Understanding Students with Disabilities: Key Concepts and Adjustments

1. Chapter 4 Understanding Students with Disabilities Some Key Concepts

2. For many people with disabilities, the most difficult adjustment problems are psychological in nature. • How an individual reacts to a disability has much to do with the person’s long-term adjustment. • Psychological problems, when they do occur, have their origin in both the individual’s reaction to the disabling condition and the response of others to it. • Each individual with a disability is unique with unique experiences of caregiving, homelife, and successes.

3. There are many factors that affect the individual’s adjustment to a disability that include: • the individual’s intelligence, temperament, degree of disability, and physical appearance. • Individuals with disabilities, similar to the nondisabled, use various mechanisms to adjust to their disability.

4. Unfortunately some individuals with disabilities rely on these mechanisms more than they should. • The extent of disability appears to have no significant influence on the adjustment mechanism used.

5. Parents and the child • The responses of parents, peers, siblings, and teachers can significantly contribute toward a favorable social environment for the student with a disability. • The most frequently identified parent responses to the birth of an infant who is disabled are shock, denial, and grief.

6. As children grow and enter childhood and then adolescence, parents will continue to be faced with many adjustments. This is particularly true for parents of children with severe disabilities. • Perhaps the major impact facing parents of a child with a severe disability is the fear of the future. As the child grows, parents worry about their own health and about who will provide for the child after their death.

7. In general, society tends to be more accepting of visible disabilities and less accepting of hidden disabilities such as learning and emotional impairments. • The impact of raising a child with a mild disability can be minimized if quality services, including education, provided by caring professionals are available. • The process of accepting and integrating a child with a disability into the family has been associated with three patterns of adaptation: rejection, acceptance, and adjustment.

8. Rejection is usually a temporary stage some parents experience as part of the process of adapting. • As parents of children with special needs learn to adjust, they will realize that raising a child will require many of the same skills they employ in other aspects of their lives.

9. For many parents integrating and accepting a child with a disability will take time. • Some parents experience a grieving phase before they accept and make the necessary adjustments in their lives to fully integrate the child into the family unit.

10. Siblings and Peers • Sibling reaction to a brother or sister who is disabled is determined to a large extent by the reaction of their parents. • Peers, given information and assistance, can be very accepting of students with disabilities. • A conscientious effort must be made to insure that friends and siblings understand the child’s disability, including areas of limitations and strengths.

11. The Teacher • A positive and accepting teacher attitude toward the student with a disability is essential for creating a favorable learning experience. • Teachers must be cautioned to not undervalue, be overly sympathetic, or be overly protective of the student with a disability.

12. Teachers help all • Teachers play a critical role in helping to create a favorable social and emotional environment for students with disabilities. • There are numerous activities teachers can employ to help nondisabled students improve their understanding of and appreciation for their disabled peers.

13. Teacher Activities • A strategy that has received considerable attention is reverse mainstreaming, integrating nondisabled students into programs and activities designed for students with disabilities. • Other techniques include having students simulate handicapping conditions and conducting interviews of people with disabilities.

14. What Parents Want • They want their child to be viewed as important as others and as a person. • According to recent research parents want factual information about their child and they want “cautions optimism.” • Families viewed as equal partners in the decision making process, recognizing family expertise about its own child.

15. What the Child Wants • To be considered a person. • To be understood, not made fun of or ignored. • To be respected. • To be cared about. • To be taught.