CURRICULUM FOR SPED 1

Description of the Course

This course will deal on the curriculum for
the exceptional children specifically with
physical disabilities like the visually impaired,
hearing impaired, physically handicapped, and
children with intellectual delay. It will make
students be aware of the principles of
curriculum development and the different areas
involved, identify salient features in each of the
curriculum and the strategies in curriculum
modification for the mentioned exceptionalities.

COURSE OUTLINE
I. Review of Curriculum
II. General Principles of Curriculum
Development
III. The Visually Impaired
 A. Principles in Curriculum Development
B. Goals
C. Content
D. Supplemental/ Resource Curriculum
E. Instructional Materials
IV. The Hearing Impaired
A. Principles of Curriculum Development for the
Hearing Impaired
B. Goals
C. Content
D. Guidelines in Teaching Academic and Special
Subjects to the Hearing Impaired
E. Instructional Materials and Resources
V. Children with Intellectual Delay
A. Principles in Curriculum Development
B. Goals
C. Content
D. Instructional Materials
VI. The Physically Handicapped
A. Principles in Curriculum Development
B. Goals
C. The Curriculum
D. Curriculum Imperatives
E. Instructional Materials/ Resources
VII. Teaching Strategies
A. The Visually Impaired
1. Planning/Scheduling
2. Special Methods and Techniques
B. The Hearing Impaired
1. Planning and Scheduling of Class
Program
2. Teaching Methods/Techniques /
Strategies for Teaching Communication Skills
C. Children with Intellectual Delay
1. Planning and Scheduling
2. Methods and Techniques
D. The Physically Handicapped
1. Planning the Instructional Program
2. Scheduling of Classes
3. Methods/ Techniques in Teaching
VIII. Strategies in Curriculum Modifications
A. Differentiated Curriculum
1. Meaning
2. Ways of Differentiating Instruction
a. Content
b. Process
c. Product
d. Environment
 3. Differentiation Strategies
B. Universal Design for Learning
1. Definition
2. Learning Networks
3. Principles of UDL Framework
C. Preparation of Instructional Materials
1. Choosing Materials
2. Presentation of Materials
 3. Problems Met by Beginning SPED Teachers
in Using Instructional Materials
IX. Intervention Plan for Special Learners in a
Regular Classroom Setting
A. Phases to Consider when Planning and
Implementing an Effective Instruction for Special
Learners
B. Intervention Plan Format
Course Requirements:
1. Lesson Plan
2. Demonstration Teaching
3. Instructional Materials
Grading System:
Midterm Grade
Written Work – 30%
Performance Task – 30%
Major Exam – 40%
Final Rating
Written Work – 20%
Performance Task – 50%
Major Exam – 30%

Final Rating: 30% Midterm Grade + 70%

Final Grade
Modification – changes the learning goal for an
individual student and used when the general
curriculum is too advanced for a student.
A modification could change the instructional
level, the content or curriculum covered, the
performance criteria (objectives) or the
assignment structure.
It changes the actual learning goals, which
usually results in student learning on a lower
level. It allows the student to learn at their
present level rather than failing to comprehend
information above their understanding.

Accommodation – changes how a student learns

without changing the goal. It can help kids learn
the same material and meet the same
expectations as their classmates.
Accommodations describe an alternative of
environment, curriculum format or equipment
that allows an individual with disability to gain
access to content and/or complete assigned
tasks. They allow students with disabilities to
pursue a regular course of study.
Accommodation changes the way a student
receives information or is tested on the
information without changing the learning
goal/standard . It changes how a student learns
but not what they learn.
Ex. Allowing an ADHD to take breaks during the
test. The student is still taking the same test
with the same objectives but how they
accomplish the task is different.
 All individuals including the handicapped
have the inalienable right as human beings to
an education that will enable them to maximize
their potential.
The Declaration of the Right of the Child
adopted by the United Nations General
Assembly embodies principles affecting the
handicapped:
• The child shall enjoy special protection and
shall be given opportunities and facilities by law
and other means to enable him to develop
physically, mentally, morally, spiritually and
socially in a healthy and normal manner and in a
condition of freedom and dignity. The interest of
the child shall be the paramount consideration.
