Frequently

Asked
Questions on
Special
Education

Introduction to Special
Education/Foundations of Special
Education
oWhat is Special Education?
What are the concepts related to special
education? The term special education and its
related concepts are based on the law in the
United States (Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act) (Friend, 2006, pp. 4-5).

A. The term special education means

specially designed instruction, at no cost to
parents, to meet the unique needs of a child
with disability, including 1. instruction conducted in the classroom, in
the home, in hospitals and institutions, and
in other settings; and
2. instruction in physical education.

B. What

other terms are related to the definition of special education?

Two components of the definition of special education are related services and
supplementary aids and services. These are defined below:

1. Related services- The term means transportation and such developmental,

corrective, and other supportive services including speech/language pathology
and audiology services, interpreting services, psychological services, physical and
occupational therapy, social work services and recreation. It also includes school
nurse services designed to enable a child with a disability to receive free public
education as described in the individualized education program of the child;
counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling; orientation and mobility
services; and medical services, except that such medical services shall be for
diagnostic and evaluation purposes only; as may be required to assist a child with
disability to benefit from special education, and include the early identification
and assessment of disabling conditions in children.

2. Supplementary aids and services- The term

means aids, services, and other supports that are
provided in regular education classes or other
education- related settings to enable children with
disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to
the maximum extent appropriate (IDEA, 2004).

2. What is special about special

education?
o

a.
b.
c.

d.

Special education is basically teaching. Heward (2009, p.36) suggests looking

at the who, what, how and where of special education teaching to understand
what makes special education special.
Who: Exceptional children or children with special needs, as wells as, certified
general education and special education teachers
What: General education curriculum or combination of general and functional
curriculum; the use of Individualized Educational Plan as guide for each child
How: Its use of specialized, or adapted, materials and methods (Examples: use
of sign language; use of scaffolding to help child learn new tasks and
gradually withdrawing prompts for the child to do the tasks independently;
use of research-based instructional methods that work best with children who
are difficult to teach)
Where: General education classroom or separate classrooms, residential
schools, or resource room

3. What are the defining

features of special education
instruction?
o Heward (2009,p.42) suggests six defining features
of special education. This implies that professionals
trained in special education are able to demonstrate
knowledge and skills in these areas.
a. Individually planned instruction
b. Intensive instruction
c. Research-based methods
d. Specialized instruction
e. Goal-directed

Psychology of Exceptional
Children

1.

a.
b.
c.

How are the terms impairment, disability and handicap defined? Are the terms
synonymous?
The three terms are sometimes used interchangeably. However, they are not
synonymous. Heward (2009,p.10) differentiates the three terms:
Impairment refers to the loss or reduced function of a particular body part or organ (e.g.,
a missing limb).
Disability exists when an impairment limits a persons ability to perform certain tasks (e.g.,
see, walk, hear).
Handicap refers to a disadvantage that a person with either a disability or an impairment
encounters. A person who uses a wheelchair may be handicapped in buildings that does
not have access points for persons with disability, but may not be handicapped in a
classroom that provide support. People with disabilities are at a disadvantage not
because of their disabilities but because of the negative attitudes of people toward them.
A handicap exists because of the restrictions imposed by the environment and society.

Impairment and disability have medical basis but handicapping conditions are created by
societal restrictions and prejudices.

. Who are exceptional children or children with special learning needs?

The World Bank (1994) defines children with special needs as:
all those children who permanently or temporarily during their school careers
have need of special education services on the part of the teacher, the institution
and/or the system by dint of their physical, mental or multiple impairment or
emotional conditions or for reasons of situational disadvantage.
Other terms synonymously used are: exceptional children, children with special
learning needs (SLN), pupils with special educational needs (SEN, used in Great
Britain), children with handicapping conditions, or children with disabilities. Because
of people first policy, the words disabled children, mentally retarded children and
physically handicapped children are no longer used. This is to emphasized that they
are children first and their disability second and only signifies the services they are
in need of. Amendments to Public Law 94-142 in 1990 (Public Law 101-476) included
a change in nomenclature. All reference to handicapped children were change to
children with disabilities (Dettmer, Thurston, & Dyck, 1993,p.7). The term
exceptional children, however, includes also gifted children. Special education
professional in the Philippines show preference for this term because it includes
children who are gifted.

3. What are the types of disabilities served by

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)?
Autism
Communication disorders
Deaf-blindness
Hearing impairments
Mental retardation
Multiple disabilities

4. What other classification schemes are used to

describe children with disabilities?
Why are these terms used instead of the disability
categories?
a.Children-at-risk refers to children who, although not
currently identified as having a disability, are considered
to have greater-than-usual chance of developing one.
The term is usually used for:
Infants and preschoolers who, because of biological
conditions, events surrounding their births, or

