Course Title: Inclusiveness

Course code: SNIE 1012

Instructor: Abdulfettah Muzemil (Assistant Prof.)

Telegram group channel link: Inclusiveness2021
 CHAPTER ONE
Understanding Disabilities and
Vulnerabilities
 Introduction
• Children with disabilities and vulnerabilities are children first and have
much in common with other children of the same age.

• Each child has individual strengths, personality experiences so

particular disabilities will impact differently on individual children.

• A child’s special educational need should not define the whole child.
Important and Basic Terminologies
Impairment:
• Refers to any loss or lack of psychological, physiological, or anatomical
structure or function.

• It is an abnormality of body structure, appearance, organ or

system functioning.
• Examples of impairment include: amputations, mental illness, near-sightedness,
arthritis, dementia …
Disability:
• Is any restriction or lack of ability resulting from impairment to
perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered
normal for a person of the same age, culture, and education.

• Is a performance deficit within the physical and social environments

that is the result of impairment.

• Examples of disability: reading difficulty, seeing difficulty, inability

moving …
Handicap

• is a disadvantage for a given individual, resulting from an

impairment or disability that limits or prevents the fulfillment of the
role that is typical (depending on age, gender, and social or cultural
factors) for that individual.
Common Causes of Disability
• Disability can be caused by the following factors:
• Genetic
• Environmental
• Inaccessible environments
• Unknown
Type of Disabilities
• The major types of disabilities are:
1. Visual Impairment
2. Hearing Impairment
3. Specific Learning Disability
4. Speech and Language Impairments
5. Autism
6. Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
7. Intellectual Disability
8. Physical disability/Orthopedic Impairment and Health impairment
9. Vulnerability
Visual Impairment
A. Low vision/partially sighted defined as:-
“a condition in which one's vision is seriously impaired,
defined usually as having between 20/200 and 20/70 central
visual acuity in the better eye, with correction.”

B. Blind it is a descriptive term referring to

“a lack of sufficient vision for the daily activities of life.”
Hearing Impairment
• Hearing impairment simply defined as:
• Disordered hearing

• Inability of someone to hear as completely and as adequately as normal

hearing people.

• Pasanella and Cara (1981) defined Auditory/hearing impairment as

“a generic term indicating a continuum of hearing loss from mild to
profound, which included the sub-classifications of the hard of hearing
and Deaf.”
Degrees of Hearing Loss
• Pure Tone Audiometry test : uses to find out the extent of
hearing loss.

• It gives the average hearing threshold

• Hearing impairment is measured in decibels (dB) hearing level

(HL).

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Degree of hearing loss PTA (dB HL)

Normal 0-25

Mild 26-40

Moderate 41-55

Moderately severe 56-70

Severe 71-90

profound 91+
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Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
• Students with SLD are students who are experiencing significant difficulties with at
least one area of their learning at school.
• IDEA 2007 Definition;
• Specific learning disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic
psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or
written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, speak, read, write,
spell, or to do mathematical calculations.

• The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal
brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

• The term does not apply to children who have learning problems that are primarily
the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of intellectual disability, of
emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
Types of LD
• Scholars in the area classify LD into two.

• The first category is developmental LD: - in which individuals manifest

problems in attention, memory, perceptual-motor, thinking, language, etc.

• The second group is academic LD: - that include problems in reading

(Dyslexia), spelling and writing (Dysgraphia), arithmetic
(Dyscalculia),etc.
Communication Disorder
• Speech, Language and Communication
• Speech refers to language that involves the coordination of oral-neuromuscular movement to
produce sounds.
• Speech is the vocalized form of communication.

• Language can be defined as a socially shared code or system of conventions that represents
and expresses ideas through symbols and rules.
• Language can be spoken, written, or signed.

• Communication is the transfer of knowledge, ideas, opinions and feelings which is usually
accomplished through the use of language.

