Video Sources:
1. List of Disabilities and Descriptions
2. Special Education Law

It is a developmental disability affecting both verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction.

 Generally, visible signs appear before the age of three, significantly affecting a child’s academic performance. Other symptoms often relate to autism are repetitive movements and activities, reluctance to change in daily routines and environments, and uncommon reaction to sensory experiences.

 

 

Assistive Technology to support
1. Accommodations 101: Assistive Listening Devices
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QbRLAr1VFM&t=17s
2. Cochlear implants
https://www.nationaldeafcenter.org/sites/default/files/Cochlear%20Implants_%20An%20Introduction.pdf
3. Telecommunications
https://www.nationaldeafcenter.org/sites/default/files/Telecommunications_%20Devices%20and%20Software.pdf
4. Telecommunications: VRS, VRI, and TRS
https://www.nationaldeafcenter.org/sites/default/files/Telecommunications_%20VRS,%20VRI,%20and%20TRS.pdf
5. Visual Fire Alarms
https://www.nationaldeafcenter.org/sites/default/files/Visual%20Fire%20Alarms.pdf
Hearing loop (or induction loop) systems
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfA4sBEL8GU
FM systems
here is a video example use FM system in the classroom:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYg3IddLepg

Resources:
1. https://www.parentcenterhub.org/hearingloss/#def
2. https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/assistive-devices-people-hearing-voice-speech-or-language-disorders
3. https://deafchildren.org/
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfA4sBEL8GU
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYg3IddLepg
Providing Services and Accommodations for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in a Mainstream Classroom:

Also including the following conditions

     Children with Emotional disturbances may exhibit the following behaviors or characteristics.

Prevalence
     The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS') 1999 report, Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, estimates that at least one in five (20%) children and adolescents has a mental health disorder at some point in their life from childhood to adolescence.

Support Strategies

REFERENCES
 

Desautels, L. (2017, April 26). Reaching students with emotional disturbances. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/reaching-students-emotional-disturbances-lori-desautels

Emotional Disturbance. (n.d.). Dphhs.Mt.Gov. Retrieved July 10, 2021, from https://dphhs.mt.gov/schoolhealth/chronichealth/developmentaldisabilities/emotionaldisturbance

Peterson, J. B., Higgins, D. M., & Pihl, R. O. (n.d.). Self Authoring - What is Self Authoring? Selfauthoring.Com. Retrieved July 10, 2021, from https://www.selfauthoring.com/ 

It causes delays in the development of speech and language, and those delays then lead to learning problems, often resulting in poor school performance and poor academic performance is often accompanied by inattention and sometimes poor behavior.

 

If a teacher turns his back on the students while teaching, his voice will be directed toward the blackboard, causing a student with hearing loss to miss part of the lesson. Oral changes to homework assignments, an unfamiliar accent or a teacher who talks too rapidly can all hinder the learning progress of a student with hearing loss.

Classroom environment, certain subjects are just intrinsically more difficult for a child with hearing loss. While the ability to hear affects all aspects of academic achievement, perhaps the areas most affected are those involving language concepts. Vocabulary, language arts, sentence structure and idiomatic expressions are extremely difficult for a child affected by hearing loss to grasp.

One in eight people suffer from hearing impairment. In most cases a hearing loss cannot be cured. Hearing loss is typically treated with hearing aids.

·       By asking a series of questions to detect delays in a child's normal development.

·       By assessing a parent's concern about language and speech development. 

·       It can also be medically diagnosed.

 

Strategies to support

·       Use captions when teaching.

·       Make use of available technology. 

·       Use visual stimulus.

·       Arrange the classroom and seating in a way that these children can see your face and the faces of their classmates. 

·       Keep unnecessary noise to a minimum.

 

Assistive technology to assist

·       Hearing aids

·       Cochlear implants

·      Bone conduction devices

 

https://www.dallasear.com/solutions-for-pediatric-hearing-loss.html#:~:text=Children%20with%20hearing%20loss%20can,hearing%20aids%2C%20which%20amplify%20sound.

Defined by the APA as a “developmental condition that is characterized by significant deficits in both intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior, including conceptual, social and practical skills.”

