Exceptional Lives: Special Education in Today’s Schools

Chapter 9

*Understanding Students with Intellectual Disabilities

*Defining Students with Intellectual Disability

*Used to be known as Mental Retardation, families and professionals now embrace the term Intellectual Disability

*A more positive implication , rather than a stigma attached to the term

Supports

*The services , resources, and personal assistance that enable a person to develop, learn, and live effectively

*These services can be intermittent or pervasive

Intensities of Support

* INTERMITTENT

*LIMITED

*EXTENSIVE

*PERVASIVE

* In the fall of 2006, approximately 0.08percent of all students age 6 to 21 in Special Education nationally were classified as having an Intellectual Disability

Two major characteristics of Intellectual Disability are: Limitations in

Intellectual Functioning

&

Limitations in Adaptive Behavior

*Limitations in Intellectual Functioning

*Intelligence refers to a student’s general mental capability for solving problems, paying attention to relevant information, thinking abstractly, remembering important information and skill, learning from everyday experiences, and generalizing knowledge from one setting to another

*Limitations in Intellectual Functioning

*Mild —IQ 50-55 to around 70

*Moderate—IQ 35-40 to 50-55

*Severe—IQ 20-25 to 30-40

*Profound—IQ below 20-25

*The AAIDD classification system has moved away from the IQ-levels approach and instead identifies the level of support a student needs

*Limitations in Intellectual Functioning

*1. Memory

*2. Generalization

*3. Motivation

*Limitations in Adaptive Behavior

*This term refers to the collection of conceptual, social and practical skills that have been learned by people in order to function in their everyday lives

*Limitations in Adaptive Behavior

*By definition, people with Intellectual Disabilities have significant limitations in adaptive behavior

* Conceptual skills include language, reading, and writing, money concepts, and self-direction

* Social skills include responsibility, self-esteem, gullibility, and rule-following

* Practical skills include activities of daily living, occupational skills, and maintenance of safe environments

*Determining the Causes

*Timing

*Prenatal

*Perinatal

*Postnatal

*Type

*Biomedical factors

*Social factors

*Behavioral factors

*Educational factors

*Evaluating Students with Intellectual Disabilities

*AAIDD proposes a comprehensive assessment that involves diagnosing intellectual disability, classifying and describing the student's strengths, weaknesses, and need for support.

*Designing an Appropriate IEP

*It is very important to form partnerships among students, parents, educators, and adult support providers in planning for the transition needs of students with disabilities

*Paraprofessionals can be a very valuable resource in helping students make progress in the general curriculum

*Assistive technologies such as audio and video resources help improve students’ literacy skills

*A functional curriculum is important for teaching skills for independent living

Using Effective Instructional Strategies

*Preschool and early-education students benefit from prelinguistic milieu teaching to prompt communication and language

*Elementary and secondary students develop their abilities to function effectively in school and post school environments by using the self-determined learning model

*Students in transitional programs benefit from community-based instruction

*Including Students with an Intellectual Disability

*For the most part, students are not included in general education programs, but when they are, students with an Intellectual Disability make significant progress in both academics and socialization

*Assessing Students’ Progress

*Data-based decision-making strategies document students’ progress in the general curriculum

*The ecological inventory process is useful in both planning community-based instruction and assessing students’ attainment of community-based instructional goals

*Students’ IEPs must describe the accommodations to which they are entitled such as dictating responses, having questions read to them, having more time, and having items clarified for them

*Thank you!