• The child who is physically, mentally, socially
handicapped shall be given the special
education and care required by his particular
condition.
• The child is entitled to receive education
which shall be free and compulsory at least in
the elementary stage.
 THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
Nature of the VI
1. The visually impaired are those whose
central visual acuity is 20/200 or less in the
better eye with correcting glasses.
2. Visually impaired children are considered to
be more like normally-seeing children than
different from them.
The visually impaired, though with visual
limitations, are basically children with the same
needs for belonging, acceptance, achievement,
self-actualization, opportunity for learning and
encouragement to grow and gain independence
as the normally-seeing children
 THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED
Principles in Curriculum Development
• As with all atypical children, the blind’s basic
needs and the goals for his education are not
different from those of the ordinary child. It is
only the means of achieving these goals that
are different. The content , material, and
subject matter as well as the attitudes and
 understandings which are sought are the same
as those for seeing children.
• It shall be the responsibility of the school to
offer him a balanced program which will
emphasize his abilities instead of his
disabilities based on the following tenets:
A blind is more like a seeing child than he is
different.
A blind child must receive a balanced program
arranged so that he has a natural, competitive
experience.
In order to be competitive, a blind child must
learn certain skills not required of seeing
children, so he needs a supplemental
curriculum.
All children learn at different and in various
ways.
A blind child can succeed in terms of abilities
despite his limitations.
Goals:
• Education must aim at giving the blind child a
knowledge of the realities around him, the
confidence to cope with these realities, and
the feeling that he is recognized and accepted
as an individual in his own right.
• The blind child needs special consideration in
the following areas:
Methodology of education of the blind
Emotional problems caused by blindness and
by the specific social atmosphere which
blindness creates in the blind child and his
environment
Content :
A. Adaptation of the General Curriculum
1. The list of objectives in the K to 12
Curriculum in the different subject areas may
be adapted in the curriculum for the blind
child.
2. More specific methods of adaptation in
various subject matter fields.
• In teaching science, social studies, or other
subject matter which requires demonstrations
or laboratory experiments, it is important that
the teacher:
- prepares the child for the experience by
sufficient previous orientation
- arranges for a sighted child to interpret any
parts of the experiment which is not clear.
 - evaluates what the blind child derived from
the experience.
• In subjects such as home economics, art and
crafts, and industrial education, considerable
individual instruction and careful selection of
equipment are important
• In subjects involving mathematics, number
manipulation should be preceded by
adequate number experiences and an
understanding of number concepts.
• Various music subjects should be emphasized.
However, care should be taken to see that the
child does not allow other valuable areas of
his curriculum to be neglected because of his
music.
Supplemental/Resource Curriculum:
The VI needs to develop other skills to cope with
Problems brought by his handicap. The
curriculum should provide for the development
of these skills.
• Communication Skills
Braille reading and writing
Braille mathematics
Braille music
Typing
Scriptwriting
• Orientation and mobility skills – taught by a
teacher in cooperation with a mobility
instructor whenever one is available
Travel techniques – training and use of the
human guide
Cane travel in the school campus and
community
• Daily living skills – essential for the
development of independence and self-worth,
includes the “how to” of daily living. From
good grooming to cooking a simple meal, to
organizing and locating belongings
The skills of successfully determining just
what is customary in eating, etiquette, and the
social graces, and finding ways to implement
these customs without visual cues are important
to the blind child.
• Development of the remaining senses – refers
to the listening, tactile, olfactory and
gustatory.
Training enables the visually handicapped child
to make efficient use of his hearing and other
remaining senses which are particularly
important for learning experiences, use of
recorded text and obtaining information from
teacher presentation and class discussions.
Tuning into sounds in the environment is also
essential for the development of orientation and
mobility skills.
Development of the remaining skills with the
help of the resource or itinerant teacher
supplements those taught in the regular
classroom.
Instructional Materials:
• Braille materials (books, flash cards, etc.)
• Audio aids (tapes, talking books, recordings,
etc.)
• Arithmetic aids (arithmetic board, abacus)
• Embossed and relief maps which are
important in teaching space perception
required in understanding geography.
