Learners with Exceptionalities

I. Who are learners with exceptionalities?

The term learners with exceptionalities may be used to describe any

individuals whose physical, mental, or behavioral performance is so different
from the norm-either higher or lower- that additional services are need to
meet the individuals' needs.

The terms disability and handicap are not interchangeable. A disability is a

functional limitation a person has that interferes with the person's physical or
cognitive abilities. A handicap is a condition imposed on a person with
disabilities by society, the physical environment, or the person's attitude. For
example, a student who uses a wheelchair is handicapped by a lack of
access ramps. Handicap is therefore not a synonym for disability.

* "People-first" language

* The first is to put people first.

1. * The second principle is to avoid making the person equal the disability.
2.

CATEGORIES OF EXCEPTIONALITIES AMONG CHILDREN AND YOUTH

WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

1.Students with MENTAL RETARDATION

 Mental retardation refers to substantial limitations in present

functioning. It is characterized by significantly sub average intellectual
function, existing concurrently with related limitations in two or more
of the following applicable adaptive skill areas: communication, self-
care, home living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health
and safety, functional academics, leisure and work.

CLASSIFICATIONS OF MENTAL RETARDATION

 In the past, individuals with mental retardation were largely

categorized according to their IQ scores. For example, the 1983
AAMR manual listed four degrees of severity of mental retardation in
terms of ranges of IQ, including mild retardation (IQs 50-55 to 70-75),
moderate retardation (IQs 35-40 to 50-55), severe retardation (IQs
20-25 to 35-40) and profound retardation (Iqs below 20-25).
 In an older classification system, students with mild retardation,
typically with Iqs between 55 and 70, were regarded as “educable”
(EMR); that is, able to learn basic academic skills up to a fifth-grade
level. Students with moderate retardation (Iqs 40-55) were classified
as “trainable” (TMR); that is, able to learn independent self-care and
job skills for sheltered workshops.
  Children with Iqs below 50 were often termed “custodial” and usually
received out-of-school services.

2. Students who are GIFTED AND TALENTED

 Refers to high performance in intellectual, creative or artistic areas,

unusual leadership capacity, and excellence in specific academic field

CHARACTERISTICS OF GIFTED AND TALENTED STUDENTS

Intellectually gifted children typically have strong motivation. They also are
academically superior; usually learn to read early; and, in general, do
excellent work in most school areas. One of the most important studies of
the gifted, begun by Lewis Terman in 1926, followed 1,528 individuals who
had Iqs over 140 as children.

3. Students with LEARNING DISABILITIES

> Learning disabilities (LD) are not a single condition but a wide variety of
specific disabilities that are presumed to stem from some dysfunction of the
brain or central nervous system.

>Learning disabilities is a general term for a diverse group of disorders

characterized by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening,
speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or computing. These disorders stem
from the individual and may occur across the life span.

IDENTIFYING STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Some characteristics of students with learning disabilities follow:

a.Normal intelligence or even giftedness

b.Discrepancy between intelligence and performance

c.Delays in achievement

d.Attention deficit or high distractibility

e.Hyperactivity or impulsiveness

f.Poor motor coordination and spatial relation ability

g.Difficulty solving problems

h.Perceptual anomalies, such as reversing letters, words, or numbers

i.Difficulty with self-motivated, self-regulated activities

j.Overreliance on teacher and peers for assignments

jSpecific disorders of memory, thinking, or language

k.Immature social skills

l.Disorganized approach to learning

CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

 On the average, students with learning disabilities tend to have lower

academic self-esteem than do nondisabled students, although in
nonacademic arenas their self-esteems are like those of other
children.


4. Students with SPEECH OR LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENTS

 Although the terms speech and language are often used

interchangeably, they are not the same. Language is the
communication of ideas using symbols and includes written language,
sign language, gesture, and other modes of communication in
addition to oral speech.
 It is quite possible to have a speech disorder without a language
disorder or to have a language disorder without a speech disorder.
 Language disorders are impairments of the ability to understand
language or to express ideas in one’s native language. Problems due
to limited English-speaking proficiency (LEP) for students whose first
language is not English are not considered language disorders.

