufficient supply of oxygen to
the brain. Prematurity and abnormal presentations (such as breech and
transverse) can cause intellectual disability.

Postnatal factors, on the other hand, are those factors that occur after the
birth of the child. Under postnatal factors, we discussed meningitis;
encephalitis (childhood infection); head injuries; lead poisoning; and
socio-cultural factors.

62 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
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Unit 2, section 2: Causes of mental retardation (part 2)
EDUCATION

References
AAMR, Intellectual disability: definition, classification and systems of
supports (ninth edition), 1992

The Ark, Introduction to intellectual disability, 1993

Cartwright, G P and Cartwright, C A, Educating special learners (second

edition), Westworth, 1984

Hardman, M Let al, Human exceptionality society, school and family

(third edition), Allyn and Bacon, Bolton, 1990

Ingalls, R, Intellectual disability: a changing outlook, Macmillan, 1986

Mandell, C and Fiscus, E, Understanding exceptional people, West,

1981

Pyke, M, Success in nutrition (fifth edition), John Murray, 1986

Robinson, N M and Robinson, H B, The mental child (second edition),

McGraw Hill, 1976

Smith, D D and Luckasson, R, Introduction to special education:

teaching in an age of challenge, Allyn and Bacon, 1992

Smith, R, Children with intellectual disability: a parents' guide,

Woodbine House, 1993

Suggested answers to activities

Activity 2.1
1. Causes that occur at the birth of the child.
2. High blood pressure, a short umbilical cord, physical injury, and
effects of smoking or snorting crack.
3. Placenta praevia refers to a situation where the placenta extends over
the cervical opening of the uterus. Abruptio placenta refers to early
detachment of the placenta from the wall of the uterus before the
baby is born.
4. Hypoxia refers to the condition where the blood stream carries
insufficient oxygen to specific areas of the body. Anoxia refers to
complete cut off of oxygen supply to specific areas of the body.
5. Regular attendance at the antenatal clinic and good obstetrics care
during pregnancy and delivery.
6. The condition where a baby comes with the legs or buttocks first
during delivery.
7. No, any form of abnormal presentation at birth poses problem for
both mother and child. Though the child stands the highest risk of

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EDUCATION

becoming handicapped, both child and mother can lose their lives.
8. Apart from intellectual disability, these conditions can cause cerebral
palsy and learning disabilities.

Activity 2.2
1. • extreme maternal ages - teenager or over 35
• heavy smoking
• poor nutrition

2. Women from low socio-economic class generally do not enjoy good

nutrition, do not live in healthy environment, and also they do not get
good medical attention throughout their lives.

3. • Advising teenagers and fairly old women (35 years and above) to
avoid becoming pregnant
• Ensuring good nutrition to young women, especially when they
become pregnant
• Making medical care less expensive and accessible to all
• Advising women to refrain from smoking especially during
pregnancy

4. Early and consistent intensive medical care; early stimulation and

good nutrition.

5. Falling from heights or stairways; receiving severe blows to the head

in automobile accidents and through child abuse; and through
childhood infections like meningitis and encephalitis.

6. Advise such mothers to seek good obstetrics care; attend postnatal

clinic regularly; ensure the children are given the necessary drugs and
inoculations against the 'six childhood diseases, and ensure that
mothers feed and care for the infants properly.

7. Yes, though poverty per se cannot cause the problem, conditions like
poor medical care, poor nutrition, lack of early stimulation and the
like (which are mostly created by poverty) are directly involved in
making some individuals mildly intellectually disabled.

8. • Every effort should be made to improve the living conditions of

the citizens especially those living in the rural areas
• Intensive and consistent early intervention programmes including
pre-school education should be made accessible to high-risk
children everywhere.
• Intermarriage among close relatives should be avoided as much as
possible.

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UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 65
SPECIAL
UNIT 2 SECTION
EDUCATION 3
Unit 2,CHARACTERISTICS OFofMENTALLY
section 3: Characteristics intellectuallyRETARDED CHILDREN
disabled children

In the introduction to this unit we talked about Kojo Amoah and Amina,
who at 6 and 12 years showed some features that deviate significantly
from the features that 6- and 12-year-olds normally exhibit. Kojo, at 6
years, could not stand or walk or talk; Amina also engaged in play
activities that children of lower ages usually engage in. In the definition,
we also mentioned that intellectually disabled individuals exhibit below-
average intelligence simultaneously with deficits in adaptive behaviours.
In this section, we will look at specific areas of development in which
intellectually disabled individuals show significant differences from their
non-retarded counterparts. You will also find out whether all
intellectually disabled individuals cannot speak, whether they all behave
like little kids all the time and whether all retarded children can't walk
before the age of 6.

To achieve these broad goals we will use the following specific

objectives as our guide. At the end of the section you will be able to:
 discuss the major intellectual difficulties encountered by
intellectually disabled children
 explain strategies you would adopt to assist such children to
overcome these intellectual problems to enhance learning
 discuss the major speech problems of the intellectually disabled
 explain the steps you would take to assist the intellectually disabled
to acquire functional speech
 discuss the main social/behaviour problems of intellectually disabled
individuals
 examine the implications of the social/behaviour problems of the
intellectually disabled to the teacher

Intellectual characteristics
The primary characteristic of the intellectually disabled is below-average
intellectual functioning. Intellectually disabled individuals are deficient in
all intellectual abilities, namely: learning, memory, attention,
generalisation, incidental learning and abstract learning. They do not
learn as effectively or efficiently as their non-retarded peers. Their rate of
learning concepts and skills is slower than for children with normal
intelligence. Thus what the 'normal' child may take a day to learn, the
retarded may take a week (or even months) to learn. Intellectually
disabled children cannot learn as fast as their non-retarded peers in
academic field, although they may excel in other fields such as athletics
and crafts. Records show that only some of the mildly retarded or those
who need intermittent support can go as far as primary six.

Intellectually disabled children are less able to grasp abstract, as opposed

to concrete, concepts. They benefit from instructions that are meaningful
and useful. They learn from contact with real objects more than from
representations or symbols. So in teaching it is more beneficial to have

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Unit 2, section 3: Characteristics of intellectually disabled children EDUCATION

objects and pictures to match concepts; for they will not understand any
amount of explanation if there are no concrete objects to see and touch.

Intellectually disabled children have difficulty in focusing on relevant

stimuli, items or concepts in a learning situation. They are not capable of
selecting relevant ideas nor are they able to concentrate on a particular
task for a long time. The teacher can help by highlighting the relevant
stimuli and by cutting down on extraneous or irrelevant stimuli in every
learning situation. In terms of overall control of memory processes
(metacognition), intellectually disabled children are generally
characterised as unable to use appropriate task strategies. They tend to
forget faster than their non-retarded counterparts. However, research
shows that these retarded children can be taught to change their control
processes. Adequate practice and the use of relevant situations in life will
enhance recall in the intellectually disabled.

Activity 3.1
1. Identify four intellectual characteristics of individuals with
intellectual disability.

2. What would you do to enhance memory in your children?

3. What steps would you adopt to ensure that your children focus
attention on relevant stimuli?

Adaptive behaviour
Adaptive behaviour is the capability of individuals to take care of
themselves and to relate to others around them. The adaptive functioning
(social and personal competence) skills of individuals with intellectual
disability are deficient. Depending on the extent of the retardation, they
have difficulty coping with the demands placed on them in their daily
lives.

In the school setting, the mildly intellectually disabled child or the child

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EDUCATION Unit 2, section 3: Characteristics of intellectually disabled children

who needs intermittent support will show problems in the areas of:
 social skills when working cooperatively with peers
 social perceptions
 response to social cues such as smiles
 use of socially acceptable language
 acceptable response to the teacher

Also these children manifest poor self-care skills related to personal

hygiene, dress, maintaining personal belongings, and mobility in and
about the school (Hardman et al, 1990).
Those whose retardation is said to be moderate (limited support needs
individuals) may lack self-help skills but are capable of acquiring
survival skills (such as feeding themselves, toilet-training, dressing and
personal hygiene) that enhance their independence within the
environment.

The severely intellectually disabled (extensive support needs individuals)

lack basic self-help and survival skills. Habilitation is possible for very
basic skills; for instance feeding, and toileting. However, many remain
somewhat dependent on others for everyday needs. These individuals are
generally not capable of learning functional academic skills.

The profoundly intellectually disabled(pervasive support needs

individuals) generally do not profit from self-care training, except in very
low-level skill areas such as developmental skills for children under 6
months of age. These individuals require total care (Hardman et al, 1990).

Speech and language characteristics

One of the most serious and obvious characteristics of individuals with
intellectual disability is delayed speech and language development.

Language ability and other intellectual abilities are highly correlated.

Therefore, it is to be expected that intellectually disabled children who
are weak in intellectual skills will have more difficulty learning language
than children of normal intelligence. Language problems are generally
associated with delays in language development rather than in bizarre use
of language. What these children need as language intervention is to
increase their functional communication.

In speech the most common problems are articulation, voice and

stuttering. The severity of the speech and language problems is positively
correlated with the severity of the intellectual disability. Speech and
language difficulties may range from minor speech defects, such as
articulation problems, to the complete absence of expressive language.

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Unit 2, section 3: Characteristics of intellectually disabled children EDUCATION

Activity 3.2
1. What do we mean by adaptive skills?

2. What are survival skills?

3. What other name can we assign to survival skills?

4. Why do teachers of the intellectually disabled place emphasis on

adaptive skills?

5. State five problematic adaptive skill areas of the mildly intellectually

disabled in school settings.

6. Which of the categories of the intellectually disabled require total

assistance?

7. What is the main language need of the mildly intellectual disabled?

8. Why do intellectually disabled children manifest significant problems

in language?

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EDUCATION Unit 2, section 3: Characteristics of intellectually disabled children

Physical characteristics
The physical appearance of most intellectually disabled children does not
differ from non-retarded children of the same age. However, there is a
relationship between the severity of the intellectual disability and the
extent of physical problems for the individuals. For the child with severe
intellectual disability there is a significant probability of related physical
problems. The mildly retarded children may not exhibit any physical
problems whatsoever, because the retardation may be associated with
environmental, not genetic, factors.

Research has established that physiological development is associated

with severity of retardation. Non-retarded children have been found to be
superior to both mildly and moderately retarded children on motor skill
proficiency, and the performance of mildly retarded children was superior
to that of moderately retarded children (Hardman et al, 1990).

Studies also suggest there is a higher prevalence of vision and hearing

problems among retarded children. The vast majority of severely and
profoundly retarded children have multiple handicaps (additional
handicaps).

Gross and fine motor coordination are unusually deficient in the

moderately retarded. However, these individuals are usually mobile and
can move freely about. Perceptual-motor skills such as body awareness,
sense of touch, eye-hand coordination do exist: but they are often
deficient compared to those who are 'normal'.

The majority of the severely retarded (extensive support needs

individuals) have significant motor difficulties: for instance, they may be
semi- or non-mobile. Gross or fine motor skills may be present, but some
individuals may lack control, resulting in awkward or inept motor
movement.

The profoundly retarded show some gross motor development, but fine
motor skills are inept. These individuals are usually not mobile and are
not capable of independent mobility within the environment. Perceptual-
motor skills are often non-existent.

Activity 3.3
1. Why are physical problems more evident in individuals with severe
and profound intellectual disability?

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Unit 2, section 3: Characteristics of intellectually disabled children EDUCATION

2. Identify two gross and three fine motor skills.

3. Identify an activity that involves eye-hand coordination.

4. Name the category of retardation that is associated with higher

prevalence of hearing and visual problems.

Summary
Intellectually disabled individuals have specific features that differ
significantly from individuals who are not retarded. Among the numerous
areas of difference are intellectual abilities where these individuals
manifest gross deficiencies in learning, memory, attention, abstract
learning and language development. Intellectually disabled individuals
differ from their non-retarded counterparts in physical development as
well as in adaptive skills performance. In all these areas the intellectually
disabled perform poorly compared to the non-retarded.

Suggested answers to activities

Activity 3.1
1. Intellectual deficits include learning and memory; attention as well as
learning in the abstract.

2. Make lessons more practical, involve the children in the lessons,

revise salient points continuously with the children, and teach the
children appropriate strategies for learning.

3. Highlight important concepts; reduce the number of irrelevant

stimuli; and assist your children to identify relevant stimuli.

Activity 3.2
1. Personal and social skills that are needed for daily life; such as

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EDUCATION Unit 2, section 3: Characteristics of intellectually disabled children

eating, dressing, toileting, responding to name, talking to others,

playing with others, moving about etc.

2. They are skills such as feeding oneself, drinking water, dressing,

toileting and personal hygiene.

3. Self-care skills or personal skills.

4. To ensure that these children learn the basic skills that will enable
them to survive as well as relate well with others in their community.

5. • cannot work cooperatively with peers

• cannot respond appropriately to social cues such as smiles
• cannot maintain belongings
• cannot observe good personal hygiene
• may not be able to respond appropriately to the teacher

6. Profoundly intellectually disabled(pervasive support needs).

7. Increase ability to communicate with others.

8. Language ability is positively correlated with intellectual abilities,

and since intellectually disabled children are generally deficient in
intelligence, their language ability also become affected.

Activities 3.3
1. Physical problems generally are not evident in individuals with mild
intellectual disability because this category of retardation is usually
not associated with genetic factors.

2. Gross: walking and kicking.

Fine: picking, holding and flipping.

3. Threading a needle.
Touching a specific spot: nose, eye lashes.

4. Profoundly retarded individuals.

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SPECIAL
UNIT 2 SECTION
EDUCATION 4
Unit 2,IDENTIFYING THE INTELLECTUALLY
section 4: Identifying DISABLED
the intellectually disabled

We learned in section 1 that individuals who are intellectually disabled

manifest very poor academic and adaptive skills. Again in section 4, we
learned that the intellectually disabled generally have speech and
language problems and also tend to exhibit destructive behaviour. You
are therefore quite well informed about the general characteristics of the
intellectually disabled. We can use this information to identify
individuals with intellectual disability. However, since the current trend
in special education advocates early intervention and early identification,
we cannot continue to wait till the child is grown up before we look for
those features that will indicate that the child is intellectually disabled.
We need to have some means to detect the problem right from pregnancy,
if possible, in order to deal with it promptly. Can we detect intellectual
disability during pregnancy? Is it possible to detect all cases of
retardation during pregnancy? What procedures are applied to detect and
identify intellectual disability in children of school-going age? Answers
to these questions form the core of this section. Now read on.

At the end of this section you will be able to:

 outline the procedures used to detect cases of intellectual disability
during pregnancy
 discuss why some cases of intellectual disability cannot be identified
during the prenatal period
 explain the processes used to identify babies who are intellectually
disabled
 discuss the steps regular teachers can adopt to identify at-risk
children
 explain the rationale for referrals of at-risk children for psychological
evaluation
 discuss how to determine the strengths and weaknesses of children
with special needs

Identification of intellectual disability during prenatal

period
Procedures used during pregnancy to identify babies who will become
intellectually disabled are many and varied. Mothers who have got
children with Down's syndrome should routinely undergo amniocentesis
during subsequent pregnancies to determine if the foetus has Down's
syndrome. In this process the doctor uses a needle to withdraw some of
the amniotic fluid surrounding the foetus. This is normally done when the
foetus is about twelve weeks old. The amniotic fluid drawn is then
examined in the laboratory. If the result of the laboratory test is positive
then the child will be born with Down's syndrome. Since the pregnancy is
then not very advanced, some parents (after consultations and
counselling) decide to terminate the pregnancy. Others maintain it, but
enrol their Down's syndrome child in an early intervention programme

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Unit 2, section 4: Identifying the intellectually disabled EDUCATION

right after birth.

Apart from Down's syndrome, amniocentesis is used to detect other rare
chromosome abnormalities, sex-linked conditions and metabolic
disorders such as hyperuricaemia, a condition of excessive uric acid in
the blood.

Other forms of intellectual disability cannot be detected at pregnancy. For

such cases only evaluations after birth can help to establish the condition.

Identification of intellectual disability at birth

Kirman (1976) contends that it is not possible to recognize intellectual
disability as such at birth. The new born infant is so helpless that it is
impossible to demonstrate what it cannot do. On the other hand, there are
many conditions associated with intellectual disability which can be
recognised at birth. A baby may be dysplastic: that is, it is of the wrong
shape, incompletely or abnormally developed. Sometimes babies are just
generally misshapen: such children are likely to be retarded, though they
may not necessarily be.

In other instances, some babies are born preterm or with low

birthweights, others delay in crying at birth, and others do not move or
suck vigorously. Though not all these instances result in retardation, a
significant number of them do lead to retardation.

It is, therefore, appropriate to conduct a medical screening of infants and

babies. In hospitals and well-equipped clinics, neonate screening is
routinely done, especially on babies that show slow progress. The first of
the routine screening methods is the Apgar score. This is a method of
assessing newborn babies by giving them points for respiration, pulse,
muscle tone, colour and response to stimulation one minute after birth.
Scores below 5 indicate a probable retardation or state of shock. This
condition calls for close observation of the infant as it grows, so that
prompt action is taken when the problem becomes evident.

A new born baby shows a number of reflex responses which give some
idea of its general state of development and health. Reflex responses (or
reflexes, for short) are automatic, inborn or unconditioned responses and
include the sucking reflex. As stated earlier, an inactive suckling process
may suggest abnormality of brain function (Kirman, 1976). A series of
other reflexes can be elicited and used as a basis for assessing the
neurological state of the infant. For instance, the muscle tone and placing
responses can be tested. If the baby is held with the examiner's hand
supporting the abdomen, the baby should straighten out to a horizontal
position. Babies with 'floppy' or hypotonic muscles (such as in Down's
syndrome fail to do so).

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Some babies are spastic or hypertonic, and show an increase in muscle

tone. It is difficult to bend the limbs, and the baby when lifted seems to
come up 'all in one piece', without yielding or adapting to the person
holding it.

The placing response can be elicited by bringing the top of the foot into
contact with cold objects such as the side of a metal bed. The normal
baby will then lift the foot and place it forward as though stepping.
Absence of this reflex suggests that the function of the brain is grossly
abnormal. However, too much importance should not be attached to a
single sign. It is important to take time and study every aspect of
performance, as well as the medical history of the child and the physical
findings.

Remember, not all cases are evident at birth. Some babies are born
normal but become retarded during the childhood stage.
Further, those individuals whose retardation is mild do not have any
organic problem, and as such they tend to grow and develop as 'normal'
children. They are only seen as children with special needs when they
enter the formal learning environment of the school.

Normal and abnormal childhood development

Children pass through various stages of development as they grow.
Parents can use the time when their children accomplish these
developmental tasks to report on abnormalities. Table 6.1 gives a list of
developmental tasks and their corresponding ages:

Table 4.1 Developmental tasks - mobility

age (months) task
1 Kicks vigorously when lying on back.
2 Lifts head when lying on tummy.
3 Holds head steady when sitting on knee.
4 Sits if back is supported, lifts head from pillow.
5 Makes vigorous splashing movements with arms and legs
in bath.
6 Makes crawling movements with arms but does not move
forward.
7 Sits up for a short time without support.
8 If held upright, makes stepping movements.
10 Stands holding on to furniture and walks with help from
adults.
12 Stands alone, crawls on hands and knees.
13 Gets up off floor on own and walks a few steps
unsteadily.
18 Walks confidently and throws a ball without falling.
24 Goes up and down stairs in an upright position with two

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Unit 2, section 4: Identifying the intellectually disabled EDUCATION

feet to one step. Runs well.

(Jeffree, D M, Guide for special education No.4, UNESCO, 1986)
Not all children attain the developmental tasks at the ages specified, a
little delay in attaining these tasks should not cause concern. However,
long delays should raise concern and action should be taken.

In the area of speech and language; a baby of 18 to 24 months old will

begin to develop vocalisation, leading to speech. A child of this age who
shows no sign of vocalisation should be observed critically for there may
be a problem. There are other ways to assess the child, but for our
discussion we will confine ourselves to the methods we have described
above.

Activity 4.1
Let us revise what we have already discussed so far by doing the
following activities.
1. Why are some cases of intellectual disability not recognised during
pregnancy?

2. Name three types of intellectual disability that can be detected during

pregnancy.

3. What medical procedure is used to identify Down's syndrome and

hyperuricaemia during pregnancy?

4. Name three unconditioned reflexes that can be used as bases to assess

newborn babies' health and general development.

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5. Why do experts link poor unconditioned reflexes to intellectual

disability?

6. What other signs can be used to identify intellectual disability in

newborn babies?

7. What is an Apgar score?

8. Which babies manifest floppy or hypotonic muscles?

9. What do we mean when we say that a muscle is hypertonic?

10. How do you elicit the placing response in a child?

11. Describe the major physical achievements of normal infants between

ages 5 months to 12 months.

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Unit 2, section 4: Identifying the intellectually disabled EDUCATION

Identification of intellectual disability at childhood

Most cases of intellectual disability are not recognised until the child
reaches school-going age. Such cases are mostly the mildly intellectually
disabled or intermittent support needs children. These children generally
do not show any physical sign of disease or impairment, they grow and
acquire the relevant basic skills just as their counterparts with normal
intelligence. In the school situation, such children are seen to be
incapable of competing successfully in the activities in the classroom.
They tend to perform poorly in academic subjects as well as in personal
and social skills. Such children perform poorly in reading, simple
arithmetic activities, writing and drawing. They cannot follow simple
instructions and always seem lost when academic work is going on.
Teachers consistently notice such children as not catching up, not
understanding anything taught, not making any effort to learn, not
cooperating with peers and most of the time causing trouble or living in
isolation from their peers.

These instances point to a child who has special needs: however, such
children are termed 'at-risk' or 'suspected' cases. The teacher should
confer with the head teacher after careful comprehensive observations
have been conducted on the child for some time. The head teacher will in
turn consult the parents and then suggest a referral of the child to a
specialist (usually a psychologist) for assessment. When the results of the
assessment confirm the teacher's observation, then the child is duly
diagnosed as intellectually disabled.

To evaluate the referred child, the psychologist uses standardised tests

called intelligence tests, such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
Children-Revised (WISC-R) or the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test.

These tests contain a number of tasks that are designed for children of
specific ages to perform. Scores obtained by the child on a particular
scale determine how far above or below average the abilities of that child
are as compared to the average scores of children of the same age. The
psychologist may use standard scores to express the performance of the
child being assessed. You may refer to section 1 to refresh your memory
on how IQ scores are calculated. Using this system, a score of 100 is
considered as average. People who score within 15 points above or below
the 100 score (that is 115-85) are generally considered to be in the
average range. If a child's score is below 70, then further assessment in
adaptive skills is needed to establish intellectual disability.

With the adaptive skills, also depending on the child's age, areas such as
communication, cooperation with peers, caring for personal needs,
responding to name and the like are employed to grade the child. If the

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EDUCATION Unit 2, section 4: Identifying the intellectually disabled

child performs poorly in these areas, then it is formally established that

the child is intellectually disabled. Further assessments by a group of
specialists are then requested to establish the strengths and weaknesses
and the needs of the child. The group of specialists is called a
multidisciplinary team. This team comprises a psychologist, a speech
and language therapist, a physical therapist, an occupational therapist, a
social worker, a special educator and a school nurse or health worker.
The reports of these specialists are collated into a comprehensive report
on the child. After these processes, the special educator then confers with
the parents on the report to place the child in a class and to design an
Individualised Educational Programme (IEP) for the child. The relevant
related services are provided.

Other evaluations are conducted on the child from time to time to

determine whether progress is being made or whether the child's
condition is deteriorating.

Activity 4.2
1. Why do we have to assess a child's intellectual functioning and
adaptive skills before deciding whether the child is intellectually
disabled?

2. Why should the teacher consult the head of the school before a child
is referred for assessment?

3. Which of the specialists evaluates the child's intellectual functioning?

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Unit 2, section 4: Identifying the intellectually disabled EDUCATION

4. Why is the child assessed by a multidisciplinary team?

5. Why should there be subsequent evaluations of the intellectually

disabled child?

Summary
Intellectual disability per se is not easily identified. Various procedures
are used to identify the condition in different stages of human
development. At the prenatal period, laboratory investigations are
generally conducted on at-risk pregnancies. At birth signs such as delayed
birth-cry, low birthweight, slow movements, inactive sucking and
wrongly shaped body are some of the indicators used to identify
intellectual disability. However, some cases evade all these procedures
and are only detected when the child enters a school environment.
Confirmation of intellectual disability is made by a psychologist, after a
psychological evaluation has been conducted. Finally, a multidisciplinary
team confer to establish the child's strengths, weakness and needs. Using
these reports, the special educator designs an IEP for the training of the
child.

Suggested answers to activities Activity 4.1

1. Some intellectual disability has no organic cause; we do not have the
requisite equipment to detect all abnormalities during pregnancy; and
some cases of intellectual disability occur after the birth of the child
or even during the birth (postnatal and perinatal causes).

2. Down's syndrome, sex-linked conditions and hyperuricaemia.

3. Amniocentesis.

4. ● the suckling reflex

 the birth-cry

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 the placing response

5. These unconditioned reflexes are controlled by the central nervous
system of which the brain forms the centre. Because of this, any poor
responses in the named areas indicate that the brain is not functioning
effectively.