• Audible electric maps, jigsaw puzzle, and relief
maps
THE HEARING IMPAIRED
Principles of Curriculum Development for the
Hearing Impaired
• Every hearing impaired child must begin his
education as early as possible or as soon as his
impairment has been detected.
 THE HEARING IMPAIRED
Nature of the Hearing Impaired
• Deaf – does not have sufficient residual hearing
to enable them to understand speech
successfully without special instruction
• Hard-of- hearing – has hearing impairment mild
enough for them to learn without great difficulty
to communicate by speech and hearing
-
Factors that Cause Difference:
• Age of onset of deafness
• Severity and type of hearing loss
• Auditory and language environment of the
child
• Amount and quality of training
• Use of residual hearing
• Intelligence
 Hearing impairment is not only the
handicap of not being able to hear. It
encompasses:
• Emotional problems
• Problems in socialization
• Learning disabilities
• In the general day-by-day experience only a
hearing impaired can comprehend
Causes of Deafness
• Prenatal
Toxic conditions
Viral diseases like mumps, influenza, German
measles (rubella)
Congenital malformation such as lack/closure
of the external canal of the ear, ossification of
the three little bones in the ear and the oval
window
• Perinatal
Traumatic experience during delivery ( pelvic
pressure or injury, use of forceps, intracranial
hemorrhage
Anoxia or lack of oxygen due to prolonged
labor
Heavy sedation
Blockage of the infant’s respiratory passage
• Postnatal
Meningitis
External otitis (inflammation of the outer ear)
Otitis media (characterized by
running/discharging ear or infection of the
middle ear)
• Accidents/ Trauma
Falls
Head bumps
Overexposure to high frequency sounds and
extremely loud explosion
Puncturing the eardrum
Difference in pressure between outside and
that one inside the middle ear due to changes
in altitude
Undrained water in the ear due to frequent
swimming
• Other Causes
Heredity
Prematurity
Malnutrition
Rh factor – blood incompatibility of parents
Overdosage of medicine
Identification/Assessment of the HI
Characteristics:
• Physical characteristics
 has no outer ear(s)
Has closed ear canal(s)
Has discharging ear(s)
Has chronic catarrhal condition
• Learning characteristics
Cups hands behind the ear to catch sound
Cocks ear/tilts head at an angle
Shows strained expression when listening
Pays more attention to vibration and vibrating
objects
Moves closer to speaker when talked to
Is less responsive to noise
Watches face especially the mouth and the
lips of the speaker when talked to
Makes use of more natural gestures, signs and
movements to express himself
Shows marked imitativeness at work/play
Fails to respond to oral questions
Often asks for repetition of
questions/statements
Has blank facial expression when talked to
Often unable to follow oral
directions/instructions
Has difficulty in associating concrete with
abstract ideas
Has poor general learning performance
Speech/Language characteristics
-usually has no speech
-if he has speech, he:
• tends to speak in words rather than in
sentences
• talks in sentences with improper word order
• is particularly poor in spelling
• is particularly in dictation
• talks with poor rhythm
• has limited vocabulary
• tends to have articulatory problems, like
- omission
- addition
- substitution
- distortion
• has poor reading ability
Screening Procedure:
• Conversational live-voice test (for the hard of
hearing)
Place the child 15-20 feet away from the examiner.
The examiner asks simple questions, moving closer
and closer until the child can give the answer. If the
child has difficulty in hearing at 10-20 feet, he is a
suspect of having a hearing loss and should be
referred for further evaluation.
• Whisper test
The child is placed 2-5 feet away with his back
facing the examiner. The examiner may use
numbers/words familiar to the child and asks
him to repeat them. If he repeats most of the
words/numbers, he may have normal hearing.
• Coin-clink test
place the child 6-10 feet away with his back
facing the examiner. The examiner tosses the
coin and asks the child to raise his right hand
every time he hears the clicking of the coin.
• Noisemakers test
The following noisemakers may be used fro
testing: drum for low frequency, a middle-size
bell for middle frequency, and a whistle for high
frequency.
The room is marked off in one foot space
Intervals from the child. While the child is kept
busy with the toys in one corner or in the middle
of the room, each noisemaker is sounded at the
marked points. The nearest point at which the
child responds should be indicated.