 

Core Features include:

·      Limited intellectual functioning (intelligence) - including learning, reasoning and problem-solving.

·      Limited adaptive behavior, which is the collection of conceptual, social, and practical skills in our everyday lives.

·      Originates before the age of 18.

 

Can originate prenatally (e.g., genetic or chromosomal factors, inborn errors of metabolism, maternal alcohol or drug consumption during pregnancy, etc.), perinatally (e.g., anoxia, infections, trauma, etc.), and/or postnatally (e.g., malnutrition, brain injury, etc.).

 

It is estimated that the exact causes of approximately 40 percent of all cases of intellectual disability are unknown.

 

 

 

IQ tests are the most common method of identifying intellectual disabilities (ID). People who score under 75 in an IQ test are considered to be suffering from an intellectual disability.

 

Intellectual disability is identified as mild (most people with intellectual disability are in this category), moderate or severe. The symptoms of intellectual disability begin during childhood or adolescence. Delays in language or motor skills may be seen by age two. However, mild levels of intellectual disability may not be identified until school age when a child may have difficulty with academics.

 

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) lists the following signs and symptoms of ID for children:

·      Trouble with basic motor skills (sitting, crawling, walking, etc.)

·      Learning to talk at a later age, speech impediments, etc.

·      Finding it hard to remember things.

·      Having trouble understanding social rules.

·      Having trouble seeing the results of their actions.

·      Problems keeping up in school.

·      Difficulty with basic life skills (getting dressed, going to the bathroom, etc.)

 

 

Approximately 6.5 million people (3% of the population) in the United States have an intellectual disability. Moreover, it is estimated that around 2.6% of the world’s population has an intellectual disability. This makes it a high-incidence disability.

·      Get the student’s attention before communicating. This can be done out loud or with a gesture.

·      Use visual instructions to help model tasks.

·      Help student break down tasks as simply as possible.

·      Teachers can modify their existing curriculum by introducing each learning task as a series of short, individual actions instead of looking at the bigger picture.

·      Since ID students tend to struggle with abstract thinking, employ more hands-on activities kinesthetic learning.

·      Provide learning materials to parents in advance so that the learning process can begin earlier.

·      Repeat instructions whenever possible.

·      Reinforce learning by using real-life examples and environments.

·      Consider giving positive feedback and correction immediately when children are learning a task or behavior.

·      Speech-to-text software.

·      Word prediction software.

·      Text-to-speech software.

·      Large-print and tactile keyboards.

·      Memory aids.

·      Video-modelling social skills.

·      Slant boards to support writing.

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, Virginia: American Psychiatric Publishing.

 

AllPlay Learn. (2021) Intellectual Disability. https://allplaylearn.org.au/primary/teacher/intellectual-disability/

 
Blackhurst, A. (2005). Perspectives on applications of technology in the field of learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Quarterly, 28, 175-178. 

Center for Disease Control. (2020). Facts About Intellectual Disability. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/childdevelopment/facts-about-intellectual-disability.html

 

 

Special Olympics. (2018). Intellectual Disability. YouTube. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6WmGhY8Q4I

Note:
Some children/students with MD do not have a clear diagnosis of their disabilities because it is a rare condition.  The need for a "name" to put around the disabilities is important in accessing services to meet the needs of growth and development.

MD can be:

Implications (Medical and Educational)
-Children/Individuals with multiple disabilities have a variety of medical problems such as seizures, sensory loss, hydrocephalus and scoliosis.
-Education Programs need to incorporate a variety of components and assess needs in four areas: domestic, leisure/recreational, community and vocational.
-Instructions should include: Expression of Choice, communication, functional skill development and age-appropriate social skills training.

Assistive Technology to support
The use of technology to teach skills to students with severe disabilities has a moderate to strong evidence base depending on the type of technology. There are two primary modes of technology interventions:

1. Video Prompting and Modeling

-for teaching social communications
-functional and behavioural skills
2. Computer-assisted Instructions
3. Tablets and Mobile Technology with systemic instruction

Recommendation for using AT:

Accommodation Strategies
For students to make adequate progress, teachers need access to the most effective instructional procedures available. Students with moderate to severe MD will benefit from systematic instructions as a teaching practice to teach academic skills.