6. Physical signs such as dysplastic, wrongly shape bodies; incomplete

and abnormal development; and low birth weight.

7. It is a set of points given to newly born babies, one minute after birth,
on respiration, pulse, muscle tone, colour and response to stimulation.
This procedure is conducted in hospitals by qualified nurses.

8. Down's syndrome.

9. High muscle tone, that shows in stiffness and inability to bend the
limbs.

10. By bringing the top of the foot into contact with cold objects such as
metals.

11. Make vigorous splashing movements with arms and leg in bath; make
crawling movements with arms but do not move forward; sit up
without support; make stepping movements when held upright; stand
holding on to furniture, walk with help from adults; and stand alone.

Activity 4.2
1. The definition of intellectual disability states that the state of
subaverage general intellectual functioning should exist concurrently
with deficits in adaptive behaviour, therefore these two areas have to
be evaluated before the child is said to be intellectually disabled.

2. The headteacher is the authority responsible to parents and the

Education Service, so the headteacher has the mandate to request
such interventions after consultation with parents. Also this gives the
teacher official support in case any legal action is taken by the
parents.

3. The psychologist.

4. As a team of specialists, each one presents an objective evaluation

report on a specific developmental area so that a comprehensive and
objective report is submitted on a particular retarded child.

5. To assess whether some progress is being made; to ascertain the

relevance of the IEP: and to modify some aspects of the IEP to suit
the growth of the child.

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Unit 2, section 4: Identifying the intellectually disabled EDUCATION

UEW/IEDE, B.Ed 83
SPECIAL
UNIT 2 SECTION Unit 2,MANAGEMENT
section 5: Management of intellectually disabled children
EDUCATION 5 OF INTELLECTUALLY DISABLED CHILDREN

If intellectually disabled children differ significantly from non-retarded in

the areas mentioned in section 3 (that is they have deficit intellectual
abilities, are poor at language and speech, are poor in adaptive skills and
have a number of physical problems), then how can individuals with
these multiple problems be managed in schools? You may wonder if they
can benefit from schooling.

In this last section, we will discuss the strategies that are usually adopted
by teachers to manage individuals with intellectual disability.

At the end of the section you will be able to:

 discuss the main components of a curriculum for the intellectually
disabled
 examine strategies employed to help intellectually disabled children
to acquire basic personal and social skills (adaptive skills)
 discuss how a family can be assisted to train their intellectually
disabled infant of age 0-3 years
 examine methods used to encourage intellectually disabled children
to acquire functional skills, such as simple academic, language and
speech skills
 discuss how to manage specific behaviour problems that are
exhibited by intellectually disabled children

Curriculum for the intellectually disabled

As we said earlier, children with intellectual disability were in the past
often neglected. Because society under-estimated their learning abilities,
many were given few, if any, opportunities to learn. And because there
was no organised system to teach these individuals, they unfortunately
did not learn much.

Thanks to increased understanding about intellectual disability and how it

affects development and learning, that treatment is gradually ending.
Today, it is recognised that children with intellectual disability can and
do learn, and special education professionals are constantly looking for
new and better ways to optimise learning in these individuals. The
teacher's concern is to challenge children with intellectual disability and
help them to grow to be as independent and knowledgeable as possible
(Smith, 1993). How to achieve this laudable goal forms the core of this
section.

First and foremost, because intellectually disabled children have special

needs, they are usually offered well-tailored instruction that is commonly
called special education. Within that tailored instruction are programmes
and services that are responsive to the individual intellectually disabled
child's needs.

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In the programmes designed for the intellectually disabled there are areas
like academic activities, communication skills, social and self-help skills,
physical activities and recreational and vocational skills. In addition to
these, special services known as 'related services' are offered to
complement the activities listed above. The related services include
speech and language therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy,
social and counselling services. The areas mostly highlighted in
educational programmes for the intellectually disabled include the
following:
 Academic activities - which comprise learning to read, doing simple
arithmetic activities, some aspects of home economics, cultural
studies, art and craft and basic science

 Communication skills - learning different skills in communication,

language forms, signing and speech work

 Social skills - group activities, playing with peers, learning to take

turns, sharing, being courteous, helpful and cooperative

 Self-help skills - performing basic skills like taking one's bath,

dressing and undressing, toileting, keeping the surroundings clean,
taking care of personal belongings etc

 Physical activities - the area is divided into two aspects; these are
fine motor skills (which include activities such as holding a pencil,
crayon, piece of chalk, threading beads or needles as well as using
fingers to pick up smaller objects) and gross motor activities
(including movements, going over obstacles, climbing stairs, kicking,
running etc)

 Recreational activities - including relaxation, leisure, appreciating

music etc

 Vocational skills - also including craft, art, work habits,

manipulation of simple tools, following instructions etc

Activity 5.1
1. Why are the intellectually disabled considered as children with
special needs?

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2. Identify five problems that are manifested by intellectually disabled

children.

3. Name three special needs of the mentally retarded.

4. Why are academic skills included in the curriculum of the mentally

retarded?

5. Why do we include fine motor activities in the educational

programme of the mentally retarded?

Related services - therapies

Physical therapy
Physical therapy is more comprehensive than ordinary physical training.
Not all intellectually disabled children need physical therapy. Those
children who will benefit from working with a physical therapist are:
 Those who have trouble moving from one position to another; for
instance from sitting to standing
 Those who are fearful of movement: for instance, the children who
will not try to go downstairs without being carried
 Those who do not like to be touched: perhaps because touch feels
irritating to them, or they feel as if they are going to lose their
balance

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 Those who seem 'stuck' in their development of certain motor skills:

for instance, they walk with their hands slightly up and out for
balance, and therefore cannot carry anything in their hands while they
walk
 Those who cannot or will not bear weight on their legs or use their
arms or hands

The physical therapist works with these intellectually disabled children to

develop their gross motor skills such as rolling, crawling, sitting,
walking, climbing stairs, riding a bike and using playground equipment.
The therapist basically gives special attention to improving the retarded
child's ability to move and to maintain good body posture or position.
Sometimes, the physical therapist guides or gently manipulates parts of
the retarded child's body to help the child become accustomed to a new
movement or posture. This technique is used with children who have high
muscle tone due to cerebral palsy.

Occupational therapy
The occupational therapist (OT) basically helps children develop motor
skills that children need to live as independently as possible. Examples
are fastening zippers, buttons, handling eating tools, cutting with scissors
and brushing teeth. The occupational therapist focuses on the child's
sensory-motor development. So the OT is most concerned with how the
child receives inputs from the senses (such as vision, hearing, touch and
movement), and then responds to those inputs in appropriate ways.

Besides working on sensory-motor development, the occupational

therapist assists intellectually disabled children to develop muscle tone,
strength, coordination and stability they need for functional skills such as
eating, dressing, using the toilet, combing their hair and writing. The OT
assists these children develop the foundation for skills in a variety of
ways. For instance, if a retarded child's wrists and hands are not yet stable
enough for writing, the therapist will provide activities that require the
child to bear weight on the wrists and hands. Some of the activities
include: wheelbarrow walking or lying over a large therapy ball and
supporting the body on one hand while reaching for toys with the other
hand.

Speech and language therapy

Another related service offered to intellectually disabled children is
speech and language therapy. Speech and language therapy focuses on
the retarded child's communication skills: for instance, the child's ability
to understand spoken language, and to communicate with words and
gestures. Like the physical and occupational therapists, the speech and
language therapist works on any eating difficulties caused by poor muscle
tone and strength, sensory problems such as over- or under-sensitivity to

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touch, or difficulty in executing purposive movements (dyspraxia).

Where the intellectually disabled show difficulty in understanding

speech, even though they have no hearing problems, non-speech systems
such signs, gestures or pictures are used to supplement their language:
this is usually referred to as augmentative communication system.

It is worth mentioning that social and counselling services are also

provided to the mentally retarded. These services are basically the same
as those offered to non-retarded individuals, except that the intensity of
these services to the intellectually disabled is greater and more consistent.

Activity 5.2
1. What are related services?

2. Which therapist focuses on sensory-motor development of children

who have special needs?

3. State three other areas of concern to the occupational therapist.

4. How would you assist a child with weak wrists to develop strength in
them to permit the performance of skills like writing and picking up
objects?

5. What is meant by 'augmentative communication system'?

Educational provision for intellectually disabled children

A major goal of special education is to enable children with special needs

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to live the most independent lives possible. Consequently, special

education does not just focus on helping these children in academic
subjects such as reading, arithmetic and history. It also includes special
therapeutic and other services designed to help the children overcome
difficulties in all areas of their development. Besides areas already
mentioned, we have early intervention, preschool and basic (primary and
junior secondary) school programmes.

With the trend toward mainstreaming and total inclusion education, all
the areas being discussed should be viewed as a continuum. Thus the
child starts the programme (early intervention) right from the day the
problem is diagnosed, and continues from there to pre-school and basic
school.

Early intervention
An early intervention programme is designed to help infants and toddlers
with special needs to improve their developmental skills. This
intervention is intended to raise the child's abilities and set a foundation
for further learning. Early intervention services include infant education,
language and speech therapy as well as counselling services for families
with handicapped children.

For intellectually disabled infants, skills that are often taught and
reinforced include paying attention to people and objects in the
environment; communication and imitation skills; self-care abilities;
independent play and ways of exploring the environment that enhance
learning. Early intervention is also designed to benefit families. Parents
learn to understand their child's abilities and disabilities, as well as how
they can help their child develop. They can also receive support in
dealing with emotional issues that may arise as a result of having a child
with special needs.

In the past, early intervention programmes used a child-centered

approach. That approach revolved primarily around the needs of the
child. For instance, if a retarded child was delayed in learning to roll from
lying on the back to lying on the stomach, early intervention therapists
would work on that skill. Nowadays early intervention programmes are
basically family-centred. The focus is on the needs of the family, not just
the child. Parents therefore play primary roles in identifying and working
on the goals they would like their children to reach. For instance, if a
child has difficulty feeding itself, teachers and therapists work with the
family to suggest ways of encouraging self-feeding without disrupting the
family's meal times.

Early intervention programmes can differ depending on whether the child

receives help at home or at a centre. A child who needs to be hospitalised
for an extended time might also receive early intervention services in a

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EDUCATION

hospital. As the infants grow and attain the age for pre-school, they are
enrolled into pre-school programmes.

Pre-school education for the intellectually disabled

Like non-retarded (normal) children, intellectually disabled children are
offered pre-school education. As an extension of the early intervention
programme, the skills taught include paying attention to people and
objects in the environment, learning to communicate with people and
learning to live and play with other children. In addition, the intellectually
disabled pre-school child is encouraged to learn pre-academic skills
which form the foundation for learning.

Emphasis is placed on skills such as:

 listening, attending to verbal stimuli, sitting, following directions and
taking turns
 verbal communication skills: answering questions, responding
verbally, imitating sounds and expressing ideas
 pre-reading skills: looking at pictures and objects

Further, the pre-school child is exposed to other activities including:

manipulation of objects (block activities); sand and water activities
(floating and sinking objects in water, filling and emptying containers);
and activities involving measurements.

While some retarded children acquire most of the required skills during
their pre-school years, others need to work on the skills for many years.

Basic education for the intellectually disabled

From the pre-school programme, those intellectually disabled children
whose conditions are mild and moderate continue to primary school.
Since intellectually disabled children cannot achieve so much
academically, their training is basically vocational oriented. Vocational
workshops managed by professionals are specially provided to cater for
the employment needs of the mentally retarded. These workshops are
called 'sheltered workshops', As the name implies, the retarded
employees are offered supervision and protection as they work in these
special workshops,

Activity 5.3
1. What is an early intervention programme?

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EDUCATION

2. Why has emphasis been shifted from the child to the family in the
early intervention programme?

3. Why are sheltered workshops provided for children with special

needs?

4. Identify the main difference between early intervention programme

and pre-school education.

5. What are manipulative skills?

Management of behaviour problems

I still feed Ben myself because when I let him try to eat by
himself he throws his food all over the place. The more I
punish him the worse he gets.

Mary begins to cry and scream every time I put her down for
a minute. It's worse when I take her out where there are other
people. At the market she has such tantrums that I can't
attend to my customers.

These and other behaviour problems can occur in both non-disabled and
disabled children. But some disabled children have special difficulty
learning acceptable and appropriate behaviour. Children who are
intellectually disabled may develop poor behaviour because they are
confused by the unclear or conflicting messages they get from their
parents and others. These children sometimes act in 'naughty' or self-
centered ways because they have become dependent on others to do

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EDUCATION

things for them. They lack self-confidence and are afraid of being
forgotten. On the other hand, children who are often neglected or ignored
when they are quiet or well behaved may learn to behave badly to attract
attention. As a rule if children repeatedly misbehave it is because they get
something satisfying or rewarding from their bad behaviour. Therefore, to
help children learn acceptable behaviour we need always to let them see
clearly that' good' behaviour is more satisfying than 'bad' behaviour.

In the following discussion we will explore ways to assist children to

learn acceptable behaviour by using a 'behaviour approach' which
consists of the following five steps:
1. Carefully observe the circumstances of your child's or pupil's
unacceptable behaviour
2. Try to understand the causes of the child's behaviour
3. Set a reasonable goal for improvement based on the immediate needs
and the development level
4. Plan to work toward the goal in small steps, always rewarding good
behaviour and making sure bad behaviour brings no pleasure,
attention or reward
5. After the behaviour has improved, gradually move toward a more
natural way of relating to the child

Some behaviour problems of intellectually disabled

children
Tantrums
Tantrums are fits of crying, screaming, and angry or destructive
behaviour. The child may try to break or throw things, kick or bite, or in
other ways destroy anything or anyone within reach. Tantrums can be
frightening: to the child, the teacher and the parent. After a tantrum
begins, it is difficult to reason with the child and calm it down.
Punishment often makes it worse. Children often use tantrums to get what
they want. For instance, Mary uses tantrums to compel her mother to
carry her as well as give her attention. In this way Mary has discovered
that tantrums can get her what she wants. To help her have fewer
tantrums, she should be led to find other more acceptable ways of
showing her wants and fears.

If Mary is enrolled in a pre-school programme, the special educator will

have to reward her good behaviour and refuse to give any attention to the
tantrum. At first Mary will have more violent tantrums than ever. But
when she realises that these violent outbursts do not bring her any
exciting results, little by little she will stop having tantrums.

Head banging, biting and other self-injuries

I am quite worried about Akos. She has suddenly developed
the habit of biting her arms or thighs, sometimes so hard that

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EDUCATION

she bleeds from the self-inflicted wound. She does that

anytime she is irritated.
Intellectually disabled children may engage in these self-destructive acts
just to frighten or punish their teachers or parents. Sometimes, however,
children with severe intellectual disability form the habit of biting
themselves, banging their heads, pulling out their hair or other self-
destructive behaviour.

Whatever the cause, acts of self-destruction cannot be ignored. Teachers

can devise the most simple and calm ways to stop the children gently
from injuring themselves. For instance, Akos' teacher can gently hold her
arms to keep her from biting herself. If you had to restrain Akos, you
would have to hold her arms from behind tightly and quietly, so that she
does not see you and gets as little response from you as possible.

Some children have such a low mental ability that they cannot learn or
play much: show them a lot of affection, talk and sing to them.

Rocking
In helping children to unlearn undesirable behaviour, first try to
understand the factors which usually 'trigger' or cause these strange
behaviours.
"Ama often starts rocking back and forth, and seems to
escape into her own world! She then shows no interest in
anything that is happening around her. Sometimes she rocks
for almost an hour."
"When does this happen most?"
"Mainly when she is with a group of other children or when
there are guests at home. But sometimes when she is just
alone."

Ama seems to withdraw into her world of rocking when things get too
confusing, frightening, or even boring for her. To stop rocking she needs
to be helped, little by little, to discover that interaction and play with
peers and objects are more stimulating. But to avoid confusing and
frustrating her, it is important that new people, toys and activities be
introduced gradually, one at a time, by the teacher or parent she knows
and trusts most. You may praise or reward her when she smiles, or shows
any interest in playing with other children, or with new toys. When she
starts to rock, try to engage her interest in things you know she likes.
Make sure you spend more time doing things she likes with her when she
is not rocking. Otherwise you will be encouraging her to rock more often
to get your attention.

Activity 5.4
1. State three reasons why children (especially those who have special

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EDUCATION

needs) misbehave.

2. Identify three steps in the behaviour approach to managing

undesirable behaviour.

3. Identify five undesirable behaviours of intellectually disabled

children.

4. Why is rocking considered as undesirable behaviour?

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Summary
Professionals in special education have set out guidelines for managing
children with special needs. These guidelines include: early intervention
programme, pre-school education and basic school education. Additional
services, called related services, are offered concurrently with special
education provisions. Further, behaviour approach strategies are often
adopted to address undesirable behaviour such as tantrums, head banging,
biting, self-injury and rocking.

Suggested answers to activities

Activity 5.1
1. These children have intellectual deficiencies that grossly interfere
with the way they learn and acquire basic skills for development.

2. • Inability to perform intellectual activities such as memorising,

focusing attention, transferring experience to different situation etc.
• They also manifest speech and language problems
• Some have profound physical disabilities
• Others manifest hearing and visual problems
• These children have emotional/behavioural problems

3. • Speech training, especially articulation of speech sounds and self-

expression in other language forms
• Adaptive skills such as working and playing cooperatively, taking
turns in activities, keeping care of belongings, and satisfying
personal needs: toileting, feeding etc.
• Behaviour management, such controlling temper, refraining from
destroying items, avoiding peer attacks etc.

4. Academic skills will enable them to acquire basic knowledge in

arithmetic, language, personal hygiene and social studies. These
skills and knowledge will enable these individuals to understand
world events, the concept of time, the use of money, and to read the
names of common objects in their community.

5. These individuals manifest problems in eye-hand coordination,

therefore these activities (threading beads, touching specific points,
picking little objects etc) are evolved to assist the intellectually
disabled to overcome the problems mentioned above (eye-hand
coordination).

Activity 5.2
1. Services such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech
and language therapies that are given to the intellectually disabled to
help them to overcome the numerous problems that these children
manifest.

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EDUCATION

2. The occupational therapist.

3. Development of muscle tone and strength: coordination and stability

for skills such as eating, dressing, using the toilet etc.
4. Engage such a child in activities that will make the child bear weight
on the wrists - wheelbarrow walking, lying over an object and
supporting the body on the hands, and hanging objects on the child's
wrists.

5. Non-speech systems such as signing, gesturing and body movements

that are used to supplement language.

Activity 5.3
1. A programme specially designed for children who have special needs
to help them improve on all areas of development. The programme
comprises infant training, speech and language therapy, as well as
counselling services for parents.

2. This is to enable parents understand their children with special needs,

to accept these children and play active roles in their training.

3. To afford these children consistent supervision and protect them from

unhealthy competition from non-handicapped individuals.

4. Early intervention programme can start as early as the first week of

the birth of the child with special need. Early intervention programme
has a place for the family or parents.

Pre-school education starts around age four. Pre-school education is

mainly to prepare the infant for formal education. Pre-school is an
extension of early intervention programme for the child with special
needs.

5. Skills that involve handling objects; these include building towers,

breaking-up and re-assembling objects, as well as picking up and
grouping objects.

Activity 5.4
1. Children generally misbehave in order to gain attention from adults;
or because of lack of self-confidence; and/because they are confused
by the numerous instructions issued by an adult. Children also
repeatedly misbehave because they get something satisfying or
rewarding from their misbehaviour,
2. • Carefully observe the circumstances of the child's undesirable
behaviour.
• Try to understand why the child has been showing that undesirable

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behaviour.
• Set a reasonable goal for improvement of the undesirable
behaviour.
3. • Tantrums
• Head banging
• Self-injury such as biting or poking the eyes
• Destroying toys
• Attacking friends
4. Prevents children from learning and engaging in useful activities;
rocking prevents children from paying attention and listening.

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EDUCATION

98 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed
 U NI T SPECIAL EDUCATION

C
3
ON S
TENT

VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

SECTION 1 THE CONCEPT OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT 100

SECTION 2 IDENTIFICATION OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT 110

SECTION 3 MANAGEMENT OF VISUAL IMPAIRMENT 116

the adinkra symbol used in the UEW crest

Mate masie I have heard what you have said

UEW/IEDE, BEd 99
SPECIAL UNIT VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
EDUCATION 3
Unit 1, section 4: Hydroelectric (water) energy

Many years ago, people compared the eye to an optical instrument and
they never knew that seeing is a dynamic process which is quite personal
in every individual. However, vision is one of the five senses of the hu-
man being and research has shown that it is this sensory mode which
gives human beings about 80% of information they receive from the envi-
ronment. As a result of this, educational and training implications of good
vision and eye care are very important.

Good eyesight is generally taken for granted and people find it difficult to
understand that there is a limit to what the eyes can do. Vision can
deteriorate without pain and without any particular symptoms at anytime
in life.

According to Lowenfeld (1980), visual experiences have a long distance

quality which is unique among the human senses. This permits a control
of the environment and of the self in relation to it far more effective than
that achieved by the other senses, either singly or in combination. Thus
lack of sight causes a detachment from the physical and to some extent
from the social, environment.

As teachers, we need to learn about the general concept of visual

impairment; causes of visual impairment, characteristics of visual
impairment, general identification procedures and how to manage the
visually impaired in our classrooms. Learning about these concepts will
also help you to appreciate the problems associated with visual impair-
ment and the conventional interventional strategies that are recommended
for use when teaching visually impaired children.
This unit will also help you to understand that in spite of the difficulties
imposed on the visually impaired children in learning, the achievements
of most blind children who have no additional impairments compare well
with those of their seeing peers.

We expect you to read the sections in this unit carefully and at the end of
the unit be able to:
 explain the concept of visual impairment and its associated language
(terminology)
 list and explain the types and causes of visual impairment
 describe the characteristics of visual impairment
 identify individuals with visual impairment
 teach a visually impaired child with the support of a consultant or a
resource teacher
 identify the implications of visual impairment and explain how to
meet the unique needs of the visually impaired child
 design management strategies for the visually impaired child

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Unit 3: Visual impairement EDUCATION

While you read, remember that visually impaired children constitute a

small portion of the school-aged population but they have unique needs.
In order to meet the challenge of teaching a visually impaired person you
will need to read your sections carefully and attempt all the exercises and
note down all difficulties which you can discuss with your tutor at the
study centre.

We welcome you to this interesting unit and wish you a smooth learning
session

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SPECIAL
UNIT 3 SECTION
EDUCATION 1
Unit 3,THE CONCEPT
section OF VISUAL
1: The concept of visual IMPAIRMENT
impairment

We congratulate you for having finished your study of unit 2 which

discussed the causes, characteristics and implications of intellectual
disability.

We are discussing disabilities because as teachers you need to learn about

them to understand some problems that face the students you teach. Most
children in primary schools in Ghana suffer from various forms of
disabilities but teachers fail to identify the mild forms of these problems.
This situation, coupled with the ignorance of most parents, causes most
cases to progress into more serious forms. Intervention therefore comes
too late for any useful remedy to take place.

You will be expected to spend about 3 hours reading and working

through this section.

After reading the section you will be able to:

 explain the meaning of visual impairment
 describe the various degrees of visual impairment
 change the minds of other individuals in the community who hold
negative views about the blind and have doubts about their
capabilities

Meaning of visual impairment

Let us look at the general concept of visual impairment. We can ask the
question - who is a visually impaired person?

Many people think when you talk about visual impairment, you are solely
taking about a 'blind' person. That is, somebody who cannot see and lives
in total darkness. This view derives from ignorance and people's
experiences, attitudes and beliefs that they share with the community.

Some people even think blindness is a punishment for sins. Even in

present day society, people still avoid individuals with visual impairment
because they think visual problems are infectious.

Activity 1.1
Write down five beliefs held by people in your traditional area about the
blind.

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Basically, visual impairment is caused by malformation or diseases of the

eyeball, cornea, retina, lens, optic nerve and the uveal tract (figure 1.1). If
this part confuses you, do not worry: you will have a full explanation in
causes of visual impairment later.

figure 1.1: The eye

Major parts of the eye and their functions

Aqueous Watery liquid which flows between the lens and the
humour cornea, nourishing them.
Choroid Blood-vessel-rich tissue behind the retina which is
responsible for the nourishment of the retina.
Cornea Curved transparent covering at the front of the eye
which is part of the eye's focusing system.
Iris Coloured circular membrane suspended behind the
cornea immediately in front of the lens which
regulates the amount of light entering the eye by
adjusting the size of the pupil.
Lens Transparent tissue behind the iris which bends light
rays and focuses them on the retina.
Macula Pigmented central area and the most sensitive part
of the retina. It is responsible for vision.
Optic nerve The nerve at the back of the eye which carries
visual impulses from the retina to the brain.
Pupil The adjustable opening at the centre of the iris that
allows light to enter the eye.
Retina Light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye that
transmits visual impulses through the optic nerve to
the brain.
Schlemm's canal A passageway for the aqueous fluid to leave the
eye.
Sclera The tough, white, protective coat of the eye.