The principle is: The shorter the distance
between the source of sound and the child, the
more severe is the hearing loss.
• Tuning fork test
• Tuning fork represents different
frequencies/tones. The bigger the fork, the
lower the tone, and vice versa. The prongs of
the tuning fork are made to vibrate and as
they are in vibration, the tip of the handle is
placed on the mastoid bone (directly behind
the ear) of the child being tested. The hearing
loss is indicated in the audiogram.
• Pure-tone audiometry
The most scientific and accurate method of
determining the hearing of persons suspected of
having hearing losses, is in air-borne conduction
test using a pure-tone audiometer. The number
of dB loss registered by each ear at different
frequencies (H-M-L) is plotted in a graph called
audiogram.
 Classification of HI Children
1. According to age of onset of deafness
• Congeniality deaf – those who were born deaf
• Adventitious deaf – those who were born with
normal hearing and became deaf through
accident or illness
2. According to language development
• Prelingually deaf – those who were born deaf
or lost hearing before speech and language were
developed
• Postlingually deaf – those who lost their
hearing after the development of
spontaneous speech and language
3. According to place of impairment
• Conductive hearing loss – hearing impairment
due to interference in the transmission of
sound to and through the sense organ; usually
in the outer or middle ear
• Sensory-neural hearing loss – impairment due
to abnormality of the inner ear or the auditory
nerve, or both
• Mixed hearing loss – a combination of the
conductive and sensory-neural hearing loss;
sometimes called a “flat loss” as depicted in
the audiogram
4. According to degree of hearing loss
Scale of degree of hearing loss:
Classification Degree of loss
Slight 27-40 dB
Mild 41- 55 dB
Moderate 56-70 dB
Severe 71-90 dB
Profound 91 dB or more
Slight hearing loss
Effects:
- may have difficulty hearing faint or distant
speech
- may experience some difficulty with the
language arts subjects
Educational consideration:
- report the matter to the principal
-may benefit from hearing aid as loss approaches
40 dB
- may need attention in vocabulary development
- needs favorable seating and lighting
- may need speech therapy
Mild hearing loss
Effects:
- Understands conversational speech at a distance
of 3-5 feet (face to face)
- May miss as much as 50% of class discussions
if voices are faint or not in line of vision
- May exhibit limited vocabulary and speech
anomalies
Educational Considerations:
- Child should be referred to special education
for educational follow-up
- Individual hearing aid by evaluation and
in its use
- Favorable seating and possible special class
placement, especially for primary children
- Attention to vocabulary and reading
- Speechreading instruction
- Speech conversation and correction, if
indicated
Moderate hearing loss
Effects:
- Conversation must be loud to be understood
- Will have increased difficulty in group discussions
- Is likely to have defective speech
- Will have very limited vocabulary
Educational Considerations:
- Child should be referred to special education
for educational follow-up
- Resource teacher or special class
- Special help in language skills: vocabulary
development , usage, reading, writing, grammar,
and so on
- Individual hearing aid by evaluation and auditory
training
- Speechreading instructions
- Speech conversation and correction
- Attention to auditory and visual situation at all
times
Severe hearing loss
Effects:
- May hear loud voices about 1 foot from the
ear
- May be able to identify environmental sounds
- May be able to discriminate vowels but not
all consonants
- Speech and language are defective and likely
to deteriorate
Educational Considerations:
- Child should be referred to special education
for educational follow-up
- Full-time special for deaf children, with
emphasis on concept development speech
reading and speech
- Program needs specialized supervision and
comprehensive supporting services
- Individual hearing aid by evaluation
- Auditory training with individual and group
aids
- Part time in regular classes only as profitable
Profound hearing loss
Effects:
-may hear some loud sounds but is aware of
vibrations more than tonal pattern
Relies on vision rather than hearing as primary
avenue for communication
Educational Considerations:
- Child should be referred to special education for
educational follow-up
- Full time in special program for deaf children,
with emphasis on all language skills concept
development, speechreading and speech
- Program needs specialized supervision and
comprehensive support services
- Continuous appraisal needs in regard to oral
and manual communications
- Auditory training with group and individual
aids
- Part-time in regular classes only for carefully
selected children
• Every hearing impaired child should be able to
use his residual hearing in a functional
manner.