5. Students with EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL DISORDER

 Students with emotional and behavioral disorders have been defined

as ones whose educational performance is adversely affected over a
long period of time to a marked degree by any of the following
conditions:

1. An inability to learn that cannot be explained by

intellectual, sensory, or health factors.
2. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory
interpersonal relationships with peers and
teachers.
3. Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under
normal circumstances.
4. A general, pervasive mood of unhappiness or
 depression
5. A tendency to develop physical symptoms, pains,
or fears associated with personal or school
problems.

CHARACTERISTICS OF STUDENTS WITH EMOTIONAL AND

BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS

Virtually any behavior that is exhibited excessively over a long period of time
might be considered an indication of emotional disturbance.

 These include poor academic achievement, poor interpersonal

relationships, and poor self-esteem.
 Quay and Werry (1986) noted four general categories: conduct
disorder, anxiety-withdrawal, immaturity, and socialized-aggressive
disorder. For example, children with conduct disorders are frequently
characterized as disobedient, distractible, selfish, jealous, destructive,
impertinent, resistive, and disruptive.

STUDENTS EXHIBITING AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR

Students with conduct disorders and socialized-aggressive behaviors might

frequently fight, steal, destroy property, and refuse to obey teachers.

STUDENTS WITH WITHDRAWN AND IMMATURE BEHAVIOR

Children who are withdrawn, immature, low in self-esteem, or depressed

typically have few friends or play with children much younger than
themselves. They often have elaborate fantasies or daydreams and either
very poor or grandiose self-images. Some might be overly anxious about
their health and feel genuinely ill when under stress.

6. STUDENTS WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENT

Hearing disabilities can range from complete deafness to problems that can
be alleviated with a hearing aid.

7. STUDENTS WITH VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

 Visual disabilities from total blindness to relatively good remaining

vision.

8. PHYSICAL IMPAIRMENTS

 May be orthopedic or neurological

9. SEVERE DISABILITIES
  Individuals with severe and profound disabilities in intellectual,
physical and social functioning.

10. Students with AUTISM

 Students with Autism In 1990, autism became a formal category of

disability. The U.S. Department of Education (1991) defined autism as
a developmental disability that significantly affects social interaction
and verbal and nonverbal communication. It is usually evident before
the age of 3 and has an adverse affect on educational performance.
 Children with autism are typically extremely withdrawn and have such
severe difficulties with language that they might be entirely mute.
They often engage in self-stimulation activities such as rocking,
twirling objects, or flapping their hands.

10. Students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have difficulties

maintaining attention because of a limited ability to concentrate. ADHD
includes impulsive actions and hyperactive behavior. These characteristics
differentiate students with ADHD from students with learning disabilities, who
have attention deficits for other unknown reasons. Children with attention
deficit disorders do not qualify for special education unless they also have
some other disability condition that is defined in the law.

 Is it correct to use labels?

 Advantages and disadvantages of labeling
 1. Acceleration programs for the gifted often involve
the teaching of advanced mathematics to
students at early ages. A variation on the
acceleration theme is a technique called
curriculum compacting, in which teachers may
skip over portions of the curriculum that the very
able students do not need.
2. Enrichment programs take many forms. Many
successful enrichment programs have involved
self-directed or independent study. Others have
provided gifted students with adult mentors.
Renzulli (1994) suggests an emphasis on three
types of activities: general exploratory activities,
such as projects that allow students to find out
about topics on their own; group training
activities, such as games and simulations to
promote creativity and problem-solving skills; and
individual and small-group investigations of real
problems, such as writing books or newspapers,
interviewing elderly people to write oral histories,
and conducting geological or archaeological
investigations.