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SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 3, section 1: The concept of visual impairment

Vitreous body Transparent, colourless mass of soft gelatinous

material filling the centre of the eye behind the lens.
It gives shape to the eye.

Medical/legal meaning of visual impairment

We are going to explain the legal and medical meaning of visual
impairment. This definition is necessary because it helps to categorise
and protect individuals who suffer from serious visual problems. We are
going to consider the British definition.

We said earlier that not all people normally considered 'blind' are in total
darkness. There are various degrees and types of blindness. According to
Kahn and Moorhead (1973), only 10% of people considered to be
visually impaired are in total darkness. We shall be talking about degrees
of visual impairment later.

The definition we give below is both the legal and medical definition.
You will realise that it is necessary for doctors or medical personnel to
assist lawyers to arrive at a workable definition. This is the reason why a
medical definition is accepted as being legal. Remember that everything
legal has to do with law. Because of this, it will be relatively difficult to
attempt to add to or subtract from the definition. If we do, we may end up
changing the context of the definition. You will therefore find below the
definition of blindness contained in the regulations to the Blind Person
Act 1962 Act No39 of 1962 (British Act of Parliament).

The British definition of visual impairment

Blindness or severe visual impairment is defined in the regulation frame
under the British Blind Persons Act (l962) as follows:
A person shall, for the purpose of registration as blind under
section two of the act, be regarded as blind if his visual acuity
is so restricted that he is unable by reason of such restriction
to perform any work for which eyesight is essential.

The principal condition to be considered in determining

whether a person is blind shall be visual acuity (the best direct
vision obtainable with each eye separately or both together,
where both are present, as tested by Snellen's Test and with
focus properly corrected) but regard shall also be paid to the
other definitions set out in this regulation.

The medical practitioner shall for the purpose of determining

whether a person falls within any of the following groups:

Category 1 Persons with visual acuity of vision below 3/60

Snellen. In general, a person with visual acuity below 3/60
may be regarded as blind.

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Category 2 Persons with visual acuity of 3/60 but below 6/60

Snellen. A person with visual acuity of 3/60 but less than 6/60
Snellen may be regarded as blind if the defect is of long
standing and is unaccompanied by any material contraction of
the field of vision, for example in cases of congenital
nystagmus, albinism, myopia etc.

Let us draw your attention to four points mentioned in the above

definition.

First, can you name some things we do as human beings for which eye
sight is very important? You may mention reading, writing, sewing,
drawing and even moving about.

Second, you may be confused about what is really meant by 'visual

acuity'. It is just a medical term which means clarity or sharpness of
vision.

Third, remember that the Snellen chart is a clinical device used in testing
for clarity of vision. The chart will be discussed further under section 4
when we treat identification of visual impairment.

Finally, remember that terms like myopia (short sightedness) will be

explained in detail under section 2 of the unit when we treat causes of
visual impairments.

Activity 1.2
Answer the following questions to test your own understanding.
1. What is meant by 'the legal definition' of blindness?

2. What is visual acuity?

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Before we proceed let us take a look at two important points: Ghana has
not got any clear cut definition of visual impairment so we use the British
definition. The Snellen chart is used to measure visual acuity. The
readings on it are measured in fractions: for example, 3/60. This simply
means that the patient can see at 3 metres what a normal eye can see 60
metres away. More explanation will be given under section 2.

Lowenfield (1980) identifies that the integrity of vision can be destroyed

in three major ways:
 visual acuity may be reduced
 colour vision may be defective
 the field of vision may be restricted

In Ghana, medical practitioners who work on eye problems use

Lowenfield's ideas. This means that when you report of visual problem,
the specialist may find out whether you have a problem with visual acuity
or with colour vision or with your visual field as a direct result of the
causal factor.

Educational definition
We hope you are enjoying the discussion. When we talk about
educational definition of visual impairment, we mean how visual
impairment affects educational provision. People who become blind (or
suffer severe visual impairment) may be considered blind for educational
purposes because they have not got sufficient visual imagery. This is why
the onset of the impairment is very important. For instance, someone who
becomes blind at the age of 13 years will have considerable experience
about the world. If you want to teach this person about the concept of
space, the person will understand it better than another person who
became blind at the age of 4. Therefore people who suffer serious
impairment before the age 5 years are considered blind for educational
purposes. Such individuals generally need to be taught using non-visual
means. Teachers of such children need to rely on concrete experiences,
additional stimulation, and support instruction with enough activities to
be able to engage the understanding of the children.

Activity 1.3
Give one reason why vision is so important in the learning processes of
children.

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Degrees of visual impairment

This is another interesting area you need to learn about if you want to
understand the conditions of individuals with visual problems. In fact,
there are differences at the functional level of vision in visually impaired
people. This is why authorities claim that 'blindness is a continuum'.
Remember that only about 10% of the blind population are in total
darkness. Among the remaining 90% some can determine the source of
light, others can see only parts of objects, some have 'far sight', while
others have 'near sight', still others cannot see colour. The degree of
visual impairment depends on the factor which caused the impairment.

You can cast your mind back to some 'blind' people you know who can
walk about without a guide. They may be suffering from one of the
conditions we have mentioned. What is important is the degree of
impairment, what internal structures are damaged and to what extent.

Activity 1.4
State two reasons why some visually impaired individuals can move
about freely or have virtually no problem with mobility.

Total blindness and partial sightedness

People who suffer from visual impairment and cannot detect the source of
light are totally blind. This category of person needs nonvisual methods
of learning. A totally blind person will use braille as a medium of
reading and writing.

The totally blind person needs adaptive materials in order to learn. They
usually attend special schools for the blind. In Ghana, there are two
special schools for the blind at Wa and Akropong. Because there are only
two such schools, most blind children cannot enter school.

The best way to reach all children is to integrate them into the normal
school system with specialised assistance from resource teachers.
Remember that most blind people need a sighted guide or some form of
assistance in order to be mobile.

Let us now turn our attention partial sightedness, also called low vision.
You can deduce from the word 'partial' that the sufferer has incomplete
loss of sight and therefore can see to some extent. The extent to which a
partially sighted person can see depends on the degree of impairment.

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Most partially sighted children can attend normal schools while others
can be helped to learn with optical aids like magnifying glasses. Most of
them can also read large print.

As a rule, a child may be regarded as partially sighted if the visual

disability is not such as to necessitate the usual methods of teaching the
totally blind or if the remaining vision (residual vision) is sufficient to
allow the child to follow ordinary instructions. In other words, a child is
partially sighted if the child’s vision is in danger of deteriorating when
subjected to excessive strain (which in this case must necessarily result
from attendance of normal classes). The most important thing to note is
that a child is partially sighted and qualifies to be sent to the school for
the partially sighted when the childs visual acuity is from 6/60 Snellen to
6/24 Snellen.

In Ghana, there are no primary schools for the partially sighted: hence
they are forced under the circumstance to attend schools for the blind
where they are taught with non-visual means, a situation which breeds
frustration and resentment in them.

We want you to realise that these days the emphasis is on educating all
categories of partially sighted and the majority of the blind in the
integrated system so that they attend classes with sighted children but are
given special assistance by resource teachers trained to handle the
visually impaired.

Activity 1.5
a. Write down three statements you could use to convince a friend that
not all blind people live in total darkness.

b. In your own words, state what is meant by a partially sighted person.

Summary
We have discussed the legal definition of blindness. This legal definition
is necessary because it protects the blind and qualifies them for support

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from government and non-governmental organisations.

Not all visually impaired people live in total darkness. We learnt that
some have useful residual vision and they are called partially sighted.
Individuals who are totally blind need support services like sighted
guides and mobility training to be able to control the environment and
interact with it effectively.

We have also learnt that those who have sufficient remaining vision need
to be provided with optical aids like spectacles, lenses and non-optical
aids like good large print to be able to increase their visual efficiency.

Suggested answers for activities

Activity 1.1
People believe that:
 blindness is caused by supernatural forces like witchcraft and juju
 blind people have supernatural powers
 blindness is a retribution for sin
 it is a bad omen to meet a blind person early in the morning
 it is an abomination to make a blind person the leader of a
community

Activity 1.2
1. The legal definition of blindness means a law has been enacted
specifying the level of visual impairment to be categorised as being
visually impaired for which the person is protected by law and
qualifies for certain reserved privileges that go with the affliction.
2. Visual acuity means the sharpness or clarity of vision. A person with
a good visual acuity is able to see distinct features of objects far and
near.

Activity 1.3
Vision is very important in the learning process of children and other
human beings because it is the integrator, co-ordinator and stabiliser of
the activities of all other senses. For instance, if you hear an approaching
vehicle, the sound may suggest to you to the size of the vehicle.
However, the natural tendency is a turn to look at the vehicle to be sure of
the correctness of this estimate.

Activity 1.4
1. The damage to the eye may not be so severe; hence the person has
enough useful vision or functional vision.
2. The person may be adventitiously blind or has learnt orientation and
mobility skills which are helping the person to move freely about in
both familiar and unfamiliar environments

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Activity 1.5
a. • Some visually impaired people have residual vision hence they can
use
the little vision left for activities.
• Some diseases or casual factors only reduce the visual acuity.
• Some anomalies or causal factors also affect colour perception or
restrict the fields of vision.
b. Answers should contain some of the following ideas:
• loss of sight is not complete: the victim can see to some extent
• residual vision does not prevent the child from following
classroom instruction alongside with sighted individuals

References
Balsch, B, A study of treatment of blindisms using punishment and
positive reinforcement in laboratory and natural settings, unpublished
doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1975

Barraga, N C, Visual handicaps and learning, Wadworth, Belmont,

California, 1976

Benthold, Lomenfeld, The visually handicapped child in school,

Constable, London, 1974

Best, J, The need for residential schools, the new outlook for the blind,
57(4), 1963 pp 127-130,

Caton, H R, Visual impairments, In Blackhurst, A. E. and Berdine, W. H.

(editors), An introduction to special education, Little Brown, Boston,
Massachusetts, 1981

Scholl, Geraldine T, Foundations of education for blind and visually

handicapped children and youth: theory and practice, American
Foundation for the Blind, New York, 1986

Kelly, Leo J and Vergason, Glenn, Dictionary of special education and

rehabilitation, Love, Colorado. 1978

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This 3,
Unit page is left1:blank
section for yourof
The concept notes
visual impairment EDUCATION

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SPECIAL
UNIT 3 SECTION
EDUCATION 2
Unit 3,IDENTIFICATION OF of
section 2: Identification VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
visual impairment

You are welcome to section 2. How did you find the first section? You
can now define the term visual impairment, and answer a few questions
on work done so far. What are some of the probable causes of visual
impairment? Give some of the characteristics of visual impairment. Do
all blind people live in total darkness?

You are gradually making progress. Our main business in this section is
how to identify visual handicaps in children and adults.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

 identify individuals with eye defects
 describe the procedures that have been devised for screening children
or individuals with vision defects

Noticing visual impairment

Difficulty with seeing can be mild, moderate or severe. When someone
sees very little or nothing, we say the person is blind. Some children are
completely blind; they cannot see anything. However, most blind children
can see a little. Some can only see the difference between light and dark
or day and night, but cannot see the shapes of things. Others can see
shapes of large objects, but none of the details. Many more children are
not blind but do have some problem seeing things clearly. For example,
they may see fairly well for most daily activities, but have trouble seeing
details. The family may not realise that the child has a seeing problem
until they notice the child has difficulty threading a needle or reading
letters on the chalkboard at school.

Identification means detecting the existence of something. Identification

of visual impairment in children or adults means using various
approaches to detect children with visual defects.

Signs of a seeing problem

Most children with severe visual impairment are easily identified at birth
or in infancy. As in the case of many handicapping conditions however,
not all visual problems are easily detected. Careful observation by parents
and examination by physicians are essential in the early years of life, but
elementary school teachers can join in watching for signs of eye trouble.

The checklist that follows can help you identify children who may have a
vision problem. If a child shows any of these symptoms, there may be eye
trouble.

Visual behaviour
 Rubs eyes excessively
 Shuts or covers one eye, tilts head or thrusts head forward
 Has difficulty in work that requires close use of the eyes

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 Stumbles or trips over objects

 Shows reversal tendencies in reading
 Confuses o and a; e and c; m, h, n, and r; and f and t
 Has poor alignment in writing
 Becomes irritable over work
 Blinks more than usual, or is irritable when doing close eye work
 Holds objects close to the eyes
 Is unable to see distant things clearly; tends to lose the place on the
page
 Squints or frowns and seems overly sensitive to light
 Holds book too close or too far away when reading

Appearance
 Has crossed eyes
 Eyelids are red-rimmed, crusty, or swollen
 Eyes are inflamed or watery
 Has recurring styes (small inflamed swellings on the rim of the eye
lid)
 Eyes in constant motion

Complaints
 Eyes itch, burn or feel scratchy
 Cannot see well
 Has dizziness, headaches, or nausea following close eye work
 Has blurred or double vision

Any child may show one or more of these signs or behaviour at different
times for different reasons; but when the behaviour is present day after
day in the same circumstances, the child should be referred immediately
to the school nurse, headmaster or the peripatetic teacher. These
individuals may conduct additional screening to determine if the child
should be referred to an eye specialist for more extensive evaluation.
Also you, the class teacher, should speak to the parents and encourage
them to take their child to an eye doctor for an eye examination.

Screening
Screening is a process that identifies children who need specific treatment
(for example, fitting of glasses) and who need to be referred for further
examination. Screening is therefore an important tool in the early
identification of handicapped children.

Screening procedures such as checklists and tests are inexpensive, and are
easily administered. They give the screener an overview of a child's
performance. It is important that teachers, aides and others be trained to
use a particular screening procedure correctly.

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The standard school screening device is the Snellen Chart which consists
of rows of letters (in gradually smaller sizes) that children are asked to
read at a distance of 6 metres. A variation consists of the letter E, in
different sizes and pointing in different directions. This is useful for
screening young children and people who cannot read. The individual is
asked to indicate the direction in which the arms of the E are pointing.
Scores are based on how accurately the subject identifies the letters or
indicates the directions of the arms of the Es using one eye at a time. A
reading of 6⁄60 in either eye means the subject can see at 6 metres what a
person with normal vision can see at 60 metres; a reading of 6⁄60 is
normal.

Testing the sight of a baby

You can carry out an easy test to detect if a baby (over 3 months old) can
see. Hang a bright, coloured object in front of the baby's face and move it
from side to side. Does the baby follow with its eyes or head? If not,
move a lighted candle or torch in front of the child's face in a fairly dark
room. If the baby does not follow the object or light with its eyes or head,
probably it does not see.

Testing the sight of a child

The two methods described below may be used to test how well children
(4 years of age or older) can see.

The child-to-child approach

A group of older children can make an eye chart. They can cut out black
'E's of different sizes and paste them on white cardboard. In addition, they
will make one large 'E' shape out of cardboard or other material (see
figure 2.1).

figure 2.1: Snellen chart

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The children can test each other using this improvised Snellen chart.
Hang the chart where the light is good. Then make a line about 6 metres
from the chart. The child to be tested stands behind the line, holding the
cut-out 'E'. Another child points at different 'E's, starting from the top (see
figure 2.2).

Ask the child being tested to hold the cut-out E so that its 'legs' point the
same way as the E on the chart. A child who can easily see the Es on the
bottom line, sees well. A child who has trouble seeing the second or third
line, sees poorly.

figure 2.2 Testing a child's eyesight

The observation method

Efforts have been made to help classroom teachers to identify visually
handicapped children. The table below shows what to look for, what
questions to ask and what steps to take in order to spot a child with visual
problems. Once you have identified the problem you are then in a
position to offer the needed assistance.

Observe Ask Experiment

Can the child read Read the cumulative Try different lighting
the chalkboard from record - any - is dim light or
the seat or does the information about bright light better?
child need to walk up physical restrictions,
to it? medication, or the
need for vision aids
(magnifiers, lamps,
etc) should be noted
on the eye report.

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Does the child squint Ask the parents - does Try different seating
when reading a student like to watch - does the child
book? television? Where respond better if
does the child sit - close or far away
close or far away? from the board or
from you when
you're talking to the
class?

Does visual skill vary Ask the student what Try different ideas -
in different situations can be seen outside the how does the child
- on the playground, window, in the perform when
in a reading group, at picture, in the book, lessons are taped?
the desk? etc. on the board,

Assessment
Assessment should follow the identification of visual impairment and
should be continuous. Three main elements should be included:
 Medical - specialist examinations needed to assess the visual
impairment and to look for additional disabilities if any
 Psychological and educational - to assess the child's developmental
and educational needs
 Social - to assess the need of the family and other environmental
factors in the child's development

Activity 2.1
What are some of the signs which can indicate visual defects in children?

Discuss the importance of identification of visual impairment in children.

Summary
Identification of individuals with visual problems can be made through
medical examinations; school screening procedures, and sensitive

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observation by teachers and parents who are alert for symptoms of visual
problems.

As soon as vision impairment is identified, it is important to provide

services to parents. The services should include information on child
care, health care, training procedures, resources available to the family,
schooling possibilities and general expectations.

Careful, systematic vision screening is an essential part of the school

programme. The teacher must use observation and a variety of informal
and formal procedures in assessing visually impaired children.

Schools use the Snellen Chart as a means of identifying children with

visual problems; they then refer these children to an eye specialist for
further examination.

References
Alonso, L et al, Mainstreaming pre-schools: children with visual
handicaps, USA Department of Health, Education and Welfare,
Washington, DC, 1978

Best, A B, Teaching children with visual impairments, Open University

Press, Milton Keynes, Philadelphia

Doorlage, D H and Lewis, L B, Teaching special students in the

mainstream, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, Jersey, 1995

Gallagher, K, Educating exceptional children, Houghton Mifflin,

Boston, Massachussets, 1986

Werner, D, Disabled village children: a guide for community health

workers, rehabilitation works and families, Hesperian Foundation, Palo
Alto, 1987

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SPECIAL
UNIT 3 SECTION
EDUCATION 3
Unit 3,MANAGEMENT OF VISUAL
section 3: Management of visual IMPAIRMENT
impairment

How did the previous section go? I am sure you are now in a position to
answer couple of questions: Do all blind people live in total darkness?
When you identify a visually impaired child what is the first step to take?
Think about these questions for a few minutes.

Our main business in this section is to learn how to manage the visually
impaired child in the classroom and other related areas.

After going through this section you will be able to:

 understand better the methods and techniques of helping the visually
impaired child in the classroom
 describe the importance of providing opportunities for children to
express themselves and develop motor control
 provide guidance and counselling to parents of visually impaired
children
 involve parents of visually impaired children in pre-school
programmes
 gain some knowledge about the use of optical and non-optical aids;
the use of braille; individualised educational programmes and main
streaming the visually impaired student

Managing the visually impaired

Management is a process of planning, organising, staffing, directing and
controlling activities in an organisation in a systematic way in order to
achieve a common goal.

What then do we mean by 'managing the visually impaired'? Since the

senses are the gateways of knowledge, the loss of vision reduces the
opportunities to learn. Moreover, vision is the most actively used sense;
and knowledge grows largely from visual experiences. The effects of the
loss of vision are severe. Blindness imposes three basic types of
limitations on the individual:
 in the range and variety of experiences
 in the ability to get about
 in the control of the environment, and of fitting the self smoothly into
the environment

These three obstacles to independence and self-fulfilment have to be

countered through special education provisions for the blind child. They
hinder growth and development and so strategies have to be adopted to
overcome these limitations.

How do we manage the visually impaired?

As teachers, we should:
 counsel parents so that they develop a feeling of acceptance and love

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for their visually impaired child

 assist in seeking appropriate medical attention. First, for possible
treatment or correction; and second, for assessment for proper
placement.
 assist parents to train and help the child use the remaining senses:
residual vision, touch, hearing and taste. Lowenfeld (1973) proposed
three general principles that are important for adapting instruction to
the educational needs of children who are visually impaired:
a. Concreteness - Children who are educationally blind learn
primarily through hearing and touch; they must work with
concrete objects that can be touched and manipulated. In this way
they come to understand shapes, sizes, weight, hardness, surface
qualities, pliability and temperatures.
b. Unifying experiences - Educationally blind children live a
relatively restrictive life. To expand their horizons, to develop
imagery and to orient them to a wider environment, it is
necessary to develop their experiences by systematic stimulation
to use the remaining senses to perform daily living activities.
c. Learning by doing - We have to motivate them to explore the
environment, to reach out, to make contact: we do this by
introducing motivating toys or games. Visually impaired
children's ability to listen, relate, and remember must be
developed to the fullest.

The child who is blind is often slow at learning to move about and will
need extra help and encouragement. Encourage the child to have
adventures, explore, and do all that a child normally does. Help children
who cannot see well to do all kinds of things with their hands including
daily care of themselves: eating, dressing, bathing, and using the toilet.
Give the child opportunities to begin to help in different ways around the
house. When the child has learned to handle bigger things fairly well, it is
time to learn to feel and handle smaller things. Remember, most 'blind'
children have some useful vision. Encourage the child to use whatever
sight remains. The visually impaired child should have the same
opportunities in the community as other children. Introduce the child to
the people you meet.

General hints on sensory development - Always talk to the child. Talk

about things the child does and what other people do. Let the child touch
and see everything around: objects, clothes, furniture. Note that for the
blind there is no incidental learning through observation and imitation.
Everything must be taught specifically to the blind child. Build the child's
confidence in moving about by keeping to a fixed arrangement of
furniture. Avoid unexpected obstructions in the child's way. Allow the
child to play with other children. Involve the child in everything that is
going on rather than doing everything yourself.

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Hints for parents

Lead the child through the necessary activities, so that the child knows
what has to be done. Ask fewer questions, give more answers and, above
all, listen. Use touch to guide, reinforce, and reassure the young visually
impaired child. Give feedback. Play with the child yourself and allow
other adults and children to play with the child too.

Several forms of assistance to parents have proved useful:

 parents are given instruction on the nature of the disability
 they are informed about the co-ordinated measures taken by
government and society to promote the all-round development and
social integration of their visually impaired children
 courses are organised for parents alone or together with their children
 home visits are arranged
 parents are sent literature containing advice and instruction

Students with vision impairment, like other children, may need expert
help in building an understanding of themselves: they need to recognise
their strengths, weaknesses, patterns of satisfying activities and
aspirations. And they need help in making career plans.

Activity 3.1
What advice would you give to a parent who has a visually impaired
pre-school child?

Arranging the learning environment

Students with visual impairment may require adaptations in the
arrangement of the classroom, seating patterns, and other factors related
to lighting, sound transmission, and proximity to activities. The following
are suggestions for general education of classroom teachers working with
students with vision impairment:
 Seat students so that they are able to participate in activities with
other class members. A flexible seating arrangement which allows
visually impaired students to be close to different classroom activities
is preferable. Adjust the amount of light available as needed.
 Do not place students who are partially sighted where they must face
the glare of a primary source of light, such as a window
 Be sure that students' tables or desk tops are large enough for braille
writers and other equipment

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 Provide an accessible storage area with adequate space for large

pieces of equipment such as optical devices or reading stands and
braille or large print books
 Copy holders, easels and adjustable desk tops help students to
maintain good posture for close eye activities
 Use copy machines to enlarge print materials for students with vision
impairment
 Allow students to become oriented to the classroom; permit them to
explore

Use of optical and non-optical aids

A majority of children enrolled in educational programmes for the
visually impaired have some potentially useful vision. Their learning
need not be restricted to touch, hearing, and other non-visual senses.
Currently, there is great emphasis on developing children's abilities to use
their residual vision as effectively as possible. Recent research has shown
that structured programmes of visual assessment, training and evaluation
can improve these abilities.

Many children with low vision are able to benefit from special optical
aids. These may include glasses and contact lenses that are worn on or in
the eyes, small telescopes that are held in the hand, or magnifiers (figure
6.1) placed on top of printed pages. Many books and other materials are
available in large print for children with low vision.

figure 3.1
A magnifier placed on top of a printed page

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Use of braille and related materials

Braille is a system of touch reading and writing in which letters, words,
numbers, and other systems are made from arrangements of raised dots.
For children who are visually impaired, learning to use braille is a key
skill for communicating with the sighted world.

Braille reading was developed in 1829 by Louis Braille, a blind

Frenchman. The system uses embossed characters in different
combinations of six dots arranged in a cell two dots wide and three dots
high (figure 6.2). The symbols are embossed on a heavy manila paper
from left to right, and users usually 'read' with both hands, one leading,
the other following. Punctuation, music, and mathematical and scientific
notations are based on the same system.
Although many other systems have been tried, Standard English Braille
was accepted in 1932 as the system for general use. It has been developed
at several levels of difficulty.

figure 3.2 Braille alphabet and numerals

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A variety of specialised equipment is used in the schooling of visually

handicapped students. Below is a brief description and discussion of
some of the more common items that are used.

Large Print Books are used with children whose partial sight is of such a
nature that they cannot read ordinary print but can discriminate larger
letters and words.

Because braille calculation processes in mathematics are long and slow,

the abacus is useful for visually impaired students. It speeds up
mathematical processes. Talking calculators are also used.