2. Similar to the Other Health Impairments category under the IDEA, this category has a wide variety of disabilities that could be diagnosed beneath it. That being said, I believe this impairment would most often be classified under the low incidence category (Low and High Incidence Disabilities). This is because a student who is classified as having an Orthopedic Impairment may be qualified as having a serious physical impairment (Low and High Incidence Disabilities).

3. There is no one way to support students who are classified as having an orthopedic impairment. As this classification is wide-encompassing, support for those with an orthopedic impairment will be specific to their disability (Logsdon, 2020).

One way in which teachers and caregivers can support students who have orthopedic impairments, is to simply include them within everyday classroom environments. This aligns with the IDEA law (Logsdon, 2020). Students with an orthopedic impairment do not have any cognitive limitations, and therefore have the same capacities to succeed intellectually as a student without an orthopedic impairment (Logsdon, 2020).

Teachers may need to differentiate their lessons with respect to the areas of content, process, product, and learning environment in order to best support the needs of students with an orthopedic impairment. 

4. Much assistive technology exists and is widely used to support students with orthopedic impairments. These include crutches, canes, or potentially even voice recognition software, for students who have the inability to write or require support with writing (Logsdon, 2020).

5. Sources

Logsdon, A. (2020, April 14). How Orthopedic Impairments Affect Special Needs Students' Education. Verywell Family. https://www.verywellfamily.com/what-is-orthopedic-impairment-2162506. 

Low and High Incidence Disabilities. Assistive Technology Resource GENIE. (n.d.). https://assistivetechnologyresourcegenie.weebly.com/low-and-high-incidence-disabilities.html. 

Your Special Education Rights. (2013). The IDEA's Special Education Categories: Orthopedic Impairment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfLMfL-Rbl0. 

Low and High Incidence Disabilities. Assistive Technology Resource GENIE. (n.d.). https://assistivetechnologyresourcegenie.weebly.com/low-and-high-incidence-disabilities.html. 

Teachings in Education. (2020). Other Health Impairment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnSvLRD1VMo. 

Terada, Y. (2018, June 28). 17 Ways to Help Students With ADHD Concentrate. Edutopia. 
https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/17-ways-help-students-adhd-fidget. 

Tourette Association of America. (2020, January 14). Classroom Strategies and Techniques. Tourette Association of America. https://tourette.org/resources/overview/tools-for-educators/classroom-strategies-techniques/. 

Assistive Technology:
Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices.
https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_l8cLDag=/

Low-Tech AAC:
Any device that does not require batteries or electricity. Picture boards. Pen and paper.

Unaided Communication Systems:
Sign language, gestures or body language.
https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/american-sign-language

Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF)- Delayed Auditory Feedback devices play the user's voice back delayed by a fraction of a second. DAF devices may resemble hearing aids or headphones with a microphone. There are also apps that can use DAF on phone calls.

Frequency Altered Feedback (FAF)- Frequency Altered Feedback devices are similar to DAF but rather than delaying the user hearing their own voice, they change the pitch at which the user hears their own voice.

Resources:

 

Most students with dysgraphia also suffer from dyslexia. It is estimated that between 5% to 20% of children have some form of dysgraphia. It may remain unrecognized through the early school years as a child’s writing ability continues to develop; dysgraphia may remain undiagnosed until adulthood. The is no cure, but it can be treated through intervention.

 

 

 

 

·       Word Processing. For many students, having regular access to word processing systems during writing times can be very helpful. 

·       Voice to Text Software. 

·       Proofreading Software. 

 

https://dsf.net.au/what-is-dysgraphia/#:~:text=also%20have%20Dyslexia.-,Dysgraphia%20can%20appear%20as%20difficulties%20with%20spelling%20and%2For%20trouble,help%20prevent%20or%20reduce%20problems.

https://www.additudemag.com/what-is-dysgraphia-understanding-common-symptoms/#:~:text=It%20is%20a%20learning%20disability,of%20writing%20deficit%20like%20dysgraphia.

Visual impairment including blindness means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.