3. What is special education?

A. Special education is any program provided for children with
disabilities instead of, or in addition to, the general education
classroom program. The practice of special education has
changed dramatically in recent years and is still evolving.
Federal legislation has been critical in setting standards for
special-education services administered by states and local
districts.
B. Public Law 94-142 and IDEA
a. As recently as the mid-1960s, education of children with
exceptionalities was quite different from what it is today.
Many “handicapped” students received no special
services at all. Those who did get special services
usually attended separate schools or institutions for
people with mental retardation, emotional disturbances,
or vision or hearing loss.
b. Critics argued that people who had serious disabilities
were too often shut away in state institutions with
inadequate educational services or were left at home
with no services at all and that mildly disabled children
 (particularly those with mild mental retardation) were
being isolated in special programs that failed to teach
them the skills they needed to function in society. Four
million of the eight million disabled students of school
age were not in school.
c. As a result, in 1975, Congress passed Public Law 94-
142, the Education for the Handicapped Act. P.L. 94-
142, as it is commonly called, profoundly affected both
special and general education throughout the United
States. It prescribed the services that all disabled
children must receive and gave the children and their
parents legal rights that they had not previously
possessed. A basic tenet of P.L. 94-142 was that every
disabled child is entitled to special education
appropriate to the child’s needs at public expense. This
means, for example, that school districts or states must
provide special education to children who are severely
retarded or disabled.
1. P.L. 94-142 was extended beyond its original
focus in two major pieces of legislation. In 1986,
Public Law 99-457 extended the entitlement to
free, appropriate education to children ages 3 to
5. It also added programs for seriously disabled
infants and toddlers.
2. Public Law 101-476, which passed in 1990,
changed the name of the special-education law
to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA), required that schools plan for the
transition of adolescents with disabilities into
further education or employment starting at age
16, and replaced the term handicapped children
with the term children with disabilities.
3. In 1997, Public Law 105-17, the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997,
or IDEA ‘97 was passed to reauthorize and
strengthen the original act (National Information
Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities,
1998).
C. LEAST RESTRICTIVE ENVIRONMENT The provision of IDEA
that is of greatest importance to general education classroom
teachers is that students with disabilities must be assigned to
the least restrictive environment that is appropriate to their
needs. This provision gives a legal basis for the practice of
mainstreaming, a term that has now been replaced with the
word inclusion.
a. This means that general education classroom teachers
are likely to have in their classes students with mild
disabilities (such as learning disabilities, mild mental
retardation, physical disabilities, or speech problems)
who might leave class for special instruction part of the
 day.
b. It also means that classes for students with more
serious disabilities are likely to be located in general
education school facilities and that these students will
probably attend some activities with their nondisabled
peers.
D. INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PROGRAM (IEP) Another
important requirement of IDEA is that every student with a
disability must have an Individualized Education Program (IEP)
that guides the services the student receives. The IEP
describes a student’s problems and delineates a specific
course of action to address these problems.
a. Generally, it is prepared by a special services committee
composed of school professionals such as special-
education teachers, special-education supervisors,
school psychologists, the principal, counselors, and/or
classroom teachers.
b. Special services teams go by different names in
different states; for example, they may be called child
study teams or appraisal and review teams.
c. The idea behind the use of 1Eps is to give everyone
concerned with the education of a child with a disability
an opportunity to help formulate the child’s instructional
program. The requirement that a parent sign the IEP is
designed to ensure parental awareness of and approval
of what the school proposes to do for the child. A parent
might hold the school accountable if the child does not
receive the promised services.
d. The law requires that evaluations of students for
possible placement in special-education programs be
done by qualified professionals. Although general