The braille writer is a special device, somewhat smaller than an ordinary

typewriter, that is used to produce braille print by mechanical processes
(figure 6.3). Basically it consists of a spacing bar and six keys that
correspond to the six dots of the braille cell; the keys can be pressed
simultaneously in any combination to produce the desired group of dots.

figure 3.3 Perkins braillef

The slate and stylus are the equivalent for visually impaired students of
the table and pencil for sighted persons (figure 6.4). The equipment
consists of a lap board, special braille paper, and a slate (a template with
spaces corresponding to dots and cells of braille). The student uses a hand
stylus to punch the dots in each cell, a procedure which is slower than
using the braille writer.

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figure 3.4 The slate and stylus

Some educational programmes use closed-circuit television systems to

enable low vision students to read regular-sized printed materials. The
student is able to adjust the size, brightness, and contrast of material and
can select either an ordinary black-on-white or a white-on-black image;
the latter is preferred by many students.

Many students benefit from desks with adjustable or tilting tops so that
they can read and write at close range without constantly bending over
and casting a shadow. Recorded materials are also helpful.

Activity 3.2
What is braille? How is it read?

The individualised education programme (IEP)

There are a variety of ways for a teacher to obtain information that is
useful in instructional planning. As used in this section, the term
assessment refers to all activities that the teacher engages in to obtain
information about students' instructional needs. These activities include
administering, scoring and interpreting both formal and informal tests;
using direct observation of students in everyday school situations; and

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Unit 3, section 3: Management of visual impairment EDUCATION

interviewing students and teachers, or even parents.

Children with visual impairments need appropriately individualised

programmes. With the current trend towards the individualisation of
education programmes for all students, the programme for the visually
impaired student requires some reorganisation.

Once a student has been judged eligible for special education, the next
step is to design an individualised education programme (IEP) for that
student. This written plan must be developed prior to the start of special
education services. The IEP, which must be reviewed and modified at
least annually, should include:
1. a statement of the student's present levels of education and
performance
2. a list of annual goals that the student is expected to achieve
3. a set of short term instructional objectives, written in measurable
terms, for each annual goal
4. the specific special educational services needed by the student
5. a description of the extent to which the student will participate in the
general education programme
6. dates for initiation and termination of special education services
7. a statement describing and justifying the educational placement 8
8. objective criteria, evaluation procedures, and schedules for
determining progress towards each instructional objective
9. identification of the individuals responsible for implementing the IEP
and evaluating the student's progress
10. a list of the team members who developed the IEP
11. a signature indicating parental approval of the IEP

The IEP is a formal instructional plan designed for and based upon the
specific individual educational needs of each student with disabilities. It
should clearly communicate to all team members the exact nature of the
student's educational programme.

Mainstreaming the visually impaired child

Mainstreaming means including special students in the general
educational process. Students are considered mainstreamed if they spend
any part of the school day with class peers in regular schools. In a typical
mainstreaming programme, special students in regular classrooms
participate in instructional and social activities side by side with their
classmates. Often they receive additional instruction and support from a
special educator such as a resource teacher. This instruction may take
place within the general education classroom, or outside in a setting such
as a resource room.

Mainstreaming teams are established within a school system to initiate,

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EDUCATION Unit 3, section 3: Management of visual impairment

facilitate, supervise and evaluate the main streaming programme for

students with special needs. Both special education and general education
are represented. Teachers and administrators are included as well as
specialists such as psychologists and counsellors. In addition, parents and
special students themselves may participate in team discussions.

Visually impaired students can be mainstreamed successfully when

regular teachers, heads of school, and other school staff members are
selected, oriented to, and trained for main streaming functions.

Teachers who are prepared in specialised training programmes and

certified for instruction of visually impaired students may be employed as
consultants, itinerant teachers (that is, teachers who travel from school to
school where visually impaired students are placed, to provide them with
special education services), resource teachers, or teachers in specialised
settings: they also may serve in supervisory and administrative roles.

Regular teachers can expect vision teachers to:

 provide special materials, such as braille, large print and recorded
materials, braille writers, typewriters, braille slates and magnifiers
 help develop proper use of special equipment required for the
education of the visually impaired
 assist in assessment of students, and make referrals for further
studies, as needed
 monitor general progress and specific problems and needs as each
student with visual handicap proceeds through the school programme
 participate in team planning sessions
 advise and counsel students, parents and teachers
 organise reader and brailling services
 teach students in orientation, mobility and the use of residual vision

Advantages of mainstreaming
Mainstreaming offers the best line of advance for visually impaired
children because it is the first step towards integrating the blind child into
the surrounding society.

It helps the child's personality development. In the mainstream the

visually impaired child is treated as any ordinary child: playing, learning
and living with normal sighted counterparts. It is not only the blind child
who learns more about the seeing world; but the seeing child and the
general public also learn a great deal about the visually impaired through
the mainstreaming system.

The visually impaired child enjoys family life to the full. The
psychological trauma which is experienced by young children when
removed from the family is avoided.

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Unit 3, section 3: Management of visual impairment EDUCATION

Mainstreaming costs comparatively little to operate and makes education

accessible to a much greater number of visually impaired students.

Activity 3.3
What is mainstreaming?

What are its advantages?

Summary
Students who are visually impaired are classified into two groups:
a. those who are blind - these may have light perception without
projection or are totally without light perception. In any case, they
must use braille to learn.
b. those with low vision - these are severely impaired, even when using
glasses, but they can read print

A greater emphasis is now placed on the education of visually impaired

youngsters in infancy and early childhood. This emphasis has brought
parents into the special education system as active participants in their
children's development of skills and attitudes.

Visually impaired students are now mainstreamed in regular classes

whenever possible, using the services of resource rooms and itinerant
teachers.

A combination of adaptations can sometimes minimise day to day

difficulties in the classroom: these adaptations include appropriate
lighting suited to child's visual condition; avoidance of glare from shiny
surfaces or from the pages of a book; and re-arranging the seating so that
the child who is short sighted sits in front, and the one with long sight sits
at the back of the classroom.

Teachers of visually impaired children need to have specialised skills and

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be aware of the needs of their students.

 The visually impaired need as many active, participatory experiences
as possible
 Most blind children learn to read braille and write with a brailler and
a slate and stylus. They may also learn to type and use special
equipment (for mathematics and other subjects) and for listening to
speech on tape.
 Children with low vision should learn to use their residual vision as
efficiently as possible. Many use optical aids to read regular type or
use books with large print. They may need special adaptations such
as closed-circuit television to help them benefit as much as possible
from regular classroom lessons.
 All visually impaired children need to develop their listening skills
 Visually impaired students may also need special instruction in
practical daily living skills, such as dealing with other people
 Many visually impaired children need help to avoid developing
distinctive mannerisms
 For blind or severely visually impaired children, instruction in
orientation and mobility is imperative. From an early age the children
must be familiar and comfortable with their own bodies and their
surroundings if they are eventually to develop the skills that would
enable them to travel independently. Long canes, electronic aids and
guide dogs may be used.

References
Best, A B., Teaching children with visual impairments, Open University
Press, Milton Keynes, Philadelphia, 1992

Doorlag, D. H. and Lewis, L. B., Teaching special students in the

mainstream, Prentice Hall, Eaglewood Cliffs, Jersey, 1995

Gallagher, K., Educating exceptional children, Houghton Mifflin,

Boston, Massachussets, 1986

Scholl, G. P., Foundation of education for the blind and visually

handicapped children and youth: theory and practice, American
Foundation for the Blind, New York, 1986

Werner, D., Disabled village children: a guide for community health

workers rehabilitation workers and families, Herperian Foundation, Palo
Alto, 1987

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 U NI T SPECIAL EDUCATION

C
4
ON S
TENT

HEARING IMPAIRMENT

SECTION 1 CONCEPT OF HEARING IMPAIRMENT 130

SECTION 2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HEARING IMPAIRED 138

SECTION 3 IDENTIFYING HEARING IMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS 146

SECTION 4 MANAGEMENT OF THE HEARING IMPAIRED 154

the adinkra symbol used in the UEW crest

Mate masie I have heard what you have said

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SPECIAL UNIT HEARING IMPAIRMENT
EDUCATION 4
Unit 1, section 4: Hydroelectric (water) energy

You have covered three units of this course. Unit 2 explained and took us
further into the topic of intellectual disability. Unit 3 dealt with another
type of exceptionality: the visually impaired. I am sure you enjoyed stud-
ying the first three units.
Congratulations.

You are now welcome to the fourth unit of this course. This is on hearing
impairment. This is another form of exceptionality which shows different
degrees of disability. This condition always exists wherever there is a
human population. In particular it exists in the ordinary classroom, your
classroom, and affects your teaching and creates learning problems for
some of your children.

Unit 4 will expose us to the concept and causes of hearing impairment in

children. It will also serve to broaden our minds to the physical and
behavioural cues that will enable you to identify these children in your
classroom and community. Moreover, as a teacher, these hearing
impairments will pose problems to you during teaching and as committed
teacher you will be wondering how to solve them. This unit is designed
not only to give you knowledge about the hearing impaired but also to
equip you with adequate skills to manage these children or refer them to
specialists when necessary.

Get ready to study this last section, and you will finally be a better
teacher - and a better parent. On this note, I wish you good luck in read-
ing.

By the end of this unit you will be able to:

 describe different causes of hearing impaired
 distinguish between children with different degrees of hearing im-
pairment
 deal with hearing impaired children in your own classroom
 be able to help parents to get professional assistance for their hearing
impaired child

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This
Unit 1,
page
section
is left4:blank for your notes EDUCATION

UEW/IEDE, BEd 131

SPECIAL
UNIT 4 SECTION
EDUCATION 1
Unit 4,CONCEPT OF HEARING
section 1: Concept of hearingIMPAIRMENT
impairment

You are welcome to this section which deals with of the concept of
hearing impairment.

We wish you a successful and enjoyable section. By the end of this

section, you should be able to:
 give the traditional explanation of hearing impairment
 give the clinical (or modern educational) explanation of hearing
impairment
 state and explain the classification of hearing impairment
 state and explain the different types of hearing impairment

For a start, read the dialogue below.

Mrs Amoah, a P4 teacher at Obenemasi Methodist Primary

received her admission letter from the University College of
Education of Winneba to a two-year Post-Diploma course in
Special Education. After showing the admission letter to her
headmaster, the following conversation went on between the
two:
Headteacher "Congrats. Mrs Amoah. What course in special
education are you going to read?"
Mrs Amoah "I'll read all courses in special education but I'll
specialise in the education of the hearing
impaired."
Headteacher "Who are the hearing impaired?"
Mrs Amoah "Well, I'll find out and tell you about who the
hearing impaired are after my first semester in
the University College of Education."

This short conversation between Mrs Amoah and her Headteacher,

indicates that the two are eager to have a clear understanding of the
concept of hearing impairment.

As a student at a distance, you, like Mrs Amoah and the headteacher,

need to grasp and understand the concept, 'hearing impairment' very well.

What hearing impairment means

The term 'hearing impairment' refers to a condition, while individuals
with such a condition are termed 'hearing impaired'. In this course, the
two terms may be used interchangeably.

For clarity, both the traditional and clinical (or modern educational)
explanations of the concept of hearing impairment/hearing impaired will
be given.

'Traditional' simply refers to the Ghanaian ethnic explanations given to

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Unit 4, section 1: Concept of hearing impairment EDUCATION

the concept of hearing impairment. Such explanations are usually based

on myths, legends and superstitions.

'Clinical', on the other hand, refers to modern, educational, technological

and medical explanations which have been proved to be valid and
reliable.

Traditional explanation of hearing impairment

In most Ghanaian traditions and ethnic groups such as the Akan, Ewe, Ga
and Nzema, the hearing impaired are termed either the 'deaf' or the
'dumb'. The terms used in the various dialects demonstrate this. Some of
those terms used for the hearing impaired are:
• Emum (dumb) - Akan • Asotire (deaf) - Akan
• Mumui (dumb) - Ga • Tokuno (deaf) - Ewe
• Mumule (dumb) - Nzema

Let us now pause and assign reasons for the traditional terms for the
hearing impaired.

Traditionally, the hearing impaired are described and termed 'deaf', or

'dumb' or 'deaf-mute' for two major reasons. In the first place, they cannot
hear speech sounds. Secondly, such individuals usually cannot speak
intelligibly.

The fact that the hearing impaired cannot speak intelligibly leads to the
use of words such as emum (dumb) in Akan and mumui (dumb) in Ga.
The acquisition and use of speech by an individual depends mainly upon
that individual's ability to hear sounds perfectly. Since the majority of
hearing impaired individuals cannot hear sounds well without special
help, they find it almost impossible to acquire language naturally and to
speak intelligibly.

Another term often used for hearing impaired individuals is 'hard-of-

hearing'. They are 'hard-of-hearing' because with some extra shouting,
such individuals can hear and use speech language intelligibly. In Akan
such individuals are described as asomu den, which means 'hard-of-
hearing'.

Identify and write down two terms used for the hearing impaired in your
local dialect. Do your words mean 'deaf' or 'dumb'?

Clinical (or modern educational) explanation of hearing impairment

To say that someone is hearing impaired simply means that the person
has defective hearing. Perhaps the best of all the definitions of the
concept 'hearing impairment' is that by Charles and Malian (1980):
a hearing impaired individual refers to any individual whose
hearing (auditory mechanism) is either partially functional or

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EDUCATION Unit 4, section 1: Concept of hearing impairment

profoundly dysfunctional to the extent that such an individual

cannot under normal circumstances acquire and use speech
language with or without the use of a hearing aid or any special
method.

This definition means that the, individual's hearing level should be such
that it significantly prevents that individual from functioning 'normally' in
school or in society. Thus hearing impaired individuals cannot
spontaneously acquire and use speech language effectively or they may
find this extremely difficult. Such individuals need special methods,
equipment, and teachers to enable them acquire and use speech
effectively in order to function well in school and in society.

You will recall that in our discussion on the traditional explanation of

hearing impairment we came across such terms as 'deaf' and 'hard-of-
hearing'. We shall now give the clinical explanation of these terms.

Deaf/deafness
American Public Law 94-142 explains deafness as:
a hearing impairment which is severe to the extent that the child is
impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing with
or without amplification (increase in sound level) which adversely
affects the child's educational performance.

This definition simply means that a deaf person is one whose hearing is
so defective that it negatively affects such a person's educational
performance. Thus such a person cannot listen to, understand, and
respond to, verbal instructions - unless specially helped.

Adima et al (1988) supported the American Public Law definition by

saying that deafness simply refers to 'one's inability to hear'.

The two definitions of deafness in American Public Law 94-142 and

Adima et al could aptly be summed up by saying that the deaf are
individuals who cannot under normal circumstances hear sounds at all for
the ordinary purposes of life.

Researchers have however proved that out of everyone hundred 'deaf'

individuals, there is barely one who cannot hear any sounds at all. Thus,
in the real sense of the word, nobody is deaf. This is because almost all
those identified and labelled as 'deaf' have some amount of hearing at a
particular frequency and intensity. This explains why we have now
changed from using the term 'deaf' and say 'hearing impaired' instead.

Hard-of-hearing
Bender (1960) defines hard-of-hearing individuals as:
those in whom the sense of hearing, although defective, is

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 SPECIAL
Unit 4, section 1: Concept of hearing impairment EDUCATION

functional with or without a hearing aid.:

Can you recall the corresponding Akan term for the 'hard-of-hearing?'
What about in your own dialect?

In sum, we can say that individuals (especially children) are hard-of-

hearing when their hearing levels adversely affect their educational
performance.

Do you think we always have some hard-of-hearing children in our

regular schools? Give reasons for your answer.

Now let us see how hearing impaired individuals are 'classified.

Classification of hearing impairment

Hearing impaired individuals are classified into two main groups on the
basis of the age of onset (age of onset refers to the age at which the
individual acquired the hearing impairment). The two groups are:
 those born hearing impaired
 those born with normal hearing, but who acquired hearing loss later
in life either through illness or accident

Apart from the two main groups into which hearing impairment can be
classified, there are also different types of hearing impairment.

Types of hearing impairment

In connection with clinical diagnosis and medical treatment hearing
impairment can be classified into four main types depending on the site
of lesion:
 conductive hearing impairment
 sensorineural hearing impairment
 central hearing impairment
 mixed hearing impairment

The four main types of hearing impairment listed above correspond with
the major parts into which the ear is divided (see figure 1.1)

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SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 4, section 1: Concept of hearing impairment

figure 1.1 The ear

The pinna and the external auditory meatus form the outer ear. The
middle ear comprises three tiny bones or ossicles (the malleus, incus,
stapes) and the Eustachian tube. The tympanic membrane or ear drum
separates the outer from the middle ear. The inner ear is made up of the
cochlea and the auditory nerves.
We shall take each of the four main types of hearing impairment and
explain it in relation to the parts of the ear as in figure 1.1. Can you
recollect and list the four main types of hearing impairment?

Conductive hearing impairment

This is a hearing loss caused by an obstruction or blockage in the outer or
middle ears. Such an obstruction totally or partially prevents sound waves
from reaching the inner ear.

Conductive hearing loss may come about as a result of anyone, some, or

all of the following:
 too much wax or the presence of a foreign matter such as seeds,
beads, or an eraser or the like in the external auditory meatus
 perforation of the tympanic membrane (see figure 1.2). This means a
break in the tympanic membrane so that the membrane is not able to
vibrate efficiently to conduct sound waves into the middle ear.
 the absence of any of the pinna, malleus, incus or stapes is another
cause of conductive hearing impairment. Since these parts of the ear
function in concert, and conduct sound waves to the inner ear, the
absence of anyone of them will break the chain.

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 SPECIAL
Unit 4, section 1: Concept of hearing impairment EDUCATION

figure 1.2 Perforated tympanic membrane

Sensorineural hearing impairment

This involves a hearing loss in the inner ear as a result of:
 mal-development of the inner ear
 damage through accidents, illness or disease

So far, there is no known effective treatment for sensorineural hearing

impairment.

Central hearing impairment

This is a hearing loss resulting from impairment of the central nervous
system (specifically, the temporal lobe of the brain). If the brain is
damaged, sound impulses transmitted to it cannot be interpreted -
resulting in central hearing impairment and deafness.

Mixed hearing impairment

This is a hearing loss involving a combination of any two or all of the
conductive, sensorineural, and central hearing impairment.

From our discussions so far, it is clear that the failure of any of the three
major parts of the ear (that is, the outer, middle and inner ear) to function
normally and regularly can, and usually does, result in hearing
impairment.

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Activity 1.1
1. Find out and explain some of the traditional terms used to describe the
hearing impaired in your area.

2. Who are the hard-of-hearing? What is the Akan traditional term for
such individuals?

3. On what basis are hearing impaired individuals classified?

Briefly explain what is meant by:

a. conductive hearing loss.

b. sensorineural hearing loss.

Summary
In this section we have explained and defined the concept of hearing
impairment. We gave the traditional and clinical explanations of hearing
impairment.

We have also discussed the classification and types of hearing

impairment.

Suggested answers to activity 1.1

1. In answering this, indicate and explain whether the term refers to
'hearing impaired' (deaf) or 'dumb'. Also show why such terms are
given to these people.
2. Hard-of-hearing are those individuals who have some problems with
their hearing so that one has to shout loudly before they can hear,
understand and use speech language intelligibly. The Akan traditional
term for them is asomuden.

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Unit 4, section 1: Concept of hearing impairment EDUCATION

3. Hearing impaired individuals are classified into two groups on the

basis of the age of onset:
 those born with normal hearing but who acquire hearing loss later
in life either through illness or accident
 those born with their hearing impairment
a. The outer and middle ear are responsible for conductive hearing
loss.
b. The inner ear is responsible for sensorineural hearing loss. The
outer and middle ears conduct sound waves into the inner ear.

References
Adima et al, Fundamentals of special education, Heinemann
Educational Books (Nigeria), Ibadan, 1988

Adima et al, Introduction to special education, Heinemann Educational

Books (Nigeria), Ibadan, 1988

Charles, C. M. and Malian, Ida M, The special student, C V Mosby,

Toronto, 1980

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SPECIAL
UNIT 4 SECTION
EDUCATION 2
Unit 4,CHARACTERISTICS OF
section 2: Characteristics of THE HEARING
the hearing IMPAIRED
impaired

Dear reader, you are welcome to this section. We hope you have enjoyed
the previous section on causes of hearing impairment. If you are not very
clear about some of the causes of hearing impairment, read over them
before you continue with this section. This section is much easier to
understand and we are sure you will enjoy it. It introduces you to the
characteristics of the hearing impaired individual. It deals with three
levels of hearing impairment: the mildly hearing impaired, the
moderately hearing impaired and the severely hearing impaired.

We hope that when you have finished this section, you will be more
confident at identifying people with these problems and will be able to
help them to learn more effectively in the classroom. Many teachers who
have little knowledge about this declare people with hearing problems to
be stupid. This is because many teachers cannot manage them in the
classroom.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

 identify the mildly hearing impaired
 describe the characteristics of the mildly hearing impaired
 describe the characteristics of the moderately hearing impaired
 differentiate between the mildly and the moderately hearing impaired
 describe the characteristics of the severely hearing impaired
 specify the main difference between the moderately and the severely
hearing impaired

We hope you will find this section helpful to you as a classroom teacher.

The mildly hearing impaired

Parents of children with mild hearing impairment are slow to recognise
the problem and to seek the help that the child needs. This condition is
often ignored because it is not severe. The child's behaviour is often
accepted as normal and parents presume the child will catch up in the
next few years.

What is the degree of impairment of individuals who are mildly hearing

impaired?

A hearing disorder is defined according to the degree of hearing loss,

which is arrived at by assessing an individual's hearing level with an
audiometer. An audiometer is an electronic device used for measuring a
person's hearing level. The unit which is used to measure sound intensity
is the decibel (dB): the range of human hearing is approximately 0-140
dB. Sounds louder than 140 dB are extremely painful to the ear.

Any person with normal hearing can hear quiet sounds whose intensity is
between 0-25 dB. Anybody who cannot hear within this range has a

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Unit 4, section 2: Characteristics of the hearing impaired EDUCATION

hearing loss. This hearing problem ranges from mild to profound. An

individual with a threshold of hearing in the range 25-40 dB has a mild
hearing loss. Such a person is often referred to as 'hard-of-hearing'. A
hard-of-hearing person has some amount of hearing, sufficient to enable
the person to speak and understand spoken language with or without the
use of a hearing aid. Such a person is very close to the normal, so the
person is neither considered to have normal hearing nor to be deaf.

A person with a mild hearing loss has a difficulty with faint sounds and
some difficulty in understanding speech during a conversation. The hard-
of-hearing understand speech when:
 it is loud
 they are close to the speaker
 they can see the face of the speaker while the speaker is talking

Why is it important for them to see the speaker's face?

Such people supplement their little hearing with lip reading. They look at
the lip movements of the speaker which help them to understand what the
speaker is saying. You will agree that even people with normal hearing
need to see the speaker's face before they can easily understand what is
being said. In the case of the mildly hearing impaired, if the speaker's
face is not visible they do not understand all that is said.

Identifying mildly hearing impaired

In the classroom situation, an individual with this type of hearing loss
may miss as much as 50% of what is being discussed if voices are faint
and the speaker's face invisible. This results in poor academic
performance.

Such people may also have a limited vocabulary and may show speech
anomalies. Since they cannot hear very well, they cannot imitate what
others say and in this way build up their stock of words.

As a result, there are many errors in their speech. Any child whose
language development pattern is slow deserves attention: the child could
have a mild hearing loss. Such children perform poorly in class and they
often ask for a repetition of what the teacher has said. They often
misunderstand instructions. If they are instructed to do one thing, they do
something different.

Some individuals normally turn one of their ears in the direction of the
speaker. This is an indication that one ear is better than the other and the
person depends on the better ear to hear with. Children who have
discharges from one ear have mild hearing problems and they depend
more on the better ear. Mild hearing problems are best identified when

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EDUCATION Unit 4, section 2: Characteristics of the hearing impaired

children are observed over a period of time. There is always a suspicion

that something is wrong with the child who has a mild hearing loss but it
is often attributed to immaturity. An observer who is familiar with the
child gets to know whether the child is immature or has a hearing
problem. The mildly hearing impaired person has a hearing problem
which is not severe enough to receive attention. The handicap in this
situation is less obvious and has little effect on the individual's life. With
a little professional assistance, such individuals can cope with normal
life.

Activity 2.1
Find out either in your institution or at home any individual who has a
mild hearing loss and write down four characteristics of this person.

The moderately hearing impaired

Individuals who are moderately hearing impaired are also termed hard-of-
hearing. They have some ability to hear and this enables them to speak
and understand spoken language with or without a hearing aid.

The moderately hearing impaired differ from the mildly hearing impaired
in the degree of impairment. The threshold of hearing of the moderately
hearing impaired ranges from 40-60 dB. The person with a mild hearing
loss can hear and speak better than the one with a moderate loss. The
moderately hearing impaired are often wrongly identified with those who
are severely hearing impaired. This leads to social isolation.

Generally people feel that the moderately hearing impaired are deaf: so
they are ignored during discussions. The moderately hearing impaired fall
between the normal hearing world and the world of those who are
severely hearing impaired. They are therefore not sure of where they
belong. This creates adjustment problems for them. They encounter all
the difficulties encountered by the mildly hearing impaired in a more
severe form.