• Generally, communication is the broadest of the three terms, includes both speech and
language.
Communication Disorder Cond…
• Any deviation from using language and speech in the formal system of
communication leads an individual to language or speech disorder which is
known as communication disorder.
• Communication disorders fundamentally include disorders of speech
and language.
Speech disorders
• Disordered speech is significantly different from the usual speech of
others, and it detracts from the communicative abilities of the speaker.

 Speech
is abnormal when it is unintelligible, unpleasant or interferes with
communication.

 Speech problems mostly occur because of vocal system impairments.

• difference in speech such as dialects or accents are not disorders.

Types of speech disorder
• The most common developmental speech disorders that interfere with child’s education are:

1. Voice disorders – absence or abnormal production of vocal quality – pitch, loudness,

resonance, and/or duration.

2. Articulation disorder – abnormal production of speech sounds. E.g., addition, omission,

distortion, subtraction, … of sounds in a word

3. Fluency disorders – are interruptions in the flow, rate, and/or rhythm of verbal expressions.

• characterized by elongation, repetition and hesitations formed during communication that

interrupt the flow of speech.

• The two most common developmental deviations of fluency are stuttering and stammering.
Language Disorder
• a language disorder is ‘‘the impairment or deviant development of comprehension
and/or use of a spoken, written, and/or other symbol system’’
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
(ASHA)
• It is difficulty or inability to master the various systems of rules and language
which then interferes with communication.

• A student with a language disorder may be unable to understand spoken

language or to produce sentences and share ideas in an age-appropriate way.

• The disorder may involve the form of language, the content of language and, or,
the function of language as a communication tool.
Language Disorder Cond…
• The disorder may involve any of the following elements of language:
1. Language form: - includes phonology, morphology and syntax application.

Phonology: the sound system of a language and the rules that cover sound
combinations.

Morphology: the structural system for words and word construction in a language

Syntax: the system in a given language for combining words to form sentences.
English sentences typically put the subject first, then the verb, then the direct
object, and so on.
Language disorders contd.
2. Language Content: - focuses on the meaning
Semantics: the meaning of words and sentences in a language.
Skill in semantics includes the ability to visualize or interpret what someone has said
or what you have read and to understand it.
3. Language function: -
Pragmatics: the ability to combine form and content to communicate functionally
and in socially acceptable ways.

For example, knowing when to say what to whom.

• Auditory processing disorders: This term describes “a general deficit in

Autism
• Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social
interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and restricted and
repetitive behavior.
• Parents usually notice signs in the first two years of their child's life.

• The term autism does not apply if the child‘s educational performance is
adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance.

• Early speech or behavioral interventions can help children with autism gain
self-care, social, and communication skills.

• An autistic culture has developed, with some individuals seeking a cure and
others believing autism should be accepted as a difference and not treated
as a disorder.
Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD)
• EBD means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a
long period of time and to a marked degree, which adversely affects educational
performance.

• Inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory and health factors;

• 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; or

• A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fear associated with personal or school

Classification of EBD
• Emotional or behavioral problems and disorders fall into two very
broad classifications:
• 1. Externalizing behavior also called under controlled conduct disorder or acting
out, include such problems disobedience, disruptiveness, fighting, tempers
tantrums, irresponsibility, jealous, anger, attention seeking etc… and

• 2. Internalizing behavior also known as over controlled disorders, include such

problems anxiety, immaturity, shyness, social withdrawal, feeling of inadequacy
(inferiority), guilt, depression and worries a great deal etc…
Intellectual Disability
• Significantly sub average general intellectual functioning existing concurrently
with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during developmental
period. (AAIDD)

• three main components are there in the definition:

a. Significantly sub average general Intellectual functioning

b. Deficit in adaptive behavior or skill
c. Developmental period
Significantly sub average general Intellectual
functioning
• Intellectual functioning is the ability or intelligence used to answer certain
questions and to solve problems.
• It is determined through standardized intelligence test.
• That is through measuring intellectual Quotient (IQ) of the individual by
administering IQ tests.
• The IQ is obtained by dividing the individual's Mental Age (MA) by his
chronological Age (CA) of individual and then multiplying by 100 to get rid of
the decimal.
IQ= MA X 100
CA
• Hence, significantly sub average general intellectual functioning is a score on
standardized intelligence test lower than that obtained by 97 to 98% of persons
of the same age.
Deficit in adaptive behavior or skill
• refers to failure to meet standards of independence and social responsibility
expected of the individual's age and cultural groups.