education classroom and special-education teachers will
typically be involved in the evaluation process, teachers
are not generally allowed to give the psychological tests
(such as IQ tests) that are used for placement
decisions.
e. IDEA gives children with disabilities and their parents
legal safeguards with regard to special-education
placement and programs. Also, the law specifies that
parents be notified about all placement decisions,
conferences, and changes in program.
f. For children with special needs who are under the age
of 3, a specialized plan focusing on the child and his or
her family is typically prepared. This is called an
Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). At the other
end of the education system, an Individualized
Transition Plan (ITP) is often written for adolescents with
special needs before their seventeenth birthday. The
ITP anticipates the student’s needs as he or she makes
the transition from school to work and to adult life.
E. An array of special-education services
a. An important aspect of an IEP is a special-education
program that is appropriate to the student’s needs. In
practice, these services are often organized as a
continuum going from least to most restrictive, as
follows:
1. Direct or indirect consultation and support for
general education teacher.
2. Special education up to 1 hour per day.
3. Special education 1 to 3 hours per day; resource
program
4. Special education more than 3 hours per day;
self-contained special education.
5. Special day school.
6. Special residential school.
7. Home/hospital.
b. In general, students with more severe disabilities
receive more restrictive services than do those with less
severe disabilities. For example, a student with severe
mental retardation is unlikely to be placed in a general
education classroom during academic periods, whereas
a student with a speech problem or a mild learning
disability is likely to be in a general education classroom
for most or all of the school day.
1. With the exception of students who have physical
or sensory disabilities, few students received
special education outside of the school building.
The great majority of students who have learning
disabilities or speech impairments attend general
education classes part or most of the day, usually
supplemented by 1 or more hours per day in a
special-education resource room.
c. GENERAL EDUCATION CLASSROOM PLACEMENT
The needs of many students with disabilities can be met
in the general education classroom with little or no
outside assistance. Classroom teachers can often adapt
their instruction to make it easier for students to
succeed.
1. For example, one teacher noticed that a student
with perceptual problems was having difficulties
with arithmetic because he could not line up his
numbers. She solved the problem by giving him
graph paper to work on.
2. Research generally shows that the most effective
strategies for dealing with students who have
learning and behavior problems are those used in
the general education classroom. Special-
education options should usually be explored
only after serious efforts have been made to
meet students’ needs in the general education
 classroom.
d. COLLABORATION WITH CONSULTING TEACHERS
AND OTHER PROFESSIONALS In collaboration,
several professionals work cooperatively to provide
educational services.
1. Students with disabilities who are included in the
general education classroom benefit from
professionals such as the consulting resource
room teacher, school psychologist, speech and
language specialists, and other professionals
who collaborate with the general education
teacher to develop and implement appropriate
educational experiences for the students.
2. For some types of disabilities, itinerant (traveling)
teachers provide special services to students a
few times a week. This pattern of service is
typical of programs for students with speech and
language disorders.
e. RESOURCE ROOM PLACEMENT Many students with
disabilities are assigned to general education classes
for most of their school day but participate in resource
programs at other times.
1. Most often, resource programs focus on teaching
reading, language arts, mathematics, and
occasionally other subjects. A resource room
program usually involves a small number of
students working with a special-education
teacher.
2. Sometimes resource teachers work in the
general education classroom. For example, a
resource teacher might work with one reading
group while the general education classroom
teacher works with another. This arrangement
avoids pulling students out of class-which is both
inefficient (because of the transition time
required) and potentially demeaning, because the
students are excluded from class for some period
of time.
f. SPECIAL-EDUCATION CLASS PLACEMENT WITH
PART-TIME INCLUSION Many students with disabilities
are assigned to special classes taught by a special-
education teacher but are integrated with nondisabled
students part of the school day.
1. These students join other students most often for