What are some of the problems encountered by the moderately hearing

impaired?

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Unit 4, section 2: Characteristics of the hearing impaired EDUCATION

Individuals who are moderately hearing impaired have frequent difficulty

in understanding speech during normal conversation. They can only hear
speech that is loud. They often ask for a repetition of what is said. There
is no doubt that they have difficulty in understanding what others say
during group discussions. Individuals with this type of problem have
defective speech because they exhibit language delays, articulation
problems and omission of consonant sounds. They also have a limited
vocabulary and speak as if they were immature.

In addition they perform poorly in reading. The ability to read, which

depends upon language skill, improves one's academic performance. The
moderately hearing impaired therefore perform poorly in class since they
cannot hear and imitate the teacher.

'Speech and language skills are the areas of development most severely
affected in those with a hearing disorder' (Hardman et al, 1990). They
tend to speak softly or shout because, since they cannot hear their own
voice level, they cannot judge whether they are speaking too loudly or too
softly. The moderately hearing impaired are frequently cut off from
verbal communication and they grow up in isolation.

Although individuals with a moderate loss cannot hear unvoiced sounds

and distant speech, language delays can be prevented if the hearing loss is
diagnosed and treated early (Ling and Ling, 1978). With professional
assistance, they can cope with normal hearing people.

Activity 2.2
Write down five problems encountered by the moderately hearing
impaired in the world of people with normal hearing.

The severely hearing impaired

The threshold of hearing of individuals who have severe hearing
problems ranges from 60-80 dB (see figure 3.1). This group is generally
labelled as deaf although some of them are hard-of-hearing. The

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moderately hearing impaired are more able to speak and understand

spoken language than those who are severely impaired.

figure 3.1: The threshold of hearing varies for different degrees of

hearing impairment.

A person who has a severe hearing loss frequently has difficulty with
even loud speech. The person cannot understand speech in any form.
People who are severely hearing impaired cannot communicate verbally
so it is easy to identify them. Some of them may hear loud voices that are
close to them.

The severely hearing impaired may be able to distinguish vowels but not
all consonants. They find the unvoiced consonants extremely difficult to
articulate. They also have faulty speech which becomes worse later in
life. This is because if the reserve hearing is not put to good use, it fades
away and the individual loses the ability to speak. Sign language becomes
their mode of communication. Some of them can communicate verbally
because their problem was identified early in life and they had
professional assistance.

In our system of education, the severely hearing impaired are mainly

educated in special schools.

Some of this group of children, however, are also found in ordinary

schools: either because they not identified in time or because their parents
do not know about special schools. They receive a reduced amount of
auditory information which is also distorted compared with the input
received by those with normal hearing. Compared to normal hearers, the
vocabulary of the severely hearing impaired is simple and limited. Their
sentences are generally short - resembling those of less mature children.
The severely hearing impaired cannot read unless they have professional
assistance. Since our system of education depends primarily on the
spoken word, the academic achievement of the severely hearing impaired
shows a significant delay in comparison to their hearing peers. Their
academic performance is therefore poor. They are also unable to interact
well with hearing people and they are often found with individuals who

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have similar problems. In our society, we often label the severely hearing
impaired as people who are aggressive and extra strong.

Activity 2.3
Find out why the severely hearing impaired may be aggressive. This may
take you some time: record your findings here from time to time.

The severely hearing impaired often become angry with their hearing
counterparts because they do not understand what hearing people say.
This is due to their inability to use spoken language. A deaf person is like
any other person except that the deaf has a hearing problem.

Summary
In this section we have looked at the characteristics of the mildly,
moderately and the severely hearing impaired. The threshold of hearing
of the various degrees of hearing loss are:
Mild 25 to 40 dB
Moderate 40 to 60 dB
Severe 60 to 80 dB

People with mild hearing impairments are closer to those with normal
hearing. They therefore do not face great problems in life: with hearing
aids they can cope with confidence.

People with moderate hearing impairments have poor levels of hearing.

They face more problems in a talking environment. They depend on
hearing aids and lip reading to understand spoken language. They also
find some consonant sounds very difficult to articulate.

The severely hearing impaired are those considered deaf. They use signs
as their mode of communication and they find spoken language
extremely difficult.

Any type of hearing impairment can affect the verbal communication and
the academic performance of the individual.

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Suggested answers to activities

Activity 2.1
The four characteristics of the mildly hearing impaired are:
a. they often ask for a repetition of what is said.
b. they exhibit poor academic performance.
c. they often watch the speaker's face before speech can be understood.
d. they understand speech when it is loud.

Activity 2.2
The five problems encountered by the moderately hearing impaired are:
a. they cannot articulate unvoiced consonants.
b. they are often isolated.
c. they cannot read.
d. their academic performance is poor because they miss a great deal of
class discussions.
e. they find it difficult to understand normal conversation.

Activity 2.3
The severely hearing impaired are aggressive because they do not
understand what others say. This is due to their lack of verbal
communication skills.

References
Hardman et al, Human exceptionality, Allyn and Bacon, London, 1990,
chapter 9

Karlin et al, Development and disorders of speech in childhood, Charles

C Thomas, 1977

Kauffman et al, Exceptional children: introduction to special education,

Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1978, chapter 6

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UNIT 4 SECTION
EDUCATION 3
Unit 4IDENTIFYING HEARING
section 3: Identifying hearingIMPAIRED INDIVIDUALS
impaired individuals

Welcome to this section. We hope you now have a fair knowledge of the
characteristics of people with hearing problems. If you are not sure of
them, take a few minutes to read over section three of this unit to get a
firm idea of them.

This section introduces you to the identification of the hearing impaired.

It contains three main topics; the definition and explanation of hearing
impairment, the identification processes of hearing impairment and the
services for identifying hearing impairment. We hope that this section
will help you become more confident in spotting people with hearing
problems and will enable you to offer them the assistance they need. This
section is easy to understand and we are sure you will enjoy it as much as
you did the previous one. You will find this section useful to you as a
teacher.

By the end of this section you will be able to:

 explain what is meant by hearing impairment
 differentiate between the deaf and the hard-of-hearing
 identify people with hearing problems
 contact professionals who could help in identifying the hearing
impaired
 describe how the hearing impaired are identified
 describe services in Ghana for the identification process

Definition and explanation of hearing impaired

Activity 3.1
Write down what you understand by hearing impairment.

Compare your answer with the definition of hearing impairment in

section one of this unit.

We shall look at this concept once more in this section. Hearing

impairment is a broad term indicating a disability in hearing that may
range in severity from mild to profound. The term refers to any individual
who has a hearing loss that requires special assistance, (such as a hearing
aid) or educational adaptation (modification).

It includes people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. The hearing

impaired are made up of two distinct classes based entirely on the time at
which the loss of hearing occurred.

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These two classes are are:

 The congenitally deaf - those who were born deaf
 The adventitiously deaf - those who were born with normal hearing
but in whom the sense of hearing became non-functional later in life
through illness or accident

Deafness involves an obstruction of the auditory system with

the result that normal perception of sound is impeded
(Myklebust, 1964).

The deaf, therefore, are those in whom the sense of hearing is non-
functional for the purposes of ordinary living.

Deafness, as defined by the rules and regulations of Public Law 94-142

means:
a hearing impairment which is so severe that the child is
impaired in processing linguistic information through
hearing, with or without amplification which adversely
affects educational performance (Federal Register, 1977).

The deaf child is one whose hearing loss is so severe that even with
powerful hearing aids the child still depends on signs and gestures as a
means for communication. Thus a child who suffers hearing loss in the
first two or three years in life, and as a result does not acquire spoken
language naturally, is considered deaf. The deaf cannot use their sense of
hearing as a source for acquiring new information.

For persons described as hard-of-hearing, the sense of hearing is faulty

but it remains somewhat functional. Hard-of-hearing is:
a term used to categorise individuals with a sense of hearing
that is defective but somewhat functional (Hardman et al,
1990).

People who are described as hard-of-hearing have some reserve hearing

and with the use of a hearing aid they can function normally. Such people
were born with normal hearing but they developed a hearing problem
later in life. They continue to use the speech and language acquired
although it is a bit faulty.

A hard-of-hearing child refers to one who has impaired hearing, but is

still able to develop speech and communicate with others through
hearing. Likewise a person who loses all ability to detect sound after
having learned language is hard -of-hearing if the person's speech
remains understandable.

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Activity 3.2
Make a case study of two people in your environment. One should be
deaf and the other hard-of-hearing. Report on their characteristics. Write
your reports to your notebook.

Identification process of hearing impairment

Hearing impairment is a handicap which is invisible (cannot be seen). So
it is quite difficult to identify hearing impaired people especially during
childhood. Many hearing impaired people are identified when they grow
up and at that stage they cannot communicate effectively through verbal
language.

There are certain clues that may indicate hearing impairment in a child.
An adequate history and a careful study of a child's behavioural patterns
often alert the investigator that a hearing loss may be present. Facial
expression, focus of the eyes, nodding or shaking the head all serve to
indicate if the child can understand spoken language through hearing. The
absence of these factors provides clues to the presence of a hearing loss in
a child. Also, hearing problems often result in a change in behaviour.
Thus the child may listen with the head tilted toward one side or the child
may be restless and inattentive. Some children become exceptionally
quiet when a hearing loss sets in.

Parents should be alerted to a hearing problem if babies at the age of 6-12

months fail to turn their heads when their names are called, or fail to react
to human voices and other sounds in the house. Also, if around this age a
baby does not indulge in babbling, it could be a sign of a hearing loss.

Babbling is a preparation of the speech mechanisms for speech. Since

deaf babies cannot hear themselves when they babble, they soon give it
up and in the process give up learning to use spoken language.

That apart, any child or baby who becomes very quiet, especially after
some illness, should have their hearing tested. The illness might have
resulted in a hearing loss. The individual therefore is cut off from verbal
communication and lives in isolation.

Activity 3.3
Mention three childhood diseases that can cause hearing impairment.

If you are not sure of the diseases, read over the causes of deafness in
section two of this unit.

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Usually children with severe loss of hearing are identified by the age of
three years due to their lack of speech and language. Most children who
cannot communicate verbally at this age have a hearing loss.

Parents who are observant can use environmental sounds much earlier to
obtain clues of hearing being normal or faulty. If a baby has been
observed on a number of occasions to continue to sleep undisturbed in the
presence of sudden loud noise (such as the slamming of a door, barking
of a dog, ringing of a bell) their hearing should be tested. Such babies
may have a hearing loss.

Furthermore, if children are easily startled (shocked) whenever someone

comes into view or can only be calmed when they see their mother - and
not when she is talking, but is out of sight - it is likely that a hearing loss
is present. Such children depend mainly upon their eyes - this is a sign of
a hearing problem. Besides, chronic earache, tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
and ear discharge in a child may ultimately lead to a hearing loss. Such
children should have their hearing tested and should be assisted to use
verbal language.

In addition, a child who frequently misunderstands verbal instructions,

often asks for a repetition of what is said or turns one particular ear to the
speaker may be suffering from a hearing loss.

Individuals who understand speech only when they can see the speaker's
face have a hearing problem. Such people lip read the speaker to
supplement their faulty hearing.

Children who perform poorly in reading or dictation could have hearing

problems. Such children do not hear their teacher well which often results
in poor academic performance. Such children should have their hearing
tested so that the necessary assistance can begin. All these symptoms, and
others, should warn parents and teachers of the presence of a hearing
problem in a child.

Services for identifying hearing impairment

The identification of individuals with hearing impairment may occur at
any point: infancy, the pre-school years or the first years of formal
schooling. The identification may be made by anyone who comes into
contact with the child during the early years of development. These
people include the obstetrician, the paediatrician, the paediatric nurse, the
public health nurse, the dentist, the social worker and the early childhood
educator. Within their specialist areas of knowledge, each person has the
opportunity to pinpoint any deviation in the child from normal
development (Fallen et al, 1978). The obstetrician may become aware of
an abnormality as early as the first few months of pregnancy. The

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obstetrician is able to recognise the possibility of a hearing loss at the

moment of birth. Among the conditions that will alert the obstetrician to
the possibility of a hearing loss for the infant are maternal diseases such
as German measles, anoxia, forceps delivery, prolonged stressful labour,
prematurity and low birth weight. An at-risk register is opened for such
infants. Their developmental patterns are closely monitored and, if a
hearing impairment is discovered, interventional measures are planned
for them. Due to lack of equipment and inadequate personnel, hearing
impairments are often not identified early enough in Ghana.

Another professional who contributes greatly in the identification of

hearing impairment is the professional trained in the science of hearing
measurement. The work of the audiologist includes audiometric testing
to determine hearing ability, recommending procedures for the
improvement of a hearing loss and counselling services.

Activity 3.4
Enquire from the peripatetic teacher in your district and write down three
places in Ghana where there are audiological services for people with
hearing problems.

In addition to these professionals, the social worker (social welfare) plays

an important role in the identification of hearing impaired children.
According to Fallen et al (1978), social workers are in a good position to
detect abnormalities (as well as inappropriate

environments) because they are firsthand observers of the home

background. Parents of children with abnormalities are referred for the
necessary assistance.

Another professional, the peripatetic teacher, plays a key role in the

identification of handicapped children.

What work do peripatetic teachers do?

Peripatetic teachers are specialists in the education of handicapped

children. They work in our district and regional education offices.

Their work is to identify handicapped children and recommend

'appropriate placement' for them. When they identify such children, they
direct their parents to places where they can get help in bringing up the
children. Through public education and the screening of children,
peripatetic teachers are able to identify children with hearing problems,

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visual problems and mental problems. Parents who suspect a disability in

their child should go to the peripatetic teacher for help.

Specialist teachers in special schools also help in the identification of

hearing impaired children. Apart from teaching, they mount mass
educational programmes on the identification of individuals with
disabilities and on the causes and prevention of hearing problems. Parents
who suspect hearing problems in their children can send them to these
teachers if they know no other professionals in this field who they can ask
for help.

In addition, the medical doctor is usually the first person to be contacted

by parents who suspect that their child may be hearing impaired. In some
cases, the problems can be treated and eliminated through medication.
The doctor often refers people with hearing problems to the audiologist
for testing. After the test the audiologist in turn refers them to the doctor
for medication. The professionals work together as a team. The medical
doctor therefore identifies many of the people with hearing problems.
Also, there are Assessment and resource centres in some parts of the
country for the identification of children with disabilities. Parents who
suspect that their child has a problem take them to these centres for help.

Workers in the Assessment Centres are specialists and they recommend

'appropriate placement' for each child after assessment. They also refer
some children to audiology clinics for further testing.

Summary
In this section we have discussed hearing impairment. It is a broad term
used to describe all those having hearing problems that affect them in
some way. People having hearing problems are put into two groups. They
are the deaf and the hard-of-hearing. We also looked at symptoms of
hearing loss. Typical symptoms are: if a child cannot use and understand
spoken language by age three; if a child watches the speaker's face before
speech can be understood; or if the child turns one ear towards the
speaker.

We also examined the available services for the identification of the

hearing impaired. They are usually identified by medical doctors,
peripatetic teachers, social workers, audiologists, specialist teachers in the
schools and at the Assessment Centres. We are however faced with the
problem of lack of equipment and inadequate personnel: so many
children with hearing problems are not identified. As a result, they grow
up with the handicap without assistance. This is where your contribution
is so important: in the absence of professional personnel you will have to
take their place and make sure that hearing impaired children receive the
best possible assistance and support.

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References
Birch et al, Designing schools and schooling for the handicapped,
Charles C Thomas, 1975, p74-79

Derry, S E, Educafrica, part III, UNESCO, Dakar, 1981, p63-75 Hallahan

and Kauffman, Exceptional children introduction to special education,
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1978, chapter 6

Hardman et al, Human exceptionality, Allyn and Bacon, London, 1990,

chapter 9

Myklebust, H, The psychology of deafness, Grune and Stratton, New

York, 1964

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UNIT 4 SECTION
EDUCATION 4
Unit 4MANAGEMENT OF THE
section 4: Management of theHEARING IMPAIRED
hearing impaired

Before you start on section 4, let us revise briefly what you learnt in
section 3 on the implications of hearing impairment for classroom
teaching. What did you learn? In brief you learnt how the hearing
impaired can be integrated into the regular school and classroom where
all children have equal opportunity to learn together and share
experiences. In addition, the hearing impaired can relate socially with
non-handicapped people in the mainstream. The teacher's task is to plan
for the whole class, and meet the needs and interests of all.

By the end of this section you should be able to:

 identify assessment procedures
 explain the rationale for certain procedures during the assessment
sessions
 describe educational services: particularly those available in Ghana
 be able to cope with undesirable attitudes of the hearing impaired
inside and outside the classroom

Curriculum for the hearing impaired

Curriculum could be defined in many ways: from a mere reference to
subjects on the timetable to a detailed account of everything that happens
in the school (McCornick and James, 1990). We will simply say that the
curriculum involves the courses on the timetable, textbooks used as
references, other learning activities and the assessments of academic and
social performances from the start of schooling. This will be in addition
to any other school activities such as guidance and counselling given to
the children to direct them on choice of courses for their future career.

Subject studies
As teachers we are all aware that subjects studied in schools are the same
all over the country: hence all children take the same examinations at the
end of junior secondary school (JSS) and senior secondary school (SSS).
A survey of the subjects studied from the primary to the senior secondary
school reveals the following:
 English language is compulsory at primary, JSS and SSS
 Ghanaian language is studied at all three levels; however, whereas it
is compulsory at both primary and JSS, it is elective at SSS
 French is studied at both JSS and SSS, although in both cases it is
elective

You will recall from section 5 that most hearing impaired children have
difficulty with spoken language. You can therefore imagine the strain that
is put on them in the study of both Ghanaian Language and English
language in primary and 1SS. It is probably for this reason that they are
spared the agony of learning French in addition to English. English
language is taken to enable them cope with learning the other subjects
since English is the medium of instruction at JSS and SSS.

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Educational guidance and counselling

The second part of the curriculum for the hearing impaired is the
guidance and counselling they need on an individual basis. Educational
guidance and counselling is a systematic programme of helping and
advising pupils in all activities. It is a programme of supervision and
assistance to pupils to direct them on how and when to study and in their
choice of subjects. It even includes advice on their future career, and in
the choice of type of hearing aids to wear.

The likelihood that two adults, both hearing impaired and both with a
hereditary factor for deafness in their families, will have a deaf baby
cannot be doubted. To reduce this risk, the hearing impaired are given
counselling on choice of partners. You must bear in mind that educational
guidance and counselling is a continuous process. After the child has
been counselled on the choice of subjects, it is necessary to monitor how
the child performs at classwork and at terminal examinations. As a result
of this monitoring, the Individualised Educational Programme (IEP) that
has been prepared according to the child's interests and aptitudes can be
modified periodically in the direction of the demands of the ever-
changing situation.

Continuous assessment
Continuous assessment is simply the aggregate of the children's
performances over a given period. The assessment is done at
predetermined short intervals. Continuous assessment of the hearing
impaired must cover their health records, their social and emotional
behaviour, their physical development and their relationships with friends
at school and at home. Continuous assessment helps the teacher to reflect
on the teaching methods used so that a decision can be taken whether the
approach needs modification or not: and the child is helped to know what
progress has been made and where future effort is needed. Continuous
assessment allows parents to see how their child is progressing so that
they can provide appropriate support. Continuous assessment is important
in deciding whether the guidance and counselling programme given to a
particular child is effective or not. The success of the school programme
does not rest only on the child being continuously assessed but also, as
you know, on the teacher's ability to help: this is the next topic we shall
discuss.

Teacher competencies
Teacher competencies are simply the capability and suitability, skill,
knowledge and experience that the teacher needs to meet the needs of the
children. Teachers of hearing impaired children need to have special
teaching skills. Let us summarise these skills as given by Heward et al
(1988). The teacher must be able to:
 gather information during assessment and use it to develop the
Individualised Educational Programme (IEP)

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 develop materials for teaching

 deal with crises calmly and efficiently
 know how to relate socially with the children
 teach individuals and small groups of children with different levels of
functioning
 help children develop positive attitudes to activities and develop a
good idea about themselves

Activity 4.1
a. State what 'curriculum' means.

b. Why does the hearing impaired child need educational guidance and
counselling?

c. IEP stands for

d. State the importance of IEP.

e. State four skills or competencies required of the teacher of the

hearing impaired.

Educational programmes for the hearing impaired

Although hearing impaired children follow almost the same curriculum as
their hearing counterparts, they need some extra support from teachers to
help them learn better. Examples of such teacher support are individual
attention and the use of equipment such as hearing aids. They also need
concrete things (e.g., toys, pictures, overhead projectors or other visual
aids) which are more meaningful to them. They also need educational

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services, placement, speech/language therapy and vocational training. You

will be reading more about these topics and their importance later on.

Educational services
When we talk of educational services, we mean the type of services we
give to the hearing impaired children at school. These services include
audiological assessment, medical referral and review, amplification
devices and guidance on the type of communication to use.

Audiological assessment deals with the use of equipment for measuring

the levels of hearing. A child with a hearing problem needs an
audiological assessment to find out how serious the problem is. A set of
equipment is used to measure the child's hearing level and assess the
condition of each ear. A normal ear, that is one without any problem, can
hear very faint levels of sounds (around 0 dB to 25 dB). The abbreviation
dB stands for decibel which is a standard unit of measurement of
intensity or loudness level of sound. Anyone who cannot hear within the
range of 0 dB to 25 dB will be suspected of having a hearing problem and
so will be referred for detailed assessment. A person's hearing can be
graphed with the intensity of sound (dB) on the vertical side of the graph
and the frequency (Hz) on the horizontal side. In figure 6.1 we reproduce
a graph that indicates the levels of hearing for each ear. The threshold of
hearing for each ear as shown on the graph is called an audiogram.

figure 4.1 An audiogram showing left and right ear responses for a normal and
pathological ear. Note that the vertical scale is inverted with small
numbers at the top and larger numbers below.

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Besides the audiogram, an otoscope, (a device used to look into the outer
and middle ear) is used to assess the condition of these areas. Apart from
reflecting light from the otoscope, a normal ear will have an intact ear
drum and will not discharge any fluid. Any redness of the middle ear
indicates infection.

The middle ear may be further assessed for the following:

 the presence of fluid
 the condition of the three ossicles: whether they can move freely or
there is a growth restricting their movement
 whether the ear drum is perforated

The equipment used to assess these conditions is the tympanometer

which traces the nature of the middle ear on a graph. A graph showing the
condition of the outer and middle ears is called a tympanograph (figure
4.2).

figure 4.2 Tympanograph - left ear

We can also conduct speech tests to supplement the above results. In a

speech test, meaningful words are used to test the clients' ability to hear,
understand and differentiate between words or sentences. While the
testing is going on we should watch out for children who ask for a

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repetition of what is being said, do not turn their ear towards the source of
sound or do not act in accordance with the information given. These are
just a few clues to bad hearing. Although these assessments do not
provide quantitative results, they may confirm a suspicion that there is a
hearing problem.

Medical referral and review

Referral here means sending a child with ear problems to a medical
doctor (or otologist) for treatment. Children are referred when we
discover fluid or foreign objects (like beans, or stones) in their ear.

A review is a revision or critical examination after an initial assessment.

The purpose is to reassess the condition and either change or modify the
treatment initiated. For example, a review is necessary after an infection
of the ear is detected and treated. The purpose of a review may be to
check if the infection still exists or has completely gone after treatment. A
review is also done during reassessment of the hearing level to check if
the hearing has improved after the first assessment.

Amplification devices
The remaining hearing level, usually referred to as residual hearing,
needs to be improved with a device that increases sound. The instruments
used to make sounds louder in the ear are usually described according to
how they are worn. These are the body-worn hearing aid which is worn
on the body; the behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aid which, as its name
implies, is worn behind the ear; the in-the-ear (ITE) or in-the-canal (ITC)
hearing aid which is worn inside the ear; and FM systems for personal or
classroom use. The ITC is smaller than the ITE and it all fits into the ear
canal.

figure 4.3 Types of hearing aids

Types of communication
Communication is the transfer of information to someone.
Communication can be in the form of speaking, gesturing, drumming and
drawing. The hearing impaired in Ghana use two main types of
communication: oral communication and total communication.

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Oral communication is the speech or verbal expression we use when we

speak. Total communication is a combination of speech and manual
methods. By the manual method we mean using the fingers to express
oneself through signs accepted by the deaf community. Examples of
manual approaches are the British Sign Language (BSL) and the
American Sign Language (ASL).

figure 4.4 Sign language: North American manual alphabet

Another way hearing impaired people express themselves is finger

spelling. This is writing the letters of the alphabet in the air, on paper
(using a pen or a pencil) or on a chalkboard. Most schools in Ghana have
now turned to total communication because hearing aids for personal or

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group use are not available. The problem is made worse by the noisy
environment of most of our schools. Bare classroom walls and ceilings
and a noisy environment work against the maximum benefit the user of a
hearing aid can derive.