• Adaptive skill areas currently considered as appropriate in diagnosing

intellectual disability are: Communication, Self-care, Home living, Social Skills,
Community use, Self-direction, Health and safety, Functional academic and
Leisure
C. Developmental period
• is consistent with AAMR definition.

• This definition states that intellectual disabilities must manifest before

the age of 18.
Physical Disability and Health Related Impairment
• A physical disability is “a limitation on a person's physical functioning, mobility, dexterity or
stamina.”

• Physical disability is a disability category that comprises hundreds of conditions and diseases
having high incidence disabilities.

• Physical/motor related difficulties include children with neurological defects, orthopedic

conditions, birth defects, developmental disabilities, and conditions that are the result of
infection and diseases.

• Physical disabilities place some limitation on a person’s ability to move about, use their limbs or
hands or control their own movement.

• It is the most obvious disabilities, as a rule, although there are some conditions that limit
movement and mobility in less obvious or inconsistent ways (e.g., epilepsy, cystic fibrosis,
Classification
• In a broad sense, all physical disabilities and health related impairments may fall
into four main categories:
(1) Neurological based disorders,

(2) Musculoskeletal related problems, and

(3) Health related Impairments, and

(4) Accident based disabilities.

Vulnerability
• Vulnerable means being at risk of being harmed.
• In principle, everyone is vulnerable to some adverse event or circumstance,
but some people are more vulnerable than others.
• vulnerability can be generally defined as a complex phenomenon that refers
to the following dimensions:
• Economic difficulties/lack of financial resources;
• Social exclusion;
• Lack of social support from social networks;
• Stigmatization;
• Health difficulties; and
• Being a victim of crime
Models of Disability
• A model is a set of guiding assumptions, concepts, and propositions about
the nature of phenomena or human experience.

• Models have often been defined as human-made tools for understanding and
human-made guidelines for action.

• Treatment and intervention strategies are guided by the type of disability

model used.
Medical Model of Disability
• It is sometimes referred to as the Biological-Inferiority or Functional-
Limitation Model.

• It holds that disability results from an individual person’s physical or mental

limitations, and is largely unconnected to the social or geographical
environments.

• The Medical Model places the source of the problem within a single person
with impairment,

• The solutions are found by focusing on the individual.

Social Model of Disability
• Views disability as a consequence of environmental, social and attitudinal
barriers that prevent people with impairments from maximum participation
in society.

• It is a reaction to the dominant medical model of disability .

• People with impairments are disabled by the fact that they are excluded from
participation within the mainstream of society as a result of physical,
environmental and attitudinal barriers which prevent them from gaining
equal access to education, employment, information, housing, public
transport, leisure opportunities, and so on.
Functional Models of Disability
• The functional model of disability theorizes that the functions of the
individual influence the definition of disability.

• Individuals who enjoy physical activities would probably be more affected by

mobility impairment than those who do not care for such activities.

e.g. The loss of one finger would probably not be considered a disability for
most people, and yet, because of the impairment in occupational functioning
for the concert pianist, the amputation would be a life-changing disability.
Ecological Models of Disability
• In this model the disability or ability is defined as the interaction between the person and
their environment.

• Thus, disability is viewed as a concept that is dynamic and context-driven.

• Ability and disability do not exist as two separate entities, but as a spectrum that is
dependent on the interaction between person and environmental factors.
• E.G. if an individual has the physical potential to see, but there is no light in
his/her environment, then the person-environment interaction creates a
disability.

• If the same person has 20/20 vision, yet is unable to view bacteria, the addition
of a microscope creates ability.
• Therefore, the ability or disability is not inherent in the person or the environment, but a
dynamic interaction between these two factors.