Children with Special Needs

1. Children with Special Needs

2. Developmental Psychopathology • Psychopathology- illness or disorder of mind. • Developmental Psychopathology- uses insights into typical development to understand developmental disorders. • 4 general principles of dev. Psychopathology • Abnormality is normal. Most children act oddly sometimes. Children with serious disorders, are in many ways like everyone else. • Disabilities change year by year. Most disorders are comorbid (more than one problem in the same person). Which disability is most disabling and the severity of each disorder can change . • Life may be better or worse in adulthood. Some disabilities can be compensated for (blindness, deafness, ADHD). Some may be more challenging as adults (bi-polar). • Interactions with family, school, community, culture: makes people either modify or worsen their psychopathology.

3. Developmental Psychopathology (cont). • Elementary School Aged Kids: • when much psychopathology shows • Kids are grouped by age and expected to learn at the same rate. • This is problematic for those who differ from their peers. • Two Main Principles: • 1. Multifinality- one cause can have many possible final outcomes. • Infant given hormones (one cause) may be: hyperactive, unusually calm, easily angered, quick to cry…(many possible outcomes). • 2. Equifinality- one symptom can have many possible causes. • 4 year old doesn’t speak (1 symptom) could be: autistic, hard of hearing, mentally retarded, electively mute (many possible causes).

4. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity (ADHD), Bipolar, and Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorders. • Grouped together because they are often comorbid and often confused for each other.

5. Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) • Up to 10% of all children have ADHD. • Difficulty paying attention • Uncontrollable urges to be active or act out impulsively • Disruptive when adults want them to be still • Approximately twice as many boys as girls have ADHD. • Tend to have difficulty with academics and lower graduation rates.

6. Bipolar Disorder • Extreme mood swings. • At least one episode of grandiosity (overblown exaggeration). Ex. Genius destined to save the world. • Other times severely depressed. Unwilling to read, play with friends, or go to school. • Medical visits from 1995-2003 have increased 40times. • Could be misdiagnosis in past or over diagnosis now.

7. Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) • Ragefulor irritable on their best days • Always angry at home and school and for months at a time. • Ex. Scream over dropped ice cream, throw a toy across the room instead of sharing it. • Behavior may be the beginning of adult bipolar disorder or later anxiety and depression.

8. Learning Disabilities • Problems with perception or processing information (remember the video). • Everyone has a multiple intelligence they do not excel at (musical, bodily kinesthetic) • But if you have a severe problem with verbal/linguistic or logical/mathematical, that makes all academic learning challenging. • Dyslexia- most commonly diagnosed learning disability. • Unusual difficulty with reading. No single test for it. • Dozens of types and causes of dyslexia • Dyscalculia- unusual difficulty with math/numbers

9. Autism Spectrum Disorder • Characterized by: emotional blindness 1. inadequate social skills 2. restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. • Now 1 in every 110 children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. • Many are not intellectually disabled at all

10. Autism Spectrum Disorder (cont) • Children with autism find it difficult to understand other people emotions. • Many do not want to talk, play, or interact with anyone. • Symptoms are many and vary in severity (spectrum). • Some never speak, rarely smile, and can play with one object for hours. • Others (high-functioning)- can speak and interact but may have difficulty with social cues or relating to others. • Can be extremely gifted in one area (drawing, math, memory, etc) • Diagnosis have increased dramatically • Could be an increase in the number of people with the disorder • Could be more accurate diagnosis • In order to be diagnosed on the spectrum a person’s symptoms must be severe enough to significantly impact their ability to function.

11. Special Education • LRE- Least Restrictive Environment Can mean: • educating kids with special needs in the general education classroom (mainstreaming) most of the time instead of the spec education classroom. • Sending child to resource room for extra help • Full inclusion (in the regular edall the time) Depends on what is best for that particular child. • IEP- Individual Educational Plan • Getting the child the help they need to be as successful as possible. • Special education teacher, general education teacher, administrator, parent, and child are all part of the team that comes up with the IEP and makes sure it is followed. • Give information about the child’s disability, sets goals for the child, lays out any accommodations the child may need • Extra time on assignments, pulled out for testing, written notes, etc…