3. Students who exhibit a wide range of educational problems, including the failure
to respond positively to instruction in basic academic skills, manifestation of
unacceptable social behavior in school, and a limited repertoire of experiences that
are necessary for formal education (Pierce, 1994,p.37).
b. Slow learners - belong to children-at-risk group. They are not eligible for special
education but their educational progress is slow. They do not have mental
retardation nor learning disabilities but they also need assistance in the form of
remedial instruction or tutorial (Friend, 2000, p.20).
c. Cross-categorical this approach to the study of characteristics of exceptional
children pays more attention to their learning needs then to the labels.
Although some strategies are designed specifically for a particular group of
students (e.g., large print for students with vision impairment), most of the teaching
strategies can be adapted for most students.
By adopting a cross-categorical approach to planning instruction, many more
service options are available foe helping students succeed (Friend, 2000,p.19).

d. Twice exceptional This term refers to students with

disabilities who are also gifted; also referred to as
students with dual exceptionalities (Friend, 2006, p.20)
e. Severe disabilities There are different ways of
defining severe disabilities.
1. Based on IQ scores:
Individuals who obtain IQ scores of 35 and below,
Or individuals who score in the moderate level of mental
retardation

2. Students with significant disabilities in intellectual,

physical, and/or social functioning, students with
multiple disabilities, deaf-blindness, severe mental
retardation, severe emotional disturbance, and severe
health impairments.
3. Functional definitions:
By Justen(1976,p.5):
Those individuals age 21 and younger who are functioning at a
general developmental level of half or less than the level which would
be expected on the basis of chronological age (Cited by Heward, 2009,
p.454).
Basic skills definition:

f. Profound disabilities The term profound disabilities

refers to:
1. profound developmental disabilities in all five of the
following behavioral-content areas: cognition,
communication, social skills, development, motormobility, and activities of daily living (self-help skills);
2. a continuous need for monitoring and observation;
and
3. a developmental ceiling of 2 years of age for each
area of functioning.

g. High-incidence disabilities This term refers to a group

of disabilities that are most common: learning
disabilities, speech or language impairments, mild
mental retardation, and serious emotional disturbance
(Friend, 2000, p.19).
h. Low-incidence disabilities This term refers to
disabilities that are rare. These are severe mental
retardation , multiple disabilities, hearing impairments,
orthopedic impairments, other health impairments,
visual impairments, deaf-blindness, autism, and
traumatic brain injury(Friend, 2000, p.19).

5. Why are classification systems used for individuals

with disabilities important to the study of
exceptionality?
Classification systems (example: mental retardation
mild, moderate, severe, and profound) lead directly to
definition, which in turn provide the criteria for
identification (Fletcher, Francis, Rourke, Shaywitz &
Shaywitz in Lyon, Gray, Kavanaghh & Krasnegor, 1993,
p.38)

d. What does the description developmentally delayed

mean?
The term developmental delay is a general term for
children who receive special education services, either
in special education classes or general education classes,
with support.
e. What are the criteria for defining behavioral disorder?
1. The National Coalition on Mental Health and Special
Education defines behavioral disorder as behavioral or
emotional responses so different from appropriate age,

f. Giftedness
1. What is the common definition of giftedness?
The most commonly used definition of giftedness is
the one by Sydney Marland. This definition of gifted and
talented students was included in the 1972 report to
Congress titled Education of the Gifted by the U.S.
Commissioner of Education Sydney Marland. The
definition states:
the term gifted and talented children means
children, and whenever applicable, youth, who are

2. When are children considered gifted?

Children could be considered gifted when they
demonstrate outstanding abilities in the following areas:

General intellectual ability

Specific academic aptitude
Creative or productive thinking
Leadership ability
Visual and performing arts
Psychomotor ability

3. Are the words gifted and talented used interchangeably?

A shift from using the term gifted to using the term talented appeared in the
Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Act of 1988, reauthorized in 1994. the
second national report on gifted education, National Excellence: A Case for
Developing Americas Talent uses the term talent rather than gifted. In the report,
outstanding talent can be evidenced in general intellectual ability, specific academic
ability, creative thinking, leadership ability, and/or the visual arts (Gargiulo, 2003,
p.319). Friend (2006, p.576) differentiates the two terms:
Giftedness is evidence of advance development across intellectual areas,
within a specific or arts-related area, or unusual organizational power to
bring about desired results.
Talent is extraordinary ability in a specific area; the term is used
interchangeably with giftedness.

4. How is giftedness conceptualized?

In Renzullis three-ring model of giftedness, three related dimensions are identified:

above average ability, task commitment or motivation, and creativity.
Using multiple intellegences, Gardner reconceptualized intelligence from the traditional
notion to one that emphasizes its multidimensional nature. To Gardner, a gifted child
may excel in any one of these areas: verbal/linguistic,logical/mathematical,visual/spatial,
bodily/kinaesthetic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, naturalist (Friend, 2006,
pp.574-577).
Sternberg and Zhang proposed a conceptual theory, the pentagonal implicit theory. This
model encompasses five criteria that a person must meet in order to be considered
gifted
Excellence
Rarity
Productivity
Demonstrability and

Value (cited in Turnbull, Shank & Smith, 2004, pp.1969).

5. Is giftedness domain-specific?
Giftedness is multidimensional (spanning several
domains of giftedness) and not unidimensional (based
on score alone). Domain-specific giftedness does not
imply that giftedness operates in isolation. Some people
may exhibit giftedness in more than one area, whereas
other may excel in one area only (Turnbull et al., 2004, p.
197).