• Every hearing impaired child may be able to
speak intelligently if given maximum speech
rehabilitation.
• Every hearing impaired person must live and
develop in the mainstream of society. Schools
and society must not create a subculture for the
hearing impaired but rather think of them as
human being s that live in the mainstream of
society.
• Every hearing impaired, being unable to hear,
is denied adequate verbal communication
with most people he interacts with. Therefore,
he needs other means by which to effectively
communicate.
Goals:
The education of the hearing impaired
should be tailored to their special needs and be
directed towards the development of their
maximum potential to enable them to enjoy a
meaningful and productive life among the
hearing.
Specifically, it should aim to:
• offer opportunities for early childhood
training, education, and rehabilitation.
• develop sound perception, develop/improve
speech, build adequate language and
encourage self-improvement.
• develop different modes of communication
through speaking, writing, reading, gestures,
signs, and speech reading.
• develop to the optimum, the special abilities
of the hearing impaired in arts, athletics, and
career/vocational skills to lead a dignified life
in the hearing community.
• Develop the personality of the hearing
impaired.
Content:
Curriculum is a plan for learning and for
teaching something to somebody by some
processes. This can be made by curriculum
planners/experts, teachers, parents, and other
persons concerned with the growth and
development of children.
For a beginning teacher, however, she may
obtain such plan through a predetermined
Scope and sequence, like the division curriculum
guides and commercially prepared materials.
The curriculum for the hearing impaired
includes:
• Special subject as rhythm
• Speech
• Speechreading
• Auditory training
• Sign language
• Added to the regular class curriculum
1. The K to 12 Curriculum is an important
source of expectancies for the different
subjects and grade levels.
2. Special Curriculum Feature
2.1 Curriculum for Auditory Training – aimed to
help the hearing impaired use whatever
residual hearing he has to the fullest.
Components:
• Exposure to gross environmental sounds
- Awareness of the presence/absence of sounds
- Awareness of environmental sounds, as
thunder, explosion, blowing of horns, firing of
a gun, and sounds of different noisemakers,
such as bell, drum, maracas, tambourine,
whistle and others
Discriminate between two noisemakers like a
bell from a drum, a whistle from a rattle
Determine the number of times a noisemaker
is struck/played/sounded
Discriminate the length/duration of the sound
of a noisemaker played/struck
• Exposure to finer environment sounds
Discrimination of animal sounds
Discrimination of sounds of musical
instruments: stringed from wind instrument
• Discrimination of speech
People’s voices – adult versus child, boy versus
girl, man versus woman
Monosyllabic words versus two-syllabic words
Vowels versus consonants
 phrases
sentences
2.2 Speech Development
Basic Principles in Teaching Speech to the HI
• Provide a correct model pattern fro speech for
him to imitate. Clear and distinct articulation
is more helpful than raising your voice.
• Encourage the child to participate in oral
recitations and expect him to use complete
sentences when speaking.
• Words mispronounced should immediately be
corrected to avoid faulty development of speech
habits.
• Whenever the child can approximate the correct
pronunciation/pattern, praise and encourage him
and at the same time give the correct
pronunciation to build up his confidence.
2.3 Speechreading (lipreading) – ability to
understand speech by concentrating on the
movement of the lips, facial expressions, and on
the natural gestures accompanying the
sentences.
2.4 Language Development
Factors and conditions necessary for language
development:
• Favorable position to see any language that is
presented in the form of speech or signs.
• Before the hearing impaired child gets a
particular connotation of a word fixed, he
must encounter it in different
settings/contacts that normally hearing
children use.
• To facilitate learning, the oral-aural approach
shall be used in the first three years of school,
and total communication in the succeeding
years. For those who are found to profit very
much from the oral method, they shall continue
to be developed orally side by side with total
communication.
• English shall be used as the medium of
instruction at the start. Filipino shall be taught
as a subject starting in grade 3.
