Teaching Students With Multiple Disabilities or Handicaps

Teaching Students With Multiple Disabilities or Handicaps Children with multiple disabilities will have a combination of various disabilities that may include issues with: speech, physical mobility, learning, mental retardation, sight, hearing, brain injury, and possibly others. Along with multiple disabilities, they can also exhibit sensory losses as well as behavior and/or social problems. Children with multiple disabilities,  Ã‚  also referred to as multiple exceptionalities, will vary in severity and characteristics. These students may exhibit weakness in auditory processing and have speech limitations. Physical mobility will often be an area of need. These students may have difficulty attaining and remembering skills and/or transferring these skills from one situation to another. Support is usually needed beyond the confines of the classroom. There are often medical implications with some of the more severe multiple disabilities which could include students with cerebral palsy, severe autism, and brain injuries. There are many educational implications for these students. Strategies and Modifications for Multiple Disabilities Early intervention is necessary as soon as the child begins school.Involvement of the appropriate professionals, i.e. occupational therapists, speech/language therapists, physiotherapists, etc.A team approach at the school level involving external agency/community liaison who meet on a regular basis is essentialThe physical arrangement of the classroom will need to best accommodate this child. Consideration of special equipment and assistive technology is essential.Integration among their peers is important to assist these students with social development. Its important to integrate multiple disabled children as much as is possible. Research does indicate that when these students attend their community school and participate in the same activities as their peers, social skills develop and are enhanced. (Sometimes these students are placed full-time in a regular classroom with support, however in the majority of cases these students are placed in a developmental skills type of classro om with some integration. Ensuring that all students demonstrate respect for the multiply disabled student becomes a teachers responsibility and needs to be taken seriously with ongoing activities that develop respect from the other students in the class.An Individual Education Plan will need to be carefully planned out and adjusted on a regular basis and will need to be aligned to the needs of the individual child.Remember, these children are often completely dependent on others for most/all of their daily needs.Assistive technologies may aid this child and the support team will need to decide which assistive technologies will be most appropriate.A safety plan will need to be developed and is often included in the IEP.Care needs to be given in your expectations of this student to ensure the child doesnt become frustrated. Most importantly, these identified children are to be given the same rights as non-identified school age children including screening, evaluation, and an appropriate program/services.​