A less commonly used type of communication by hearing impaired

people is cued speech. Cued speech is a method that supplements speech.
Hand shapes or signals are used near the chin to help the deaf person to
identify sounds that cannot be distinguished through speech reading.
Speech reading (or lip reading) is the skilful watching of the lips for
visual speech information. Lip reading supplements oral communication.
Similarly, cued speech goes with speech and is not used alone.

In cued speech we use eight different hand shapes to represent the

consonants and four different locations to show the vowels (Heward et al,
1988).

We can summarise by saying that cued speech enables the hearing

impaired person to 'see' the spoken language by adding visual cues.

In conclusion, we must stress that in the management of the hearing

impaired we need regular reassessment of educational services as
conditions could improve or deteriorate so that different ways of helping
the child will have to be considered.

Activity 4.2
1. List the amplification devices used by hearing impaired individuals.

2. In a sentence, state why almost all the schools in Ghana have now
turned to total communication.

What we mean by placement

By placement we mean the type of school that the parents would want the
child to go to. In Ghana most handicapped children go to special schools
which have boarding facilities and free feeding. Parents whose children
have been diagnosed as hearing impaired can choose a special school for
their children. The idea of giving parents the option of choosing which
school their children should attend is fairly new in Ghana. The

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Community Based Rehabilitation programme (CBR) was introduced in

1992 by UNESCO with the aim of integrating handicapped children into
normal schools: so parents can now choose to send their children either to
regular schools or to special schools.

A specialised type of school, where deaf children attend school together

with non-handicapped children and are taught by regular as well as
specialist teachers, is called a unit. Two such schools are at Kibi and
Koforidua. At the Koforidua Unit- both hearing impaired and mentally
retarded children are found integrated with non-handicapped children.

Most special schools in Ghana are located in large towns, far away from
the remote areas where most of the handicapped children live. Distance,
and the cost of transport, prohibit rural disabled children from attending
such schools. To minimise this problem, the CBR programme has made it
possible for all special needs children to enter regular schools where
resource teachers or specialists in the field of special education can meet
the needs of such children (Gadagbui, 1995).

Speech/language therapy
Speech therapy is the correction of speech faults of a handicapped child.
For example, the child may omit some sounds, or use another sound to
replace the correct one. Some speech/language problems are found with
normal hearing children in regular schools, but the most serious problems
are found with the hearing impaired. When problems of speech are
detected by the parent or the class teacher, the children are referred to a
speech therapist who carries out a more detailed examination. The speech
therapist collects information about the child's condition through informal
observation and during routine visits. The therapist then plans appropriate
speech training for the child. During the training session, the parents are
required to be present since they are considered as co-teachers who will
continue to support the child in speaking.

During these visits parents are counselled about how to communicate

with the child and cope with the condition. They learn to speak to the
child by encouraging lip reading. They are also taught how to make the
child develop an interest in speech by initiating conversation: perhaps
about an interesting event, or an object or toy in the home. When parents,
siblings, neighbours and other interested persons frequently initiate
conversation, they are said to be creating a speaking environment. The
reason for creating a speaking environment is to enable the child with
speech problems to acquire language.

The speech therapist, ideally, holds an average of two sessions per week
until a change in the child's speech and language has taken place. A
session usually lasts for 20-30 minutes for young children (excluding
time for counselling to parents). The length of the session depends on the

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child's ability to cooperate during the session. If the child cooperates and
finds the lesson interesting, the session may extend beyond the normal
20-30 minutes. Change in speech and language may take between six and
twelve months depending on the cooperation of the child, the extent of
the problem, the supporting services (like the use of hearing aids)
available, the motivation from teachers and parents and the child's own
interest in speaking.

For each session, the therapist keeps a record of the child's achievement,
the problems encountered and the recommendations made. Records are
necessary as they help in assessing the progress of the child and help the
clinician to determine how much better or worse the condition is
becoming and whether a different approach to treatment is needed.
During the training session both therapist and client must be comfortably
seated by a table (figure 4.5). The special equipment that gives
amplification during speech training is called a speech training unit.

figure 4.5 Speech and language therapy session

Vocational training, secondary and tertiary education for the hearing

impaired
Hearing impaired students in Ghana can continue their education
according to their aptitude and ability to pass the necessary examination
or satisfy the requirements of the institution of their choice. The hearing
impaired do not receive any special consideration in this respect. When
they finish the junior secondary course, they can enter the

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secondary/technical school at Mampong-Akwapim where technical and

vocational programmes are offered. Vocational training at this school is
mainly limited to masonry, carpentry, tailoring, leather work,
dressmaking and cooking.

The country is yet to embark on tertiary education for the hearing

impaired on a large scale, though some facilities are available for blind
students at the University of Cape Coast and University of Ghana.

Activity 4.3
1. What vocations are learned by hearing impaired children in senior
secondary schools?

2. With your knowledge of the hearing impaired, what other vocations

would you recommend be taught in senior secondary schools?

Helping the hearing impaired person in the classroom

We have seen that hearing impaired children have speech difficulties and
need to be guided and counselled in all activities. In addition, resource
teachers with teaching skills are needed.

Pupils who have hearing difficulties create other problems like playing
with the hearing aid inside and outside class. They also develop personal
mannerisms such as shuffling their feet on the floor when walking,
uttering sharp screams and disrupting other classes by entering the
classroom at random to request personal items from friends. Some of
them form the habit of answering, "I've forgotten" especially during the
review of previous lessons. Such statements are apparently made because
the children do not grasp the information in the first place. However,
experience over the years reveals that the excuse is deliberate.

Now that I have mentioned some of the problems that hearing impaired
pupils can cause, you may think of others and add to the list. Let us now
think of the implications of these problems for the teacher in the class and
how the teacher should cope with them.

Implications for the teacher in the classroom

We will start with the question of how the teacher should communicate
with the child in the first place. Next, we shall discuss the benefit that the

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child can obtain from using the hearing aid. Then, we will look at the
proper use of time by the children and how they can reduce mannerisms
and undesirable habits associated with the hearing impairment. Finally,
we will consider how the teacher can discourage the use of the statement,
"I've forgotten" among hearing impaired children.

How we can facilitate communication - We all know that communication

is the first problem which teachers, friends and parents of hearing
impaired children face. Our first task, therefore, is to consider how we
can help pupils who have hearing problems to improve in speech and sign
language. This is necessary because speech (or oral language) is what
most people in the society use to transmit information. Sign language is
also important since some deaf children cannot express themselves
efficiently in speech: so when a hearing impaired pupil is proficient in
both types of communication, that pupil is more likely to be able to cope
in any situation. Let us look at some useful hints;
 The classroom has to have good illumination so that the lip reader
can see the speaker's face
 Face the child and maintain face contact
 Speak clearly and naturally at a moderate pace
 Do not shout or exaggerate your lip movement
 Supplement speech by writing down important words that are easy to
miss
 Use objects, photographs, diagrams, facial expressions and gestures
to explain what you say
 Use easy words that are common and avoid using unfamiliar words
 Use words that are simple and can easily be lip read
 Don't chew when you are talking
 If you cannot use sign language, get an interpreter

Benefits of a hearing aid

A hearing aid benefits the wearer because it:
 amplifies the sound level and improves the voice quality heard
 enables the user to be alert to sounds in the environment
 boosts morale: psychologically it brings the user into the
conversational setting which brings socialisation and improved self-
concept
 improves speech by enabling the wearer to discriminate between
sounds which without the aid appear indistinguishable
 enhances language/speech development
 improves job performance in areas that are related to hearing
 improves classroom learning

Breaking undesirable habits

This is the third thing we want to consider. You have already read about
certain undesirable habits of hearing impaired children: for example,

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disrupting other classes by entering at random and requesting personal

items from friends. One way of breaking such habits is to teach the pupils
how to use time well for their own benefit. The pupil must be made aware
that only break periods can be used to collect personal items from friends.
You can put a label, such as Don't enter: lesson in progress on the door
of the classroom. The label can be accompanied by drawings.

We have to make children aware of their foot shuffling. These children

hear badly and therefore do not get feedback of what they say or how
people react to the noise they create. You can demonstrate the right way
to walk and get the children to imitate how you walk. Contrast the right
way to walk with how they shuffle their feet and make a noise.

To try to stop sharp screaming: you can make the children aware of the
problem by demonstrating by noise made by a heavy piece of wood
falling onto the ground. Let the children watch for the reaction among
themselves and comment on it. We can compare this unpleasant noise to
sharp screams which most people do not like. We can also make them
listen to a sharp scream when wearing their hearing aids and comment on
whether they like the sound or not. Most children would not like it: so
such instances can be used to advise them not to scream.
Retaining what is learnt is our final task to discuss. We need to use
concrete objects to help the children to learn. We must use clear simple
sentences and vocabulary that is familiar to the children.

Look back a page or two at the hints we gave about facilitating

communication. Use of pictures, photographs, toys and making the lesson
interesting are necessary to maintain the children's interest. We must
revise the lesson often by repeating the important points. We also have to
involve the children: let them dramatise the lesson where possible.
Besides class or group work, children can do individual exercises based
on the subject - they can be encouraged to talk about it, finger-spell and
sign the responses over and over.

Activity 4.4
1. Summarise undesirable habits common with the hearing impaired.

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2. What are the differences between the body-worn hearing aid and the
BTE?

3. List four ways to facilitate communication with the hearing impaired.

Summary
The course content for the hearing impaired is the same as for hearing
children. Educational services involve audiological assessment,
amplification, placement, speech therapy, guidance and counselling
procedures and constant medical review. We have also seen that some
hearing impaired children can demonstrate undesirable behaviour in how
they use equipment and in personal mannerisms. However, all these
behaviour patterns can be modified to benefit the child both in the
classroom and outside.

Now look back and see whether you have achieved the objectives given
at the beginning of this section. Write down the ones you have achieved
and those you have not achieved.

You can also try to look for a child with hearing impairment near where
you stay. Try to observe some of the behaviour reported in the text and
check if they are similar or different and see if you can add to what is
reported in the text. Good luck.

References
Gadagbui, G Y, Overcoming obstacles in CBR news, the International
newsletter on community-based rehabilitation and the concerns of
disabled people, No 20 May-August, AHRTAG, 1995, p8

Heward, W Land Orlansky, M D, Exceptional children (third edition),

Merrill, Columbus, Ohio, 1988

McCormick, R and James, M, Curriculum evaluation in schools (second

edition), Routledge, London, 1990

Northern, J L and Downs, P M, Hearing in children (fourth edition).

William Wilkins, Baltimore. 1991

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Suggested answers to activities

Activity 4.1
a. Curriculum is all that the child does in school: e.g., courses on the
timetable, textbooks used, assessment of academic and social
performances, games and other recreational activities, guidance and
counselling in choice of courses or vocations.
b. The hearing impaired need educational guidance and counselling
because:
 it includes not only their choice of subjects and career but also
the type of hearing aids to wear and how to use them effectively
 they need to learn the risk involved in marrying a person with
deafness in their family
c. IEP stands for Individualised Educational Programme.
d. IEP is geared towards the preparation of a programme according to
the child's interests and aptitudes at various stages a change is
observed.
e. Competencies required of the teacher to the hearing impaired:
 to get information about the child for IEP preparation
 to develop materials for teaching
 to learn how to deal with crises calmly and effectively
 to be able to satisfy all children with different ability levels
individually in the classroom

Activity 4.2
1. Amplification devices used by hearing impaired individuals:
 body-worn hearing aid
 in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid
 in-the-canal (ITC) hearing aid
 FM systems for personal or classroom use
2. Almost all the schools in Ghana have now turned to total
communication because:
 hearing aids for personal or group use are not available and this
is compounded by siting most schools near major roads or noisy
environments that interfere with the use of the teaching aids
 classroom walls and ceilings are bare and therefore reflect
sounds/speech: this interferes with the functioning of hearing
aids

Activity 4.3
1. Vocations learned by hearing impaired children in senior secondary
schools:
 masonry, tailoring, dressmaking, carpentry, leatherwork
2. Other vocations recommended to be taught in senior secondary
schools:
 liberal arts, photography, science education, business, hotel
management

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Activity 4.4
1. Undesirable habits common with the hearing impaired:
 disrupting other classes in session
 foot shuffling when walking
2. Differences between the body-worn hearing aid and the BTE:
 The body-worn hearing aid is worn on the body and it is bulky
with a cord attached
 The BTE is worn behind the ear and is relatively smaller than
the body-worn aid: it is also without a cord
3. Four ways to facilitate communication with the hearing impaired:
 well illuminated classroom for good lip reading
 use concrete objects, pictures, photographs, gestures and facial
expressions etc to communicate with them
 use familiar/common words that can be understood with ease
 supplement speech with writing on the chalkboard or in the
sand

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5
ON S
TENT

TYPES OF EXCEPTIONALITY

SECTION 1 EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOUR DISORDERS 174

SECTION 2 LEARNING DISABILITIES 184

SECTION 3 THE CONCEPT OF GIFTEDNESS AND TALENTEDNESS 194

SECTION 4 IDENTIFICATION OF THE GIFTED AND TALENTED 200

SECTION 5 MANAGEMENT OF THE GIFTED AND TALENTED 210

the adinkra symbol used in the UEW crest

Mate masie I have heard what you have said

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EDUCATION 5
Unit 1, section 4: Hydroelectric (water) energy

We hope you have enjoyed studying unit 4 of this course which briefed you
comprehensively on the nature of hearing impairment. You are now going to
learn about other types of exceptionalities. These exceptionalities are very
important for any education enterprise because understanding them will help
you, as a teacher, to learn strategies and techniques of teaching these
categories of children which hitherto you might have though you could never
handle. As a teacher you will need to acquire basic knowledge and
understanding of the full range of disabilities. This has been taken care of
throughout this course. You need to know that a single introductory course in
special education does not provide sufficient background for a teacher to
understand all the educational needs and characteristics of each specific pop-
ulation. Additional courses and practical experiences related to specific cate-
gories (particularly, neurological disorders, multiple handicapping conditions
and sensory and physically handicapping conditions) would enable you to
work more effectively with other specialists in cooperative planning for the
most appropriate educational programme for pupils who have multiple ex-
ceptionalities.

Studying this unit will be interesting if you read carefully and take down
notes on areas which interest you. You will also understand the unit better if
you note down areas that pose difficulty or which you fail to understand
properly. These difficulties will be explained when we meet at a tutorial
session at your study centre during the course of the programme.

By the close of the last section in this unit you will be expected to be able to:
 explain the concept of emotional and behaviour disorders
 explain the concept of learning disability
 explain the concept of giftedness and talentedness

We hope you will read carefully to achieve the above objectives and that you
will also take the activities seriously so that they assist your learning. We
wish you are good reading session. Congrats.

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UNIT 5 SECTION EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIOUR DISORDERS
EDUCATION 1
Unit 5, section 1: Emotional and behaviour disorders

Many school children in Ghana suffer from disabilities. But sometimes

classroom teachers do not provide adequately for them: first, because the
educational needs of students with disabilities are complex; and second,
because regular classroom teachers are not trained to handle such cases.

In many situations at school, children must work closely with one

another. This interaction necessitates communication, cooperation, group
work and the use of inter-personal skills like the tolerance of the
behaviour or the views of others. Some children, however, find it difficult
to cooperate with others in learning situations because they suffer from a
form of exceptionality called emotional and behaviour disorders.

In this section we are going to learn about emotional and behaviour

disorders and their related problems.

We will expect you to spend about two hours on this section and at the
end of it to be able to:
 define and explain the concept of emotional and behaviour disorders
 describe the indicators of behaviour problems
 explain the difference between emotional and behaviour disorders

The concept of emotional and behaviour disorders

Behaviour is a complex concept because it is influenced by internal and
external factors which may be temporary or permanent. Behaviour can
therefore be said to be a response to a stimulus. The response to the
stimulus may be socially acceptable or unacceptable.

Activity 1.1
Write down some things that we do which are not acceptable to others in
society.

You might have considered a lot of things which may be correct but you
will realise that many things are considered determinants of acceptability
of a behaviour. You see, a particular behaviour can only be described as
normal or abnormal depending on the age of the individual showing the
behaviour. It also depends on the time and place of the behaviour. Other
determinants include the cultural values and ethics or general norms of
the society in which the behaviour is displayed. For example, in Ghana, it
is normal for a child to cry for no obvious reason: but it is abnormal for
an adult to do so. Can you think of some other examples?

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Behaviour is influenced by a number of factors such as the age of the

individual. Behaviour covers every aspect of human existence thoughts,
feelings, moods, personality, habits, motives, judgements, self-concept,
beliefs, choices and perceptions.

figure 2.1 Some factors that influence behaviour

Activity 1.2
Are there any circumstances, in your society, in which a male could
activity be seen to cry and for this behaviour to be socially acceptable? If
yes, describe the circumstances.

Some words are used regularly to describe behaviour disorders:

disobedient, defiant, attention-seeking, irritable, anxious, timid,
preoccupied and passive. Although these terms suggest student behaviour
that may concern teachers, they have limited value because they are
subjective and arbitrary and can be interpreted differently. In this case,
what is important is for the teacher to seek the reasons for a student's
behaviour that suggest such labels.

That is why we say behaviour is complex: especially the behaviour of

human beings. For the purpose of this course, let us limit ourselves to
problem behaviour and not the many complex theories of behaviour. As a
school teacher you need to develop behaviour modification techniques.
This will involve shaping the student's behaviour to minimise or
eliminate negative behaviours and to emphasise and reinforce positive

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behaviours, through your control of the learning environment by means

of planned and systematic application of the principles of learning.

Emotional disorders are difficult to define. However, emotional disorders

do exist. Emotions form part of behaviour: that is why we have taken
time to explain behaviour as a concept before we consider both at the
same time.

Since emotional disorders are difficult to define, we will provide

indicators of emotional disorders. Most often, individuals with emotional
disorders show difficulties in initiating and sustaining interpersonal
relationships. Their behaviour or emotional displays are not appropriate
to the circumstances. They experience continuous unhappiness and
depression, quick mood changes, insecurity of self and other symptoms.
The signs last for a long time and might therefore need attention.

Activity 1.3
State two reasons why a primary school teacher should learn about
emotional and behaviour disorders in children.

Differences between emotional and behaviour disorders

Many researchers have tried to describe the difference between emotional
and behaviour disorders. According to Boyle and Jones (1985),
differentiating between disorders, especially among children, is very
difficult. Students with behaviour disorders are found in both elementary
and secondary schools; at least 50% of the public school programmes for
students with behaviour disorders are at the secondary school level
(Grosenick and Huntze, 1980). Nelson (1993) also states that:
although studies do not consistently find more boys than girls with
behaviour problems, boys tend to be over-represented in
programmes for behaviourally disordered children by as much as
ten to one (p542).

This seems to suggest that at school boys face more behaviour

disturbances than girls. On the other hand, schoolgirls exhibit more
emotional disorders. In short, among adolescents, males are more
behaviour disordered whilst girls are more emotionally disordered. For
example, boys easily resort to physical attack whilst girls often cry when
annoyed. Both emotional and behaviour disorders are sometimes referred
to as minor psychiatric (or mental) cases.

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Remember that a major distinction between an emotional disorder and a

behaviour disorder is that emotional disorders have to do with the
person's inner feelings whereas behaviour disorders have to do with
outward expression of one's feelings. An emotionally disturbed person
may say nothing or very little. A behaviourally disturbed person may act
in an insulting way, shout out answers and generally act in a violent way.

Activity 1.4
Write down in your own words one good reason why you think emotional
and behaviour disorders are often considered as minor mental or
psychiatric cases.

Sometimes we are erroneously tempted to assume that problems of this

nature are only found in adults. Studies have shown a high incidence of
childhood emotional disorders: sometimes leading to suicide. We often
read from the newspapers about children who commit suicide by hanging
or throwing themselves off high buildings. Both adults and children
suffer from emotional and behaviour disorders. This is why it is
important for you as a teacher to learn about these problems so that you
know how to deal with them professionally and unemotionally.

Activity 1.5
As a teacher, you will have observed many abnormal emotional and
behaviour problems occurring in your class. Describe four of them and
say whether they are emotional or behaviour problems. (We have given
you two examples in the table below.)

Table 1.1

description of disorder emotional behaviour

disorder disorder
1. A child often slaps friends.
4

2. A child sits down quietly for long

4
periods.
3.

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4.

5.

6.

Principles of applied behaviour analysis

We have considered and discussed the complex nature problems of
behaviour: we are sure you have realised that it is not easy to label a
particular behaviour as problematic.

Usually, children with behaviour and emotional disorders drop out of

school. This statement is confirmed by a research carried out by Butler-
Nalin and Padilla in 1989.

Now, we are going to consider certain factors that can help us determine
whether or not a behaviour is 'normal' or 'abnormal ': that is, acceptable or
unacceptable. These factors are what we refer to as the principles of
behaviour analysis.

There are three main principles:

 the context of the situation in which the behaviour occurred
 the frequency of occurrence of the behaviour
 the duration and intensity of the behaviour

Other less important factors to be considered are age, sex and culture of
the individual concerned.

We will now discuss these three principles one after the other so that you
understand them better.

The context of the situation

The context of the situation means the time, place and what is an
appropriate action at a particular time in a given situation. It is
appropriate for mothers at a funeral to lament and weep their hearts out
while it is grossly out of place to cry or mourn at a wedding ceremony.

The frequency of occurrence of the behaviour

The frequency of occurrence of the behaviour refers to how often a
particular behaviour takes place. For instance, when one often becomes
annoyed and insults others, one could be considered as emotionally

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disordered. However, if it is once in every two years and short-lived, and

we can find a tangible reason for the behaviour, then it is not a problem.
It is only when it occurs many times in a few days or hours that we can
say the person is emotionally disordered.

The duration and intensity of the behaviour

The duration refers to the time-frame and the intensity of the behaviour
during the period under consideration. Again, here we are considering for
how long the person becomes moody after becoming annoyed. Does the
person brood over a misfortune for a long time? It is only when the
behaviour lasts for a long time that it calls for concern.

Also, we must consider how severe the behaviour exhibited is. If a

woman gives her child severe beatings no matter what the offence, we
can say she is behaviourally disordered.

Can you at this point assess yourself and see how often you become
annoyed or act violently?

Causes of behaviour and emotional disorders

There are many causes of emotional and behaviour disorders: some could
be prevented whilst others may be difficult to prevent.

A major cause of behaviour and emotional disorders among children,

which has been under-played for a long time, is child abuse. This abuse
may not be only physical, but could take other forms such as the use of
cruel words, sarcasm and ridicule or the lack of love and security; or it
could be social abuse, such as failure to provide adequate food and
clothing. Children compare themselves with other children and when they
realise that they are not well treated, they can become moody and
aggressive.

Other prominent causes of behaviour and emotional disorders are:

 adults' unreasonable expectations of children
 home conflicts - children brought up in a conflict home tend to be
quarrelsome and aggressive
 broken homes - death of a parent or separation or divorce
 death of a member of the family
 over-permissiveness in the home - the children are allowed to do
whatever they like
 poverty
 drug abuse or misuse in children
 worry, anxiety, unhappiness
 genetic or hereditary factors
 illness

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How are the above causes different from child abuse?

Activity 1.6
Explain how 'family background' can lead to behaviour problems.

Strategies for managing children with emotional and

behaviour disorders
Our schools abound with emotionally disordered adolescents. The regular
classroom teacher like you may find it necessary to develop strategies to
cope with disordered children in areas like classroom behaviour, social
skills and academic instruction.

Teachers must assume that students with behaviour disorders can learn
the appropriate behaviour expected of all other students in the classroom.
Students who exhibit behaviour disorders at school may also display such
behaviour at home. It can be helpful to involve parents by informing them
of the interventions that are being implemented at school and to consider
providing them with suggestions regarding strategies the parents may use
at home.

Did you know that most concerned parents are generally open to
suggestions regarding strategies they can use at home?

One of the most common problems of classroom teachers face is the

student who disrupts the instructional process, by coming to school late,
talking, shouting out answers in the classroom, standing up or moving
about in class. When students talk in class they disrupt the orderly flow of
classroom activities. The teacher is distracted, and the work of other
students is interrupted. Examples of verbal outbursts considered
inappropriate by most teachers are:
 answering out of turn, making irrelevant comments
 arguing with the class teacher or peers
 chatting with classmates during instruction

The following strategies are used to decrease the occurrence of problem

behaviour:
 establish clearly-stated classroom rules about when students are

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permitted to talk
 recognise and praise problem students when they exhibit an
appropriate behaviour
 draw the attention of the child any time the child misbehaves to
reduce the occurrence of inappropriate behaviour (like unnecessary
movement)
 provide students with examples of non-aggressive behaviour that they
can use in situations that otherwise might lead to aggression
 encourage the social interaction of withdrawn students by praising or
rewarding them when they make a try
 remember that when you spend time on unimportant points or skills
the pupils have already mastered, you are contributing to pupil
inattention
 work with parents in setting home programmes to reinforce studying:
parents of problem children can talk with the teacher each week on
progress made by the child in the preceding week.

Prevention of behaviour and emotional disorders

There are many ways of preventing behaviour disorders, but much
depends on the circumstances. Some causes are easily avoidable. Drug
abuse in students, for instance, can be avoided. Parents should insist that
their children take drugs only on prescription by qualified doctors.
Parents need to show love and concern for the needs of their children.
This will remove the feeling of neglect with its attendant behaviour
problems. Prospective couples should seek counselling to assess their
own emotional health and their suitability to each other.