music, art, and physical education; somewhat
less often for social studies, science, and
mathematics; and least often for reading.
2. One important difference between this category
of special services and the resource room model
is that in the resource room, the student’s primary
 placement is in the general education class; the
classroom teacher is the homeroom teacher and
generally takes responsibility for the student’s
program, with the resource teacher providing
extra support.
g. SELF-CONTAINED SPECIAL EDUCATION A self-
contained special-education program is a class located
in a school separately from the general education
instructional program.
1. Until the mainstreaming movement began in the
early 1970s, this (along with separate schools for
retarded and disabled children) was the typical
placement for students with disabilities.
2. Some students attend separate, special day
schools. These are typically students with severe
disabilities, such as severe retardation or
physical disabilities, or students whose presence
might be disruptive to the general education
school, such as those with serious emotional
disturbances.
3. In addition, small numbers of students with
disabilities attend special residential schools for
students with profound disabilities who require
special treatment.
h. RELATED SERVICES IDEA ‘97 guarantees “related
services” for children with disabilities. These are
services required by a child with a disability to benefit
from general or special education.
1. For example, school psychologists are often
involved in the process of diagnosing students
with disabilities and sometimes participate in the
preparation of IEPs. In addition, they may
counsel the student or consult with the teacher
about behavioral and learning problems.
2. School social workers and pupil personnel
workers serve as a major link between the school
and the family and are likely to become involved
when problems at home are affecting students’
school performance or behavior.
3. Members of the special services team include
professionals designated by the school district
plus the parents of the referred student and, if
appropriate, the referred student. If the referral
has to do with learning or emotional problems, a
school psychologist or guidance counselor will
usually be involved. If the referral has to do with
speech or language problems, a speech
pathologist or speech teacher will typically serve
on the team. The building principal usually chairs
the team but may designate a special-education
 teacher or other professional to do so.
i. WRITING THE IEP. When the comprehensive
assessment is complete, the special services team
members meet to consider the best placement for the
student. If they determine that special education is
necessary, they will prepare an IEP. At a minimum, the
IEP must contain the following information:
1. Statements indicating the child’s present level of
performance. These typically include the results
of specific tests as well as descriptions of
classroom functioning. Behavior rating checklists,
work samples, or other observation forms maybe
used to clarify a student’s strengths and
weaknesses.
2. Goals indicating anticipated progress during the
year. For example, a student might have goals of
reading at a fourth-grade level as measured by a
standardized test, of improving classroom
behavior so that disciplinary referrals are reduced
to zero, or of completing a bricklaying course in a
vocational education program.
3. Intermediate (shorter-term) instructional
objectives. A student who is having difficulties in
reading might be given a short-term objective
(STO) of completing a certain number of
individualized reading comprehension units per
month, or a student with emotional and behavior
problems might be expected to get along with
peers better and avoid fights.
4. A statement of the specific special-education and
related services to be provided as well as the
extent to which the student will participate in
general education programs. The LEP might
specify, for example, that a student would receive
two 30-minute sessions with a speech therapist
each week. An IEP for a student with a learning
disability might specify 45 minutes per day of
instruction from a resource teacher in reading
plus consultation between the resource teacher
and the classroom teacher on ways to adapt
instruction in the general education classroom.
5. The projected date for the initiation of services
and the anticipated duration of services. Once
the LEP has been written, the student must
receive services within a reasonable time period.
Students might not be put on a waiting list; the
school district must provide or contract for the
indicated services.
6. Evaluation criteria and procedures for measuring
progress toward goals on at least an annual
 basis. The IEP should specify a strategy for
remediating the student’s deficits. In particular,
the IEP should state what objectives the student
is to achieve and how those objectives are to be
attained and measured.