Visual impairment is classified as a low-incidence disability. Low -incidence disabilities reflect in students that make up 20% of all students with disabilities. 

For more information on assessment strategies check-out this website: https://www.adcet.edu.au/inclusive-teaching/specific-disabilities/blind-vision-impaired

For more Early Childhood Education teaching information check-out this website: https://www.pathstoliteracy.org/blog/strategies-helping-children-visual-impairments-develop-listening-skills

See Youtube link at the bottom for practical examples teaching strategies. 

"Technology is a tool to unlock learning and expand the horizons of students...Technology can be a great equalizer...It enhances communication and learning and expands the world of blind and visually impaired persons in many significant ways." - Koenig, A. & Holbrook, C. (Foundation of Education, 2nd Edition, Vol. 2)

It is essential that any child entering the education system with a visual impairment participates in assistive technology assessment. A basic assessment would include:

 

It is important to note that literacy is about more than just printed text. We must provide tactile manipulatives to assist student learning. This is an extremely important consideration in the Early Childhood Education setting as reading 

There are low and high tech braille options.

Slate & Stylus

This tool is equivalent to the pencil and pencil and paper. The slate is a pair of metal sheets hinged together with holes to serve as a guide for punching in the braille with stylus. 

Perkins Brailler

This tool acts as a typewriter. It has 6 keys that type braille. 

 
High-tech

This tool is a portable notetaker that acts like a small word processor. Students can download text to a computer and use text-to-speech functions as well as other helpful software. 

Computer Access

This blog provides personal insight into how assistive technology can transform the learning experiences of students:

https://assistivetechnologyresourcegenie.weebly.com/low-and-high-incidence-disabilities.html
https://www.iup.edu/disabilitysupport/resources/teaching-students-who-are-blind-and-visually-impaired/
https://sites.google.com/site/inclusionresourcenotebook/disability-areas/low-incidence-disabilities

Traumatic brain injury (TBI)  is an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Traumatic brain injury applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

There must be documentation of the adverse effect of the injury/disability on the child’s ability to learn and participate in school. This negative impact must be substantial. Students who have sustained TBIs often demonstrate uneven patterns of strengths and weaknesses and inconsistent performance from day to day. 

According to the Brain Injury Association of America, some common early characteristics of traumatic brain injury include headache, dizziness, memory problems, disorientation, nausea and vomiting. Later symptoms can include additional issues such as fatigue, mood swings, tinnitus, difficulty concentrating, anxiety and depression. Characteristics of more severe brain injury may include seizures, slurred speech, loss of consciousness, numbness in fingers or toes,  or dilated pupils.

Some effects of TBI are not apparent until years after the injury. A child can still qualify under the TBI category even if the injury occurred years ago. Skills can change rapidly during recovery from a TBI as an injured student heals, necessitating more frequent assessment.

The incidence of TBI peaks during three specific age periods: birth to 5 years of age, 15-24 years of age, and over 70 years of age. About 80,000 to 90,000 of the 475,000 children who have sustained TBIs are permanently disabled from their accidents or injuries. About 180 per 100,000 children under age 15 experience TBIs and of that number, 5% to 8% experience severe TBIs.

To work constructively with students with TBI, educators may need to:

Due to the various levels of traumatic brain injury, multiple types of assistive technology may be used. As with any student with disability, the assistive technology would need to address student accessibility to the educational curriculum. For students with TBI, assistive technology devices fall into three categories: 

References
Davies, S. (2016). Assessment of Students with Brain Injuries. Oregon TBI Teams Training Series Sponsored by the Center for Brain Injury Research and Training
https://cbirt.org/sites/cbirt.org/files/resources/Susan%20Davies_TBI%20Assessment%20Handout_10.26.16.pdf

Gargiulo, R.M. (2006).  Special education in contemporary society: An introduction to exceptionality. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Project Ideal. (n.d.). Traumatic Brain Injury. Retrieved July 09, 2021, from http://www.projectidealonline.org/v/traumatic-brain-injury/

Turnbull, A., Turnbull, R. & Wehmeyer, M. L. (2007). Exceptional lives: Special education in today's schools.Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Merrill Prentice Hall.