Activity 1.7
Suggest four ways through which emotional and behaviour disorders can
be prevented or minimised.

Summary
We have learnt about emotional and behaviour disorders. We have also
learnt that behaviour is complex and that it is a response to a stimulus.
That is, when emotion is stirred up, it tends to exhibit itself in the form of
behaviour. This could be positive or negative: that is, beneficial or
harmful.

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EDUCATION Unit 5, section 1: Emotional and behaviour disorders

We learnt that behaviour could only be described as normal or abnormal

depending on the age of the person, and when and where the behaviour is
demonstrated. We have also discussed the difference between behaviour
and emotional disorders and we have raised some points on the strategies
that can be used by the general school teacher to suppress undesirable
behaviour.

References
Bryan, J H and Bryan, T H, Exceptional children, Sherman Oaks,
California, 1979

Butler, 0 B, Early help for kids at risk, our nation's best investment,
NEA today 7(6), 50-53, 1989

Cight, G P Cartwright, C A and Ward, M E, Educating special learners,

Wardworth, California, 1981

Grosenick, J K and Huntze, S L, National needs analysis in behaviour

disorders: adolescent behaviour disorders, Department of special
education, University of Missouri at Columbia, 1980

Lewis, Rena Band Doorlag, H, Teaching special students in the

mainstream, Merrill (Prentice Hall), Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey,
Ohio, 1995

Nelson, C M, Students with behavioural disorders, in Blackhurst and

Berdine, W H, (eds), An introduction to special education, (third edition),
pp528-56, Harper Collins, New York, 1993

Suggested answers to activities

Activity 1.1
Some things we do which are not acceptable in society are swearing,
fighting, quarrelling and seeking undue attention.

Activity 1.3
Primary school teachers should learn about emotional and behaviour
disorders because:
a. these disorders are very common in the children they teach.
b. this will help them to identify a problem and learn how to manage
such behaviour.

Activity 1.4
Emotional and behaviour disorders are often considered as a minor
mental or psychiatric problem because the cause of the behaviour cannot
easily be seen. It is also generally difficult to determine the cause of a
problem behaviour or .emotional disorder.

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Activity 1.5

description of disorder emotional behaviour

disorder disorder
1. A child often slaps friends. 4
2. A child sits down quietly for long 4
periods.
3. A child cries often in class 4
4. A child complains in class over 4
everything
5. A child who always shouts out answers in 4
class

Activity 1.6
The family background of a person is very important because it can either
contribute positively or negatively towards the child's moral development
and growth.

Generally, children brought up in a conflict home, a broken home or a

poverty stricken home are likely to display behaviour problems.

Activity 1.7
 recognise and praise problem students when they exhibit an
appropriate behaviour
 draw the attention of the child any time the child misbehaves
 give responsibilities to problem students to make them feel important
and wanted
 give judicious punishment to children who persistently misbehave in
class

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SPECIAL
UNIT 5 SECTION
EDUCATION 2
Unit 1,LEARNING DISABILITIES
section 1: Special education and related concepts

You are welcome to section 2 of unit 5. You will recall that in section 1
of this unit, we learnt about emotional and behaviour disorders. In that
section we explained the term 'emotional and behaviour disorders'. We
also stated and explained some of the characteristics of children with
emotional and behavioural disorders. Finally, we gave some educational
remediations for emotionally and behaviourally disordered children.

Following the pattern in section 1, we are going to learn in this section

about another interesting exceptionality - 'children with learning
disabilities'.

Have a useful and informative reading!

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

 give the traditional explanation of learning disabilities
 give the modern educational explanation of learning disabilities
 state and explain the classification of learning disabilities
 state and explain some of the characteristics of learning disabled
children
 describe some educational remediations for the learning disabled

As a prelude to this section, please read the short story below:

Very often, you will find in your school a few children who
are academically weak.
During my elementary school days when I was in middle form
one, there were two such pupils - a boy and a girl. Neither
could read the English reader, nor calculate simple arithmetic
problems, nor write an essay about anything in either Twi or
English. These two pupils were given nicknames such as,
'blockheaded', 'dull', 'stubborn', and 'lazy'. I am sorry to say
that these names were used by teachers and children alike.

From this brief account, we realise that in any school there are bound to
be individual pupils or students who find it extremely difficult to succeed
in their lessons. Such pupils (like my two classmates in the account)
could be described as 'learning disabled'.

Explanation of learning disabilities

Children who have significant problems in their academic work (to the
extent that they find it extremely difficult to succeed in that particular
area) are said to have a 'learning disability'. Specific examples are
disabilities in reading, arithmetic, spelling and written language.

Ghanaian traditional view about the learning disabled

In most Ghanaian societies, the learning disabled are equated with the
mentally retarded. Like the mentally retarded, the learning disabled are

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described as 'stupid', 'dull', 'block-headed', and 'good-for-nothing'. The

Akan, Ewe and Ga believe that the learning disabled are too lazy, dull
and stupid to learn anything successfully, recollect facts appropriately
and, above all, ever to hold any prominent position in the family.

There is also the old lady's story which describes the learning disabled as
having delayed memory, delayed speech, delayed reading, delayed
writing, delayed mathematical calculations and delayed comprehension
abilities.

The 'old lady's story' refers to the traditional Ghanaian old lady who
usually ascribes any disability in a child to delayed growth and
development. Often the old lady would be heard explaining the cause of a
disability in a child to the child's family members by saying, "Oh! this
child takes after the grandfather" (or grandmother), who had delayed
memory, speech, or reasoning until the age of, say, twelve or fifteen
years.

An important observation of the traditional view of the learning disabled

is that there is no clear-cut distinction between them and the mentally
retarded. Another observation is that at an early age, when the child is
detected to be having problems with learning, people continue to express
the hope that the problem will solve itself as the child grows and matures.

Modern educational definition of learning disability

A definition of learning disability that is widely accepted is that of the
American Public Law 94-142: Education for all handicapped children
act of 1975. This law defines specific learning disability as:
a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological
processes involved in understanding or in using language -
spoken or written - which may manifest itself in an
imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or
do mathematical calculations (Charles and Malian, 1980).

It is clear from the American definition that the term 'learning disability'
refers to difficulties in processing language intellectually.

The term does not include problems which result from visual, hearing or
motor handicaps; emotional disturbances, or mental retardation; or
environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantages.

To be labelled' learning disabled', an individual must fulfil the following

three criteria:
 there should be a discrepancy between their potential and their actual
achievement
 their problems should have an exclusion criterion: that is, it should

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EDUCATION Unit 1, section 1: Special education and related concepts

not be as a result of visual, hearing or motor handicaps; emotional

disturbance or environmental factors; or mental retardation, cultural
or economic disadvantages
 the problems of such pupils should be such that they call for
assistance from the special education services

From the discussion so far, it is clear that all children with learning
disabilities have learning problems. It is also clear that not all children
with academic problems have learning disabilities.

Activity 2.1
Find out from your class a pupil who can be said to be learning disabled.
What is/are the specific learning disability/disabilities of that pupil? What
are your reasons for saying that the student is learning disabled?

Classification of learning disabilities

Learning disabilities - whether developmental or academic - can be
classified as follows, based upon the degree of learning difficulties:
 mild
 moderate
 severe

Mild learning disabilities

This degree .of learning disability is not very serious. It is, however,
serious-enough to attract the attention of parents and teachers. If nothing
is done to assist such children educationally, their condition may become
worse. Such pupils are found in almost every classroom. They are usually
'ne'er-do-wells' and are always found at the bottom of the class in most
tests and examinations. Individuals with mild learning disabilities usually
pass through the regular or special school system without any special
assistance from teachers and parents due to the 'not too severe' nature of
their problem. They always lag behind in most school subjects.

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Moderate learning disabilities

This level of learning disability is more serious than the mild and, as
such, calls for intensive assistance in their school work from parents,
teachers, and peers. Without the required special assistance in the term of
support, materials, and methods, such children cannot learn and progress
effectively.

Severe learning disabilities

This degree of learning disability is the most serious of the three. The
severely learning disabled child finds it extremely difficult to learn
without special support, materials, methods, and individualisation of
instruction. Unlike the mild and moderate types, severe learning disabled
children are seldom found in our regular schools.

Causes of learning disabilities

The causes of learning disabilities can occur before birth, during birth and
after birth.

Some of the contributing factors to learning disabilities include:

Physical problems
A serious and prolonged adverse condition such as stomach ulcer,
under-feeding, and under-nourishment can bring about learning disability
in a child. Constant pain, dizziness, poor sight, and the like will make it
difficult for such a child to concentrate in class. Ultimately, such child
lose interest in school work too.

Social and cultural problems

Worries due to broken homes and other problems in the home of the
child; lack of enough care and attention in the home and school; disunity
and quarrels between parents or among siblings in the home; and tribal or
ethnic conflicts which sometimes lead to the death of parents - these are
among the numerous social and cultural problems that can cause learning
disabilities in children.

Educational problems
Excessive use of the cane on children by class teachers; excessive
scolding; constant use of insulting words about a child by both parents
and class teachers; lack of motivation on the part of the child;
overcrowded classrooms; poor teaching techniques; drug abuse - all these
educational problems have adverse effects on children's learning to the
extent that such children can become learning disabled in specific subject
areas (for example, reading, spelling, mathematical calculations).

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Activity 2.2
Find out from your class if there are any or pupils who display signs of
being learning disabled. How would you classify each of such pupils?

Characteristics of learning disabled children

Some specific characteristics of the learning disabled include the
following:

Very low academic achievement - Such children will not be achieving

at the level expected of their age and ability in one or more of the
academic subject areas such as reading comprehension, written
expression, listening comprehension, and mathematical calculations.

Hyperactivity - This is a motor behaviour not demanded by the situation

or the task involved and which is disruptive to the group or the
expectations of observers: for example, a child who suddenly gives a loud
shout in class while teaching is going on.

Academic learning difficulties - These may be in such areas as basic

reading skills, reading comprehension, written expression, mathematical
calculations, and mathematical reasoning. The most common of these
academic difficulties, especially at the pre-school level, are those of
language and reading. In most cases, children with reading problems end
up with spelling problems.

Perceptual motor problems - Children with perceptual motor problems

have difficulty understanding and responding to the meaning of pictures
and/or numbers. This is manifested in the child's inability to recognise,
discriminate, and interpret sensations, especially in the area of visual and
auditory activities: for example, the child may have difficulty in copying
letters of the alphabet correctly from either the chalkboard or from a
book.

Memory or thinking problems - These children will have difficulty in

recalling materials or facts which have been learned. Such students may
also have difficulty in understanding abstract concepts as in mathematics.

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Activity 2.3
A pupil in your class physically assaults other pupils. The child even
throws objects such as erasers or pencils at the chalkboard while teaching
is going on. What type of characteristic behaviour is associated with this
child? Give two other examples of such behaviour.

Educational remediation for the learning disabled

Problem
• Perceptual-motor disorders. These are deficits in awareness of one's
environment through sensory stimulation.

Remediation
 Design and help child to match simple shapes and colours such as
square, round, and triangular objects; red, yellow, green and blue
colours.
 Produce simple jig-saw puzzles of animals, fruits, plants and other
objects in the child's environment for the child to assemble. Reinforce
child's efforts through praise, a pat on the shoulders, and the like.
 Encourage child to interact with other children in class and in the
school. The other children should also be encouraged to interact with
the child.
 Use materials and assignments that can accommodate the child's
visual perception. For example, rather than presenting many items at
a time, present a few, one or two at a time.
 Capitalise on the child's areas of strength to overcome frustration. For
example, if pupil is a good listener, or can carry out verbal directions
well, use auditory rather than visual materials.

Problem
• Disorders of memory and thinking. Such children usually have
problems with storing and retrieving information.

Remediation
 Use pictures, concrete objects and the play and activity methods that
will involve the child in the lesson.

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 Give just a few facts and tasks involving memory and thinking to the
child at a time. Treat each pupil individually and allow each to
progress at their own rate.

Problem
 Reading disabilities.

Remediation
 Give pupils reading materials that are based on their capability and
real-life experience. For example, experiences they have been
involved in such as fishing, washing plates, chasing a fowl, going to
church and the like. Make your own supplementary readers for such
pupils.
 When a story is to be read, it will be better to tell the story to pupils
first, explain key words, and help children dramatise the story before
they start reading it on their own.

Problem
 Mathematics and arithmetic disabilities.

Remediation
 Use simple, familiar, concrete objects to help children count, add,
subtract, multiply, and divide. Use the abacus and counters to help
pupils grasp the concepts of ‘units’, 'tens', 'hundreds' and 'thousands'
columns.

 Encourage children to watch carefully and apply the correct

operation, for instance, whether the problem requires addition (+),
subtraction (-), multiplication (x) or division (+).

Problem
 Written language disabilities.

Remediation
 For very young pupils, stress colouring, drawing, scribbling, left-to-
right eye movement through pictures, up-down writing, and circular
movements of the hand - all these are pre-writing skills that should be
acquired by any pupil-in order to have good and legible handwriting
later.

For older pupils, help them grasp the idea of boldness of letters and
figures, and the right spacing of words. This could be achieved through
daily practice in writing; drawing and painting skills. Encourage pupils to
copy labels and other written inscriptions writings on such commodities
and goods as milk tins, Raid spray tins, Omo packets and soap boxes.
Through constant practice, help the child to see the differences between

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'long-sticked ' and 'shortsticked' letters as 'd' and 'a', 'h' and ‘n', ‘f' and 't',
and where letters and figures face as ‘m' and '3', 'c' and ' ' 'p' and 'q' etc.
Skills involved in written language should be clearly identified and
sequenced for the pupil: for example, how to hold a pen correctly for easy
and free movement of the hand, and how to start and finish writing a
letter or figure correctly.

Activity 2.4
1. What is the Ghanaian traditional view about the learning disabled?

2. Briefly explain the three criteria used in classifying people as

learning disabled.

Summary
In this section, we discussed the traditional Ghanaian view of learning
disabilities. We-then went on to give a definition of learning disabilities.
Taken together, the definitions stressed the following:
 learning disabled individuals have disorders in one or more of the
basic psychological processes such as auditory perception, visual
perception and memory
 the learning disabled pupil has difficulty in learning: particularly in
the basic skill subjects of reading, writing, and mathematical
calculations and reasoning
 the problem of learning disabilities is not primarily attributable to
causes such as mental retardation, visual, or hearing impairments

We have also discussed the classification of learning disability, causes,

and some characteristics of learning disabled individuals. Finally, we
have learned some educational remediations for learning disabled pupils
and students.

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References
Adima, Emmanuel Efeseke et al, Introduction to special education:
associateship certificate in education series, Heinemann, Ibadan,
Nigeria, 1988

Adima, E E, College and university text: special education, NPS

Educational, Ibadan, 1991

Kirk, Samuel A et al, Educating exceptional children, Houghton Mifflin,

Boston, 1993

Suggested answers to activity 3.4

1. 1 They view them as mentally retarded.
They are described as dull, stupid, block-headed, etc.
The old lady's story also describes them as having delayed memory,
speech, reading, mathematical calculations, etc. The majority of
Ghanaian parents think and believe that the problem will solve itself
as the child grows and matures.

2 • A discrepancy between their academic potential and their actual

achievement - explain this in your own words.
 The exclusion criterion - explain this.
 The problem(s) should call for assistance from Special Education
Services.

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Unit
This 5page
section 2: blank
is left Learning disabilities
for your notes EDUCATION

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SPECIAL
UNIT 5 SECTION
EDUCATION 3
Unit 5,THE CONCEPT
section OF GIFTEDNESS
3: The concept AND
of giftedness and TALENTEDNESS
talentedness

In every classroom there are children of mixed abilities. These children

could be grouped under three broad headings such as: below average,
average, and above average. The gifted and talented children are
classified as 'above average'. In this group, teachers often see a few
children as extra smart, very bright or highly intelligent. This group,
though small in number, stands out clearly from the class. You are likely
to have observed such children. They finish their work far ahead of their
classmates; they have answers to teachers' questions even before the
teacher completes asking the questions; they go round their friends
pointing out their mistakes. They do a lot more to make them distinctive.
You can think of other things they do. This is the group that has attracted
the description 'gifted and talented'. This section covers the concept of
giftedness and talentedness.

By the end of this section you will be able to:

 explain the terms 'gifted and' talented'
 use your knowledge of the gifted and talented to explain the need to
identify such children
 discuss the procedures by which the gifted and talented are identified
 apply your knowledge of gifted and talented in understanding
children in class

Definition
At this point, let us consider the historical, intellectual and operational
definitions of the gifted and talented.

Historical definition
Guess how long the concept of giftedness and talentedness has been
known to exist among human beings. Some people think that it is new;
but others believe that it is not. Let us now turn to history to assist us find
an answer.

History mentions great men like Aristotle, Socrates, Archimedes,

Pythagoras and Sir Isaac Newton. I believe you have heard these names
before. Do you remember what each of them is known for? You may or
may not remember them all: but Aristotle and Socrates were
philosophers; Archimedes and Pythagoras were mathematicians; Newton
was a scientist. There were many more. You can add to the list.

Every nation has had, and still has, such great men and women. But it is
known that people who have the rare quality of being gifted and talented
are very few indeed. You can cast your mind back to your own
schooldays or your town, or to the beginning of your teaching career, and
count how many such people you know.

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Why identify the gifted and talented?

According to Mandell and Fiscuss (1980), Plato in ancient Greece
thought of selecting and educating the intellectually and morally more
gifted children to be groomed for ruling the state. Socrates also believed
that human beings could be 'bred for their intellectual gifts in much the
same way that hunting dogs were bred for their prowess in the field'
(Burt, 1975).

In the introduction to this unit, we hinted that a nation's

development/advancement depends on the intellect of its people.
Therefore we need to identify those who are gifted and talented especially
during childhood days: then these children can be guided to develop
themselves to improve the nation. Laycock (1957) mentions an editorial
in a magazine published in 1956, which said that gifted children in Russia
were channelled into science and engineering and these constituted
USSR's golden youth, with the brightest going into research and institutes
that train students for professions. In the United States of America, the
concern for the gifted and talented led Congress, in 1969, to ask the
Commissioner of Education to conduct a study on the status of the gifted.
Commissioner Marlaud presented his report in 1971.

At this point of our discussion you can determine for yourself whether the
concept of giftedness and talentedness is new or old. We shall now
discuss the intellectual aspect.

Intellectual definition
We have discussed at some length the historical perspective of the gifted
and talented. We can conclude from the discussion that there were many
gifted and talented people in the past and some will always continue to be
born. We will now discuss what other researchers say about the concept
of giftedness and talentedness.

Intellectual ability has long been used to measure and define who is
gifted and talented. Commissioner Marlaud (1972) referred to 'historical
rated intellectual ability' first among all other parameters of giftedness
and talentedness.

Several psychologists worked on using intelligence tests to determine

who is gifted and talented. For example, Charles Spearman (1863-1945),
believing that intelligence is a single general ability, thought that all
mental tasks needed:
 general intelligence
 skills specific to particular activity of the test

LL Thurstone (1887-1955) expanded the Spearman concept of

intelligence into seven different ability skills. According to Davidoff

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(1980), the skills identified by Thurstone are:

 to add, subtract, multiply and divide
 to write and speak with ease
 to retain impressions
 to solve complex problems and profit from past experiences
 to perceive size and spatial relationships correctly
 to identify objects quickly and accurately

The concept, intelligence, runs through each of Thurstone’s skill areas.

Other psychologists like Alfred Binet (1857 -1911), a Frenchman, also

used tests of mental ability. Lewis Jerman, an American, used a version
of mental ability which was termed Intelligence Quotient (IQ). In all the
cases cited above, the gifted and talented were rated as those who had an
IQ of 130 or above. It was discovered that those with IQ of 130 or above
were almost always within the top 5-10% of the class.

In the Ghanaian situation, the gifted and talented are not easy to identify.
First, because not all children are lucky enough to go to school. Second,
because the tests mentioned above cannot be used in Ghanaian schools
for the determination of gifted and talented children mainly because of
the differing cultural background and language of those for whom the
tests were developed.

Activity 3.1
Write down your definition of 'gifted and talented'. [Check at the end of
this section to see our suggestions].

Now we shall go on to discuss the operational definition of giftedness and

talentedness.

Operational definition
Knowledge is to be used. Intelligence, gifts and talents are to be used or
seen in action. This is where society benefits from its people's wisdom.
Therefore, in the absence of structured tests of intelligence, we can adopt
a down-to-earth view and say that gifted people act in ways that dazzle

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and impress us. Let us consider some other people's concept (definition)
of giftedness and talentedness.

Cutts and Moseley (1957) say that:

a child be referred to as gifted when his performance in a
worthwhile type of human endeavour is consistently
remarkable.

To them, three groups are identified - the bright, the gifted and the
talented. The bright group refers to pupils who are capable of profiting
from a college education and of doing well in any career which they
choose. The gifted are those whose potentialities may be greater than
those of the bright; and the talented as those who show unusual ability
along non-academic lines and are capable of profiting from advanced
instruction and of making a career in their special field: superior
achievement in any field, not specifically in academic work, is
emphasised.

Another definition contained in the Marlaud Report (1972) says:

Gifted and talented children are those, identified by
professionally qualified persons, who by virtue of outstanding
abilities are capable of high performance.

The report goes on further to say:

Children of high performance include those with
demonstrated achievement and/or potential ability in any
of the following areas:
 general intellectual ability
 specific academic aptitude
 creative or productive thinking
 leadership ability
 visual performing arts

Following the Marlaud (1972) report, the United States Department of

Education in 1978 adopted the following definition:
Gifted and talented children means children and, whenever
applicable, youth who are identified at the pre-school,
elementary or secondary level as possessing demonstrated
or potential abilities that give evidence of high
performance capability in areas such as intellectual,
creative, specific academic or leadership ability or in the
performing arts and who by reason thereof require services
or activities not ordinarily provided by the school.

Once again, this definition puts emphasis on performance. It is not only

an academic issue, but an issue of demonstrated ability outside pen-and-

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EDUCATION Unit 5, section 3: The concept of giftedness and talentedness

paper work. The results of what we learn show up in our behaviour. Also,
the inner gifts and talents of individuals can be seen in the way
individuals react to situations: for example, answering questions or
appropriately meeting the demands of situations. Can you sum up what
we have talked about so far? Note that in our discussion we have made
frequent references to the word 'performance': thus our definition has
been what we call ‘operational’.

Let us cite a few examples to illustrate this concept of operational

definition. Some children have been observed to walk and talk far earlier
than usual. They also speak and act precociously. Some linguists perform
so admirably that one wonders how and where they were trained. The late
Okyeame Akuffo, the first State Linguist was of this type. Some wayside
fitters are wizards at diagnosing and mending faults. In fact they can
match university trained auto engineers; and yet they never went to
school. The examples we have cited above were, obviously, people who
were gifted and talented 'on the job'.

Activity 3.2
Now, identify some Ghanaian musicians, artists, sportsmen who, by our
operational definition, are gifted and talented.

Summary
I hope you enjoyed studying this section which defined the concept of
giftedness and talentedness. Historical examples were cited of Sir Isaac
Newton, Archimedes and others to demonstrate the concept is not new.

The intellectual concept was also discussed. Mention was made of some
psychologists who designed and used tests of intelligence to define and
identify the gifted and talented. Among those psychologists were Alfred
Binet and L L Thurstone. But for reasons of culture and language, a test
of intelligence developed for one culture is not suitable for another. We
have also stressed that in some of the parameters used by the
psychologists, practical performance was highlighted. The practical side
defined the operational aspect of the concept of giftedness and
talentedness.

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Unit 5, section 3: The concept of giftedness and talentedness EDUCATION

Gifted individuals exist in our classrooms. As teachers, we must be aware

of this, must identify the children and groom them as future leaders
(scientists, musicians and others) to improve the nation.

Well done.

Suggested answer to activity 3.1

Definition of 'gifted and talented':
Anyone with proven ability of an exceptional nature in class, on the
sports field, in artwork or music, in leadership, or any recognisable
human endeavour.
(Your response should address the main ideas expressed above),

References
Cutts, Norma E and Moseley, Nicholas, Teaching the bright and gifted,
Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1957, ppl-117

Davidoff, Linda L, Introduction to psychology (second edition),

McGraw-Hill, New York, 1980, chapter 12

Laycock, Samuel R, Gifted children, Copp Clark, Montreal, 1957,

chapter 1-2 .

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SPECIAL
UNIT 5 SECTION
EDUCATION 4
Unit 5,IDENTIFICATION OF of
section 4: Identification THE
the GIFTED
gifted andAND TALENTED
the talented

In section three you studied the different outstanding features of gifted or

talented children such as being first consistently in class or in any
academic work. The concept of talentedness and giftedness can be
displayed also in fields quite different from the academic: for instance, in
performance in music, sports, games and leadership.

We hope that owing to your improved knowledge of the characteristic

features of the gifted and talented you are beginning to observe the
children you teach in the classroom more carefully for characteristics of
giftedness or talentedness.