4. What is inclusion?

a.The least restrictive environment clause of P.L. 94-142

revolutionized the practice of special education as well as general
education. As has already been noted, it requires that exceptional
students be assigned to the least restrictive environment that is
appropriate to their needs.
b.Proponents of full inclusion argue that pull-out programs
discourage effective partnerships between general and special
educators in implementing IEPs and that students in pull-out
programs are stigmatized when they are segregated from other
students. These proponents suggest that special-education
teachers or aides team with classroom teachers and provide
services in the general education classroom.
c.Many (perhaps most) classroom teachers have students with
disabilities, who are usually receiving some type of special
educational services part of the day. Most of these integrated
students are categorized as having learning disabilities, speech
impairments, mild retardation, or emotional disorders. High-quality
inclusion models can improve the achievement and self-
confidence of these students. Inclusion also allows students with
disabilities to interact with peers and to learn conventional
behavior.
d.Research on inclusion
a. Research on inclusion, often referred to as
mainstreaming, has focused on students with learning
disabilities, mild retardation, and mild emotional
disorders, whose deficits can be termed “mild academic
disabilities”
1. Several studies have compared students with
mild academic disabilities in special-education
classes to those in general education classes.
When the general education teacher uses an
instructional method that is designed to
accommodate a wide range of student abilities,
students with mild disabilities generally learn
much better in the general education classroom
than in special-education classes.
2. Research on programs for general education
classrooms that contain students with learning
disabilities indicates that one successful strategy
is to use individualized instructional programs.
 For example, the Cooperative Integrated Reading
and Composition (CIRC) program described in
Chapter 8 has been found to improve the
achievement of mainstreamed students with
learning disabilities, in comparison to
mainstreamed students in traditionally organized
classes.
3. Improving the social acceptance of students with
academic disabilities is a critical task of inclusion.
One consistently effective means of doing this is
to involve the students in cooperative learning
teams with their nondisabled classmates.
4. A key element in effective inclusion is maintaining
close coordination between classroom and
special teachers. Studies of pull-out programs for
students with learning disabilities often find that
special-education teachers have little knowledge
of the school’s general education curriculum and
do little to integrate their instruction with it.
b. Adapting instruction
1. Teacher behaviors that are associated with
effective teaching for students with disabilities in
the general education classroom are essentially
the same as those that improve achievement for
all students some adaptations in instructional
strategies will help teachers to better meet the
needs of students with disabilities. Whether they
use individualized instruction, cooperative
learning, or other means of accommodating
student differences, teachers need to know how
to adapt lessons to address students’ needs.
e.Teaching learning strategies and metacognitive awareness
a. Many students do poorly in school because they have
failed to learn how to learn.
b. Programs that are directed at helping students learn
such strategies as note-taking, summarization, and
memorization methods have been very successful with
children and adolescents who have learning disabilities.
f.Prevention and early intervention
a. The debate over inclusion versus special education for
children with learning problems revolves around
concerns about children whose academic performance
is far below that of their agemates.
1. However, many of these children could have
succeeded in school in the first place if they had
had effective prevention and early intervention
programs.
2. Slavin (1996a) proposed a policy of
“neverstreaming,” which avoids the
mainstreaming/special-education dilemma by
 focusing attention on intensive early intervention
that is capable of bringing at-risk learners to
performance levels high enough to remove any
need for special-education services.
3. There is strong evidence that a substantial
portion of students who are now in the special-
education system could have been kept out of it if
they had had effective early intervention. Studies
of high-quality early childhood programs such as
the Perry Preschool, the Abecedarian Project,
and the Milwaukee Project all showed substantial
reductions in special-education placements for
students with learning disabilities and mild mental
retardation.
4. These and other findings suggest that the
number of children who need special-education
services could be greatly reduced if prevention
and early intervention programs were more
widely applied.
g.Computers and students with disabilities
a. Computers provide opportunities for individualized
instruction for students with disabilities. The use of
computers to help children with exceptionalities has four
major advantages:
1. First, computers can help to individualize
instruction in terms of method of delivery, type
and frequency of reinforcement, rate of
presentation, and level of instruction.
2. Second, computers can give immediate
corrective feedback and emphasize the active
role of the child in learning.
3. Third, computers can hold the attention of
children who are easily distractible.
4. Fourth, computer instruction is motivating and
patient. For students with physical disabilities,
computers can permit greater ease in learning
and communicating information.
b. Children in special-education programs seem to like
learning from computers. Poorly motivated students
have become more enthusiastic about their studies.
They feel more in control because they are being taught
in a context that is positive, reinforcing, and
nonthreatening. However, findings as to the actual
learning benefits of computer-assisted instruction for
students with disabilities have been inconsistent.
c. One valuable approach using computers is to provide
children who are academically disabled with activities in
which they can explore, construct, and communicate.
Word processors serve this purpose, and other
programs have been specifically designed for children
 with disabilities.
h.Buddy systems and peer tutoring
a. One way to help meet the needs of students with
disabilities in the general education classroom is to
provide these students with assistance from
nondisabled classmates, using either a buddy system
for noninstructional needs or peer tutoring to help with
learning problems. A buddy can guide a student with
vision loss, help a student who is academically disabled
to understand directions, or deliver cues or prompts as
needed in some classes.
b. Another way of helping students within the general
education classroom is to use peer tutoring. Teachers
who use peers to tutor in their classroom should ensure
that these tutors are carefully trained.
i.Special-education teams
a. When a student with disabilities is integrated into the
general education classroom, the classroom teacher
often works with one or more special educators to
ensure the student’s successful integration.
b. Whatever the arrangement, the classroom teacher and
the special educator(s) must recognize that each has
expertise that is crucial to the student’s success. The
classroom teacher is the expert on classroom
organization and operation on a day-to-day basis, the
curriculum of the classroom, and the expectations
placed on students for performance.
j.Social integration of students with disabilities
a. Placement of students in the general education
classroom is only one part of their integration into that
environment. These students must be integrated
socially as well as instructionally. The classroom teacher
plays a critical role in this process. Much has been
written about the effects of teacher expectations on
student achievement and behavior.
b. In the case of students with disabilities, the teacher’s
attitude toward these students is important not only for
teacher-student interactions but also as a model for the
nondisabled students in the classroom.