Disabilities or Differences

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Disabilities or Differences?

• D.C. Everest Junior High
• Nicole Held

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What exactly is a disability?

• Disability Someone who has a physical or
  mental/brain problem that has a large and
  long-term bad effect on his or her ability to
  carry out normal day-to-day activities, such as
  reading, behavior, speech, mobility (ability to
  move), hearing, spelling, memory, and math are a
  few examples.

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• So, are disabilities really disabilities or a
  difference in the way we learn?

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IEP

• A legal document stating how you are doing in
  school, lists the goals you are working on, and
  tells about the modifications and accommodations
  you need to do well.

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SLD Specific Learning Differences

• People with learning disabilities have average
  to above average intelligence. They have problems
  in a wide range of learning and/or social
  difficulties. (Understanding or remembering
  speaking, writing, reading, listening, spelling,
  mathematics, social information, emotional
  maturation, processing information, organization
  of things, time and/or space
• brain "processes" information differently

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More LD Info

• You might be just as smart as someone sitting
  next to you in class, but your grades in certain
  areas aren't as good. This isn't because you are
  dumb, lazy, or anything else bad. You just learn
  differently.
• It is like when you go on a car trip and get
  stuck in road construction. It takes you a lot
  longer to get where you are going.

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Some questions

• Are all LD students alike?No. But many LD
  students experience very similar processing and
  learning difficulties. And all LD students get
  frustrated in school.
• Will I ever get over my learning disability?A
  true learning disability never goes away. But,
  with understanding and effort you can learn to
  use your many strengths to "compensate" for your
  weaker processing skills. You may also be able to
  strengthen your weak processing skills so that
  your learning disability is not as severe. Many
  LD people are highly creative and "gifted" in
  many ways.

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Some types of SLDs

• Dyslexia is simply a fancy word for a learning
  disability that involves reading.
• Other similar terms include Dysgraphia (writing
  disability) and Dyscalcula (math disability).

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Some of the causes

• Birth trauma Sometimes before or during the
  birth process babies lose blood, are deprived of
  oxygen, or get chemicals into their blood. When a
  baby's brain is given certain kinds of chemicals
  or does not get enough blood or oxygen, permanent
  brain damage can occur. Many LD students have had
  some sort of "trauma" either before or during
  their birth.
• Heredity LD tends to "run" in families. A parent
  who has difficulty processing information may
  simply pass this along genetically. This seems to
  be the most common cause of LD.
• Lead poisoning When young children eat, drink,
  or breathe anything that contains lead (old
  paints, car exhaust, old plumbing, etc.), brain
  damage (and a learning disability) can develop.
  

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Causes Cont.

• Accident If a person experiences a head injury,
  brain damage can occur which leads to a learning
  disability.
• Incomplete programming Research is beginning to
  suggest that the brain needs to be "programmed"
  in much the same way as a computer. It is
  suggested that this "programming" must take place
  very early in life and involve all of the various
  forms of information processing. If a child does
  not have enough opportunity to practice
  processing a certain type of information at an
  early age, the brain may always struggle with
  that type of processing.

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CD Cognitive Disability

• Cognitive disabilities can be many different
  things. Because of this, the definition of CD
  remains broad.
• Have great difficulty in one or more mental tasks
  than an "average" person, have big delays in
  measured intelligence, knowing life skills, and
  academic functioning. It can also affect how they
  think.
• A few reasons a person may have a cognitive
  disability are
• Medical Injury (cancer, brain surgeries. Etc)
• Traumatic brain injury
• Neurological Impairments
• Genetic Disorders

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Some Types of CD

• Downs Syndrome  
• Williams Syndrome
• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Sachs Disease
• PKU (Phenylketonuria)
• Fragile X
• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

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SL Speech and Language

• Problems in communication and related areas such
  as oral motor function.
• These range from simple sound substitutions to
  the inability to understand or use language or
  use the oral-motor mechanism.
• Some causes of speech and language disorders
  include hearing loss, neurological disorders,
  brain injury, drug abuse, physical impairments
  such as cleft lip or palate, and vocal abuse or
  misuse.
• Frequently, however, the cause is unknown.

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More Speech and Language

• A language disorder is an impairment in the
  ability to understand and/or use words in
  context, both verbally and nonverbally.
• Some characteristics of language disorders
  include improper use of words and their meanings,
  inability to express ideas, inappropriate
  grammatical patterns, reduced vocabulary and
  inability to follow directions.

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EBD Emotional Behavioral Disorders

• Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings,
  unable to control actions, mood of unhappiness or
  depression, a tendency to develop physical
  symptoms or fears associated with personal or
  school problems
• Two parts Emotional and Behavioral
• Emotional Disability refers to things such
  as Depression, Bi-polar Disorder, Anxiety
  Disorders, and Obsessive Compulsive Dis.
• Behavioral Disorders can be things such as
  Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorders,
  and Tourettes.

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EBD Cont.

• An inability to learn that cannot be explained by
  intellectual, sensory or healthfactors
• An inability to build or maintain
  satisfactory interpersonal relationships
  with peers and teachers
• Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under
  normal circumstances
• A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or
  depression and,
• A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears
  associated with personal or socialproblems.

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OHI Other Health Impairment

• Chronic or frequent health problems such as
  asthma, severe ADHD, diabetes, epilepsy, heart
  condition, leukemia, and sickle cell anemia that
  affects how the child does in school.

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ADHD and ADD

• Inattention
• difficulty attending or focusing on a specific
  task. People may become distracted within a
  matter of minutes. Inattentive behavior may also
  cause difficulties with staying organized (e.g.
  losing things), keeping track of time, completing
  tasks, and making careless errors.
• Hyperactivity
• difficulty controlling behavior. These people are
  in constant motion. They may engage in excessive
  fiddling, leg swinging, and squirming in their
  chair.
• Impulsivity
• difficulty controlling impulses. These people do
  not stop and think before they act. They say and
  do whatever comes into their mind without
  thinking about the consequences. They might say
  something inappropriate and regret it later,
  blurt out a response to question before a person
  is done speaking to them, or have difficulty
  waiting for their turn in line.

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Autism

• Problems with social interaction, communication,
  development of restricted and repetitive patterns
  of behavior, interests, and activities.
• Diagnosed normally before age three.
• Characteristics often associated with autism are
  repetitive activities, resistance to change or
  change in daily routines, and unusual responses
  to sensory experiences, lack of social skills,
  communication problems.
• "Autism" is a lifelong developmental disability.

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Affects of Autism

• Behavior can interferes with the learning in the
  following areas
• (1.) Communication (2.) Social participation
  (3.) Activities, interests, and imaginative
  development(4.) Developmental rate and sequences
  (5.) Sensory processing(6.) Cognition/Academics