2.5 Sign Language Development
Sign language is the transmission and reception
of communication and ideas through the
manual and visual modalities, (use of the hands
and the eyes)
Sign system in use are;
• Fingerspelling/Manual alphabet –creating
symbols for the letters of the alphabet and
then “writing in the air”
• Language of signs
- Signing Exact English – uses American Sign
Language (ASL) signs but indicating the initial
letter of the word
- Signed English – uses ASL without alteration
Guidelines for Sign System Use
• Whichever sign is selected, the individuals
responsible for teaching it are consistent in
their signing.
• The people who use the sign system should be
as fluent as possible in their signing.
• Students’ families as well as the entire school
faculty must make an effort to learn the
selected sign system.
 Guidelines in Teaching Academic and Special
Subjects to the Hearing Impaired
• Always make sure that the child can see your
lips better.
- Do not stand in front of windows when
talking. Position yourself where the lights fall on
your face.
- keep your hands away from your face when
 talking/explaining material on the board and avoid
moving about the room when speaking.
• Many words look alike on the lips and many
sounds are the same. If a child seems confused
with a word, use it in a sentence and give some
clues concerning its identity/meaning by finger
spelling the initial letter/natural gestures.
• Look directly at the child and speak naturally with
gestures to complement, but not to substitute
for speech.
• When necessary, “cue” the child into
conversation with a written or spoken
word/phrase, finger spelling/natural gestures,
so that he does not lose contact with you or
the class.
 Instructional Materials and Resources
• Real objects, models, toys, pictures
• Caricatures
• Nursery rhyme books
• Storybooks, fairy tales, animal stories, bible
stories, etc.
• Classic illustrated comics
• Records of animal sounds, sound effects, musical
instruments, musical pieces
• Bulletin boards and charts showing both
written and pictorial representations of
concepts being developed, holidays/events,
happenings, etc.
 THE MENTALLY RETARDED
Mental Retardation – commonly referred to as
general learning disability
It encompasses all levels of sub-normal
intellectual functioning. It also includes the
entire range of individuals who score
significantly below average on intelligence tests
and whose consistently below average general
performance cannot be attributed to sensory
disabilities and/or emotional problems.
Causes:
1. Cultural familial – due to complex interaction
between environmental and hereditary factors
2. Organic causes – results from (1) chromosomal
defects like an extra chromosomes which may
produce mongolism or Down’s syndrome
(2) Genetic defects which result in metabolic
disturbances, incompatibility of blood chemistry
between parents or parent and child (3)
glandular disorders which result in cretinism.
Identification/Assessment
Characteristics:
1. Physical
• Usually smaller in stature than the so-called
normal and weighs slightly less
• has higher incidence of physical defects
• shows poor motor coordination
• The mongoloid has slit eyes, round face, and
stubby extremities. He is stocky and the back
of his head is generally flat.
2. Intellectual/Learning
• poor memory particularly short-term memory
• limited ability to understand cause and effect
• faulty concept formation
• inaccurate perception
• impoverished language
• difficulty in making generalizations
3. Social- Emotional
• manifests preservation
• behavior is on either extreme, such as overtly
aggressive or withdrawn
• hyperkinetic
• sociable and exhibits adaptive behavior to the
demands of the environment but has difficulty
is delaying
Diagnosis
1. Tools
• Medical
- Physical examination recommended where
physical defects may interfere with learning
- Neurological examination recommended
when brain damage or injury may affect the
learning process
• Intellectual Assessment
- Philippine Non-verbal Intelligence Test (PNIT)
– recommended for children between 5 and
13 years old; can be used with non-readers
and can be administered individually
- Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test (OLMAT)
It is recommended for children in the primary
grades. It can be administered individually to
nonreaders.
- Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices – a non-
verbal test for children which can be
administered individually or in groups
- Chicago Non-verbal Examination – designed for
use with individuals from 6 years and above and
may be give individually or in groups
- Arthur Point Scale of Performance – consists
of a set of five performance tests with norms
used on CA and MA
- Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – a non-
verbal test used for children from 2 ½ years
and above
- Goodenough Draw-A-Man Test – a
performance test which reveals the child’s
accuracy of observation and development
of conceptual thinking
• Personality Assessment
- Vineland Social Maturity Scale – an inventory
of social skills which indicates maturity level of
young children
- Gesell Development Schedules – indicates the
child’s developmental schedules from 0-6
years
• Perceptual Assessment
- Auditory Discrimination – used for children,
ages 5-8 years to examine their ability to
detect likenesses and differences in sounds
- Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test –
recommended to assess visual-motor
functioning in relation to maturation from 5
years and above
• Educational Assessment
- Metropolitan Readiness Test – used with
kindergarten pupils to indicate readiness in
language and numbers
- Reading readiness tests
- Teacher-made diagnostic tests
- Task analysis approach – a descriptive
approach to describing behavior which does
not require speculating or hypothesizing
as to the causes of performance problems
- Observational techniques such as learning
behavior checklists and rating scales
2. General Procedures of Diagnosis
• Determine the child’s learning disability
through referrals or observations.
• Measure the child’s present achievement
through teacher-made tests.
• Analyze how the child learns by recognizing
his learning modalities, strengths and
weaknesses.
• Explore why the child is not learning through
psycho-educational evaluation and case
histories.
• Collate and interpret data and formulate a
diagnostic hypothesis.
• Develop a plan of action. Revise and modify it
as the child moves along.
Classification of Mental Retardation
• Mild
Characteristics :
- Preschool age 0-5
Can develop social and communication skills
Minimal retardation in sensorimotor areas
Often not distinguished from normal until
later age
- School age 6-20
Can learn academic skills up to approximately
sixth grade level by late terms
Can be guided toward social conformity
“educable”
- Adult 21 and over
Can usually achieve social and vocational skills
adequate to minimum self-support but may
need guidance and assistance when under
unusual social or economic stress
• Moderate
- Preschool age
Can talk and/or learn to communicate
Poor social awareness
Fair motor development
Profits from training in self-help
Can be managed with moderate supervision
- School age
Can profit from training in school and
occupational skills
Unlikely to progress beyond second grade
level in academic subjects
May learn to travel alone in familiar places
Adult
May achieve self-maintenance in skilled work
under sheltered conditions
Needs supervision and guidance when under
mild or social economic stress
• Severe
-Pre-school
Poor motor development
Speech is minimal
Generally unable to profit from training in
self-help
Little or no communication skills
- School age
 Can talk or learn to communicate
 Can be trained in elemental health habits
 Profits from systematic habit training
- Adult
 May contribute partially to self-maintenance
under complete supervision
 Can develop self-protection skills to useful level
in controlled environment
• Profound
- Pre-school
 Gross retardation, minimal capacity for
functioning sensorimotor areas
 Needs nursing care
-School age
 Some motor development present
 May respond to minimum limited training in self-
help
- Adult
 Some motor and speech development
 May achieve very limited self-care
 Needs nursing care
Development of the Mentally Retarded
• Slower as far as academic achievement is
concerned
• Can become self-supporting , independent and
socially adjusted adults with proper guidance
The mentally retarded children can be developed to
certain degree their disability may allow.
• Mildly retarded – those who because of
subnormal mental development, are unable to
profit sufficiently from the program of the regular
elementary school but who are considered to
have potentialities in three areas: (1) educability
in academic subjects of the school at a minimum
level (2) educability in social adjustment to a
point where he can get along independently in the
community (3) minimal occupational adequacies to
such a degree that he can later support himself
partially or totally at the adult level.
• Moderately retarded – those who are not
educable in the field of academic achievement,
ultimate social adjustment independently in the
community, or independent occupational
adjustment at the adult level but have
potentialities for learning: (1) self-help skills (2)
social adjustment in the family and in the
neighborhood, (3) economic usefulness in the
home, in a residential school, or in a sheltered
workshop.
• Severely retarded – those who can talk and learn
to communicate and can be trained in elemental
health habits and may contribute partially to
selfp-maintenance under complete supervision
and can develop self-protection skills to a
minimal useful level in controlled environment.
• Profoundly retarded – those who, because of
very severe mental retardation, are unable to
be trained in total self-care, socialization, or
economic usefulness and who need continued
help in taking care of his personal needs
throughout life.
 Principles in Curriculum Development
• The curriculum should be developmental in
nature.
• It should include those experiences that
ensure the achievement of the basic
objectives of the program.
• It should be organized according to three or
four developmental levels (pre-primary,