In this section, we will concentrate on how, as teachers, we can identify

the gifted and talented in our classroom.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

 describe the various processes/tools used for identifying gifted and
talented children
 identify children who are gifted or talented by their behaviour
 develop skills for identifying children from any cultural setting
 design suitable checklists for identifying giftedness or talentedness in
children

Reasons for identification

Identification, as used here, is the method used to recognise the essential
features of those children who excel in activities such as subjects of the
curriculum, co-curricular activities, and skill activities such as athletics,
music and science projects.

figure 4.1
This gifted child has learnt how to repair sophisticated electronics
without any adult assistance

Identification of children with outstanding performance is necessary for

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Unit 5, section 4: Identification of the gifted and the talented EDUCATION

the following reasons:

 so that appropriate and challenging programmes can be provided to
meet their interests and needs
 to encourage such children to explore areas that go beyond the basic
curriculum and alleviate the frustration and mental laziness they
experience from having inappropriate programmes
 to enable us to evolve effective education programmes that will result
in a reduction in years of training and increase in years of
productivity to the benefit of both the society and the gifted
individuals concerned

Activity 4.1
1 In your own words, define 'identification'.

2 State one reason (other than those stated above) why it is necessary for
teachers to identify the gifted and talented pupils in their class.

Identification processes
Identification processes are the procedures that are used to recognise the
characteristic features of gifted and talented children. Examples of
identification procedures are:
 Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests
 Behaviour rating scales or checklists
 Nomination
 Goal-oriented programmes
 Co-curricular activities

We need to remember that no single procedure or measure is adequate in

itself for identification of these children. To achieve more reliable results,
it is advisable to combine two or more processes rather than rely on a
single one.

It is useful to remember that each identification process has its

limitations.

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IQ tests
The Intelligence Quotient Test (IQ test) is the estimate of intellectual
status which is calculated on the basis of the ratio of the mental age to
chronological age multiplied by 100 to express the answer as a
percentage. The mental age (MA) is the intellectual age determined by
the performance on a standardised test. The chronological age (CA) is the
actual age of the individual as calculated from their date of birth.
The IQ is expressed as 𝑀𝐴 𝐶𝐴
×100) (Nicolosi et al, 1978). Thus in calculating
a child's IQ, the psychologists use individually administered intelligence
tests such as the Weschler Intelligence Scales for Children, the British
Ability Scales, or the Kaufmann Assessment Battery for Children. On the
basis of these tests it has been stated that the IQ of the gifted and talented
children is 140 and upwards (Young and Tyre, 1992).

The IQ test, like all other identification processes, has limitations. Below
are some of them:
 Intelligence tests have a cultural bias. This is because they are usually
designed for children from middle urban white backgrounds and do
not favour people from other social settings
 The tests tend to favour children with a strong verbal background
since the tests have high verbal elements. Children with special
abilities cannot be picked out since the tests emphasise intellectual
performance and neglect musical, artistic and mathematical abilities.
 In our particular case, in Ghana, an additional limitation is that our
teachers do not have training in the application of intelligence tests

Because of these disadvantages, we can conclude that intelligence tests

when used alone are capable of identifying some gifted and talented
children while missing others whose interests are not detected because of
the biased nature of the tests.

Activity 4.2
1. What is an intelligence test?

2. Give examples of intelligence tests.

3. How is the IQ calculated?

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4. State the difference between MA and CA. 5 Write down some

limitations of IQ tests.

Behaviour rating scales

Behaviour rating scales are measures of behaviour which are rated
according to a point scale or numerals with weight or interpretation. For
example, a 5-point scale could be:
1 - excellent
2 - very good
3 - good
4 - fairly good 5 - fair

Behaviour rating scales is a useful method of measuring creativity.

Heward et al (p414, 1988) and Guilford (l959) used four dimensions as
measures of creativity. The four dimensions are fluency, flexibility,
originality and elaboration. He explained each dimension as follows
(summarised):

Fluency - has to do with the use of many words, phrases and sentences
eg, flow of verbal expression.

Flexibility - has to do with the talented child using a wide variety of ideas
and having alternative solutions: eg, the ability to adapt from one
situation to another.

Originality - is exhibited in uniqueness of using words: eg, it has to do

with the child's ability to imagine an experiment or to try a task and to
provide detailed responses.

Elaboration - has to do with the child's ability to provide details using the
child's own ideas.

In addition to the rating scale, a checklist may also be used. The checklist
is a list of items used to check characteristics reflecting talentedness and
giftedness. A checklist can cover a number of items ranging from
excellence in mathematics to verbal performance, reading ability to
imaginative ability, hobbies to social behaviour, and so on. The following
is an example of a checklist:

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EDUCATION Unit 5, section 4: Identification of the gifted and the talented

1 2 3 4 5
     Use of many words
     Easy flow of verbal expression to respond to
questions
     Can blend one idea into the other without difficulty
     Has a wide range of interests, hobbies, reading
interests and academic ability in mathematics,
science, etc
     Has a wide attention span
     Shows a quick response to new ideas
     Shows great sense of imagination in art work and
choice of colour
     Exhibits keen powers of observation
     Shows great sense of humour, friendliness and skills
in personal interaction
     Shows keen interest in group work and organisation

As a method of identification, checklists have some limitations:

 they are composed of characteristics which reflect the children's
behaviour/performance and hence an estimation made by teachers
about the children is likely to be confirmed by the checklist designed
in their favour
 checklists do not cover creative and intellectual abilities and cannot
identify children who under-perform deliberately

Activity 4.3
List and explain the four dimensions of creativity.

Nomination
Another technique used to identify giftedness is simply by recommending
or appointing the person. This can be done by the parents, teacher, the
peers or the child itself as a recognition that the child is brilliant or
capable of performing a specific task or that the child consistently gives
outstanding performance. For example, when excellent performance is
displayed by a primary school pupil in clay modelling (or drawing and
painting or weaving) for a consistent period of time, this child can be

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Unit 5, section 4: Identification of the gifted and the talented EDUCATION

nominated by the peers, teachers, parents or by the child's self-

nomination. However, there are both disadvantages and advantages of
peer, parent, teacher or child nomination. One possible advantage is that a
child who wins the admiration of classmates and the teacher feels happy
and proud.

On the other hand, lack of competition in the school may make the child
worse off when the competition is opened to other children in different
schools. Besides, jealous classmates may develop a dislike for the winner.

Goal-oriented programmes
We are aware that if we collectively set a goal for a programme it is
everybody's wish to work hard to achieve that goal. However, that goal
can only be achieved if the programme is linked to our interests and
abilities. If the programme can only meet the interest of a few, all the
others will be left out. Gifted children are linked directly to the goals of
the programmes in which they are placed. As a matter of fact, those gifted
children whose interests and abilities are served by the programme will
be identified but those whose interests are not catered for by the
programme will be passed over.
Stephens and Wolf (1978) gave five steps that the goals of the
programme should follow:
 establish programme goals
 develop objectives
 specify requisite student characteristics
 locate students
 assign students

We can apply these five steps, for example, to children in primary

schools in Ghana. For a programme to be established (for instance, kente
weaving or drawing for a sectional competition), students that have such
talents or interests are located and assigned to the project. The objectives
of the competition are spelled out with the active participation of the
students. At the end, students who excel are identified.

Does it, therefore, mean that certain programmes have no goals? No,
every programme has goals: but a goal-oriented programme has certain
specific achievements by pupils in mind. Hence after setting the goals
and objectives of the programme, pupils who possess the necessary
characteristics would be located and then be assigned to that particular
programme. You can see why we have said that the goal programme
tends to favour those whose abilities and interests are served.
Nevertheless, an alternative solution is to establish another goal that is in
the interest of those children who seem to be neglected in the first
programme to ensure that the needs of each category of children will be
served.

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Activity 4.4
List the five steps that are involved in a goal-oriented programme to
identify talented and gifted children.

Co-curricular activities
These are activities that go beyond the regular curriculum of the school.
The co-curricular activities are outside of one's regular school activities.
They involve performance in the social environment with the peer group
and in clubs and societies. These co-curricular activities can be difficult
to monitor in an effort to identify the gifted and talented because most of
the activities are done at weekends or during holidays. However,
observation forms can be completed by leaders or organisers and from
these reports outstanding children can be identified. To confirm the
observation forms filled on the children's co-curricular activities, we can
assign them to individual project work related to the work they did during
the co-curricular activities.

In conclusion, we must stress that as teachers we must give clearly

structured instructions to convey what we expect from children. We need
to remember that children come from diverse backgrounds, cultures and
languages. With this in mind, the language we use should bring meaning
to all the children so that goals expected can be achieved by all the
potential pupils eligible for identification as gifted and talented.

Activity 4.5
1. Complete the sentence: Curricular activities are regarded as part of
the identification process because

2. a. When children from different backgrounds work together what

problems do they face?

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b. How can we minimise these problems?

c. How can we monitor and assess children's out-of-school

activities?

Summary
We have discussed the identification of gifted and talented children. We
discussed why identification is necessary and the different procedures
used.

We noted that identification is the act by which certain predetermined

features are used to help the teacher to recognise talented and gifted
children. Identification can be done through the use of intelligence
quotient tests, checklists, goal-oriented programmes and the co-curricular
activities engaged in by children outside school. Each of these processes
has its own disadvantages despite its usefulness in the identification
process. In view of this, it is suggested that a combination of the
processes be used to minimise the limitations and that a creative and
comprehensive identification programme be put in place to identify all
potentially gifted and talented children.

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References
Heward, W Land Orlansky, M D, Exceptional children: an introductory
survey of special education (third edition), Merrill, Columbus, 1988

Nicolosi, L, Terminology of communication disorders, speech,

language, hearing, Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore, 1978

The random house college dictionary (revised edition), Random House,

1979, p659

Young, P and Tyre, C, Gifted or able, Open University Press,

Buckingham, 1992

Suggested answers to activities

Activity 4.1
1. Identification means the act of observing and picking those children
whose performances in certain subjects are far above those of their
age groups.
2. To explore their talentedness in peer teaching.

Activity 4.2
1. Intelligence test is the method used to estimate the performance of
children based on mental age and their real or actual age as calculated
from the date of birth.
2. • Weschler Intelligence Scales for Children
• The British Ability Scales or Kaufmann Assessment Battery for
Children
3. IQ is calculated as the expression 𝑀𝐴𝐶𝐴
×100
4. MA is equal to mental age, that is the ability of the child to perform
intelligibly in a standardised test according to the child's intellectual
age. The CA represents the child's actual age from birth. The CA
stands for chronological age which is the same as the actual age from
birth.
5. • Children from a poor environment cannot perform like those from
middle class backgrounds
• Some teachers in Ghana do not know how to apply the intelligence
tests
• Other abilities besides verbal tests cannot be picked out among
children who may have superior performance in music, art and
mathematics

Activity 4.4
 establish programme goals
 develop objectives
 specify requisite student characteristics
 locate students

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Unit 5, section 4: Identification of the gifted and the talented EDUCATION

 assign students

Activity 4.5
1. Co-curricular activities are regarded as part of the identification
process because there are certain activities that children do at the
weekends and, through proper monitoring, teachers can identify those
children who give consistently high performances and then assign
projects related to these co-curricular activities to confirm the
observations made.

2. a. Interests of the children will differ and so the goal drawn by the
teacher cannot be attained by all the children.
b. Every child's interest has to be identified and alternative goals have
to be drawn to satisfy every child's interest.
c. Leaders of the societies the children belong to can complete
observation forms on children's performance which will be declared
later to the class teacher.

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SPECIAL
UNIT 5 SECTION
EDUCATION 5
Unit 5,MANAGEMENT OF THE
section 5: Management GIFTED
of the AND
gifted and TALENTED
talented

Have you handled a student who always finished the class work well
ahead of all the other children? How did you occupy the pupil while the
other children struggled through their exercises?

In this concluding section of unit 5, we will discuss how to manage gifted

and talented students. The focus will be on educational provisions and
curriculum adaptations.

By the end of this section you should be able to:

 outline how to adapt the school curriculum to meet the abilities of the
gifted and talented
 differentiate between acceleration and enrichment programmes
 discuss how to organise at least three types of enrichment
programmes
 describe how the gifted and talented can be assisted to acquire
creative and problem solving skills

Acceleration programmes
There are many possible strategies for educating the gifted and talented.
Some of these strategies are common and used in Ghana; others are ideas
from abroad which have not been tried here. We shall discuss the
common strategies as well as a few of the foreign ones as we go through
this study.

The common acceleration programmes that are often offered to gifted

students in Ghana are early entrance or admission, class skipping, subject
acceleration and mentorship.

Early entrance to school - very young children who exhibit

extraordinary abilities in literacy and numeracy are sometimes offered
admission to primary school before they reach the normal school age.
Some of these children enter class one as early as 4 years instead of the
normal of 6 years. Early admission may be especially beneficial for gifted
girls since they tend to develop at an earlier age than boys.

Class skipping - The second type of acceleration programme is class

skipping. Before the current educational reforms, pupils who manifested
excellent academic performance in primary or middle school were
skipped to higher classes. For instance, an intellectually gifted child in
class three could be skipped to class four or even class five. The decision
to skip the gifted child was always made after thorough assessment of the
child's abilities. The headteacher, the class teacher and other senior
teachers consulted together before they finally agreed, and then made
their decision known to the parents of the child for their consent. The
teachers and parents collaborated to assist the child to make the needed
adjustment, since all of them were involved in the decision.

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It is worth noting that the defunct Common Entrance Examination was

another means of acceleration programming; it enabled some
intellectually gifted students to gain early access to secondary and
university education. There were some cases of students who registered
for and sat the General Certificate of Examination (GCE) ordinary level
while they were in the fourth year of secondary school instead of the fifth
form.

Do the current education reforms provide any opportunity for

acceleration programming?

The educational reforms offer more chances of acceleration programming

for the gifted. The entire pre-university education has been reduced from
seventeen years to twelve, enabling all students to go through basic and
secondary education faster than before. Add to this situation the
possibility of class skipping, and we have the situation where gifted
pupils can complete their basic and secondary education in less than
twelve years!

Subject acceleration - In the schools some gifted pupils are allowed to

participate in tasks offered in higher classes. For instance, pupils who are
very good at mathematics, reading and writing are given work that is
normally done in classes ahead of theirs. So that a primary three child
may read a course book of primary four. In some cases, these gifted
pupils are chosen to write essays and tests with pupils in higher classes.
While these activities help to sustain and promote giftedness, they do not
actually quicken the pace of schooling.

Mentorship - Mentorship is usually adopted by both teachers and parents

to assist gifted and talented children to develop their special abilities. In
mentorship, experts or specialists in specific fields are engaged by either
the school or the parents to offer additional assistance to children who
demonstrate special talents and abilities. For instance, some schools
invite artists, pianists and drummers to assist children who show a flair
for painting, drawing or playing the piano to develop their talents. Such
experts (who are called resource personnel or mentors) are recruited from
the community.

Does your school engage someone from the community to teach the
students how to drum and dance? Think of other disciplines in which
resource persons are usually invited to train the children at school.

Other acceleration programmes

Apart from the common strategies already discussed, other accelerated
programmes are practised in some countries notably in the United States
and Great Britain. Some of these accelerated programmes include

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curriculum compacting, class telescoping, concurrent enrolment and

advanced placement.

Curriculum compacting involves the adjustment of the regular curriculum

to meet the special abilities of gifted students. Teachers allow gifted
students to skip all previously mastered skills and content, focusing only
on mastery of challenging areas. That is, the class teacher allows the child
to leave out tasks or exercises that are too easy and proceed to those that
are reasonably difficult. This enables the gifted to move through the
curriculum more rapidly than usual.

Class telescoping on the other hand, allows the gifted to go through more
than a year's academic work within one academic year. In this respect, a
gifted student may use four years to complete a five-year programme.
Class telescoping is similar to class skipping.

Concurrent enrolment - In this programme gifted students attend two or

more classes during the academic year. For instance, a student is
permitted to attend a lower class for part of the day and a higher class for
the remainder of the day. That is, the same student may be in JSS form
one in the morning and form two during the afternoon. Since records are
kept on every exercise that the student performs in both classes, credits
are awarded in all the exercises, and therefore the student completes the
course earlier than usual.

Advanced placement involves allowing gifted students to take courses

of advanced content (usually at the secondary level) and giving them
credits for completion of the course. For example, a junior secondary
student is offered the opportunity to participate in a senior secondary
programme while still in junior secondary school.

In the old system a few individuals took courses in both GCE 'O' and 'A'
levels concurrently. Both concurrent enrolment and advanced placement
are similar in operation. The difference is that in concurrent enrolment
the student alternates classes; but stays in one class all the time in
advanced placement.

Activity 5.1
After a critical appraisal of the various acceleration programmes which
one would you propose for a gifted student in your class?

State three reasons for your choice.

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Enrichment programmes
In the confines of the regular classroom, enrichment is the most
frequently used programme for the gifted and talented. In enrichment
programmes students are offered extra or more challenging materials to
learn. Enrichment programmes can be designed in diverse forms. Among
the common forms are: individualised programming; independent study;
ability grouping; flexible scheduling; use of faster-paced, higher-level
materials; and field trips (Lewis and Doorlag, 1995).

Most Ghanaian teachers use the majority of the programmes mentioned

above: the only one that appears strange is the use of faster-paced, higher-
level materials. Let us take a quick review of the familiar strategies as
well as the new modes.

Individualised programme - Like every other personal programme,

individualised educational programmes for the gifted and talented are
tasks and activities that are carefully designed to meet their abilities.
Teachers critically consider the current performance of the gifted
students, taking particular notice of their strengths and weaknesses, and
devise learning activities that offer better opportunities for them to
develop. Similar measures are taken in independent study as well as
ability grouping. The gifted are offered planned assignments and projects
to execute. These assignments can be in any discipline, such as
mathematics, reading, writing, art work, craft and music.
However, while students of similar abilities work together in ability
grouping, the same students may be asked to work individually in
individualised or independent study. It is important to indicate here that
the assignments and tasks given to these gifted students are always more
advanced and more difficult than the tasks given to their classmates.

Flexible scheduling represents a situation where a gifted student is

officially permitted to attend classes less often than the rest of the
students; perhaps for only 4 days each week. In Ghana this is not
officially practised; some pupils or students, however, miss a number of
classes but always perform better that their mates in exercises and tests.

Field trips, otherwise called educational tours or excursions, are used

by teachers to broaden the experiences of their students. Field trips are
organised for students for various reasons. To the gifted, the benefits of
field trips are:
 Such trips are used to enable the students acquire first hand
experiences about the issues they read or hear of in the classroom.
 Students are offered the opportunity to plan the questions as they like
to seek solutions to various problems as well as make working
contacts with personnel in various fields.

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After every field trip students should be asked to present comprehensive

reports, critically discussing the benefits of the trip and suggesting steps
to improve on any difficulties they encountered.

Faster-paced, higher-level materials might appear quite new to the

Ghanaian teacher, since we are yet to develop an effective system to
develop and supply educational materials and equipment. In the advanced
countries, however, many educational programmes for the gifted and
other categories of learners have been well developed.
Some are even produced on a commercial basis and are procured by
educational institutions. Some of these well programmed courses are
offered to the gifted while the average students perform activities that are
designed for their abilities.

In some instances such programmes are conducted on personal computers

and other learning devices. You, as a teacher, can also design a similar
programme for a gifted student in your class. You have to spend extra
time to organise relevant learning activities from the general syllabus for
the gifted to study. Selected activities should be grouped into units and
sections (as in these course materials), and the students should be guided
to go through the various sections at their own pace.

Activity 5.2
a. List five types of enrichment programmes.

b. What is flexible scheduling?

c. What is an enrichment programme?

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d. Mention five different types of accelerated programmes.

e. e Differentiate between subject acceleration and curriculum

compacting.

f. How did the common entrance examination assist in acceleration

programming for the gifted?

g. How have the current educational reforms compensated for the gifted
in terms of acceleration programmes?

h. What other name can you assign to mentorship?

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i. In what disciplines do schools frequently ask for the assistance of

resource persons?

Promoting creativity and problem solving in the gifted

and talented
Teachers are responsible for making curriculum adjustments to facilitate
maximum growth and development of students. Creativity and problem
solving are essential areas in which gifted and talented students require
special assistance.

Creativity, according to Kirk and Gallagher (1979), is the production of

a unique product from available materials or data. Creativity can also be
explained as the ability to generate novel solutions to specific problems.
One component of creativity is divergent thinking.

In divergent thinking, several solutions are suggested to one problem.

Teachers can assist gifted students to develop divergent thinking through
the use of four important factors: fluency, flexibility, originality and
elaboration.

In respect of fluency, the teacher has to encourage the student to generate

many responses to a single item. For instance, present a question and see
how many possible solutions the student can suggest within specific
period of time. This is also called brainstorming.

When we talk about flexibility we mean that the teacher is expected to

assist the students to change the form of the information or shift its
perspective. That is, if the student provides an answer to a problem, the
teacher asks for an alternative and insists on the student providing the
alternative. In short, various alternatives should always be proposed to an
issue or task.

Originality, on the other hand, can be developed by encouraging students

to create new solutions to problems. In this context the teacher does not
accept any solution that is provided elsewhere in books or by other
people. The students should be encouraged to provide their own answers.
For instance, ask students to suggest effective means to curb teenage
pregnancy or the spread of AIDS. Accept all forms of suggested
strategies - verbal responses, a piece of song, drama, picture making or
poems. This is also called learning modalities (Samples, 1992).

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Unit 5, section 5: Management of the gifted and talented EDUCATION

Finally, elaboration calls for expanding and providing more details to

ideas and issues. Give students exercises in elaborative thinking by
presenting simple statements that they must expand. Use quotations such
as 'all people are created equal', 'man is born free, but everywhere he is in
chains' etc, and let them elaborate on these statements.

Problem solving is an extension of divergent thinking. It is important for

students to become sensitive to the fact that problems exist and that they
possess the skill required to develop appropriate solutions to them
(Feldhusen, 1989). Guide your students to approach problem solving by
adopting Gordon's (1974) model of six step processes. These are:
 defining the problem
 generating possible solutions
 evaluating the solutions
 deciding which solution is best
 deciding how to implement the solution
 assessing how well the solution solved the problem

While this model is useful to all students, it is vital to the gifted since it
enables them to analyse, synthesise and evaluate activities.

Activity 5.3
a. What is creativity?

b. What is unique about divergent thinking?

c. What is brainstorming?

d. Mention four factors that facilitate divergent thinking.

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e. Present a summary of Gordon's (1974) model for solving (the six-

step process).

Summary
Instruction is the most typical area in which classroom adaptations must
be made for students who are gifted and talented. This section has
addressed ways in which teachers can select appropriate educational
provisions and curriculum adaptations to meet the abilities of the gifted.
Among the strategies discussed are acceleration, enrichment, creativity
and problem solving programming.

References

Feldhusen, J F, Thinking skills for the gifted, in Feldhusen, J F et al,

Excellence in educating the gifted, Love, Denver, 1989

Kirk, S A and Gallagher, J J, Educating exceptional children, Houghton

Mifflin, Boston, 1979

Lewis, Lena Band Doorlag, D H, Teaching special students in the

mainstream, Merrill, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1995

Gordon, T, Teacher effectiveness training, Wyden, New York, 1974

Samples, B, The metaphoric mind, a cerebration of creative
consciousness (second edition), Jalmar Press, California, 1992

Suggested answers to activities

Activity 5.2
a. • individualised programme
• independent study
• ability grouping
• flexible scheduling
• faster-pace, higher-level materials

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 SPECIAL
Unit 5, section 5: Management of the gifted and talented EDUCATION

b. A programme that allows a gifted student to miss a day or two each

week of the school term. Thus the gifted student attends school less
often than the other children.

c. It is the adjustment of the regular curriculum to meet the abilities of

the gifted. It involves making the learning tasks more difficult, using
courses designed for higher classes or providing different learning
opportunities for students who appear to be academically more
advanced than their classmates.

d. • early entrance (or early admission)

• class skipping
• class telescoping
• subject acceleration
• curriculum compacting etc

e. Subject acceleration involves a gifted student learning a higher level

of a particular subject or subjects. In curriculum compacting the
gifted student goes through more than one year curriculum in a year.
That is, for example, the student can finish a two-year course in one
year.

f. It enabled a few gifted students to have access to secondary and

tertiary education at early ages.

g. The number of schooling years has been reduced from seventeen to

twelve at the pre-university level.

h. Community resource persons.

• sports and athletics
• art and craft
• drumming and dancing
• drama
• use of heavy equipment etc

Activity 5.3
a. The ability to provide new solutions to specific problems, or one' s
ability to produce a new material from what is available.

b. The ability to offer different or alternative solutions to a single

problem.

c. A process of finding many solutions to a particular problem within a

specified period.

d. • fluency
• flexibility

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SPECIAL
EDUCATION Unit 5, section 5: Management of the gifted and talented

• originality
• elaboration

e. • problem definition
• possible solutions
• evaluate solutions
• select best solution
• implement solution
• appraise solution

Unit activity
Check back to page 148 and see whether you still agree with what you
wrote.

222 UEW/IEDE, B.Ed