University of Eastern Philippines Foundation of Special and Inclusive

Education
College of Education Dr. Nimfa Ronato-De
Veyra
Secondary Teacher Education Department First Semester, School Year
2022-2023
______________________________________________________________________________

Module 1 : Special Education Essentials

Lesson 1b. Meaning of Special Education (SPED)
Overview:
The meaning of special education is clearly defined in the given explanations from different
sources. The salient features of special education in the Philippines together with the milestones
in its history and the laws that provide the legal bases for special education in the country are
discussed in this module.
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to:
a. Define special education and explain the meaning of individually planned, systematically
implemented, and carefully evaluated instruction for children with special needs
b. Discuss the difference between special education as essentially instruction and as a
purposeful intervention
c. Enumerate the four standpoints about special education and describe each in one
paragraph using own words.
d. Analyze and compare the features of SPED education from regular education.
Content
Let us start the lesson with these simple motive questions:
 Is there special education? What makes education special?
 Why is it called special education?
 Who are the students enrolled/teacher in a special education class?
 Where is special education taught?
What is special education?
There are different strides in the development and sustenance of Special Education for
more than a century now. The last fifty years were marked boldly developments in legislation,
teacher training and organization of special classes and support services in all regions not only in
our country but in other countries as well. We need to define what is special education, what
makes it special ….
The Department of Education Bureau of Elementary Education manages the program
through the Special Education Division. The scenario in most of our schools in the country is that a
number of children with special needs are mainstreamed in regular classes. A SPED teacher
assists the regular teacher in planning class activities that would enable both regular and special
children to learn together in the regular school.
 Correspondingly, there are children who are enrolled in special schools, residential schools
and special classes in the community. Special education extends as well to hospitals and
homebound instruction.
Future teachers will find children with special needs in regular schools, that is the reason why
they should know what is special education is all about.

From the Special Education Primer, Special education is known to many as SPED or
Special Ed. It is a set of educational programs or services designed to meet the unique needs of
learners with disabilities that cannot be sufficiently met using traditional educational programs or
techniques. Special education programs may be provided one-on-one or in a group with other
learners with similar educational needs.
Special education is in one sense of profession, with its own tool, techniques and research
efforts all focused on improving instructional arrangements and procedures for evaluating and
meeting the learning needs of children, youth and adults with special needs.
Heward and Orlansky (1988) define SPED at a more practical level , as the individually
planned and systematically monitored arrangement of physical settings, special equipment and
materials, teaching procedures, and other interventions designed to help exceptional children
As cited in the book, Introduction to Special Education of Inciong, et.al.(2001, Current
literature defines SPED as individually planned instruction, systematically implemented, and
carefully evaluated instruction to help exceptional children achieve the greatest possible personal
self-sufficiency and success in present and future environments, (Heward,2003)
Special education is the practice of educating students in a way that addresses their
individual differences and special needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and
systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,
and accessible settings. (Wikipedia)
FacebookTwitterShare17 that Special education provides students with identified
disabilities specialized instruction designed to meet their unique learning needs, giving them the
opportunity to develop to their fullest potential. In the United States, special education is delivered,
free of charge, through the public education system, thanks to the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA).
To dig out understanding of the definition here are some insights to elaborate:
 Individually planned instruction. The US law on Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act (IDEA) requires that an individualized education program (IEP) be developed and
implemented for every special education student between the ages 3 and 21.
 Systematically implemented and evaluated instruction. Each type of children with
special education needs requires particular educational services, curriculum goals,
competences and skills, educational approaches, strategies and procedures in the
evaluation of learning and skills.
 Personal self-sufficiency. An important goal to SPED is to help the child become
independent from the assistance of adults in personal maintenance and development,
homemaking, community life, vocational and leisure activities and travel.
 The present environment. This refers to the current conditions in the life of a child with a
disability. The present environment includes the family, the school, the community where he
lives, the institutions in society that extend assistance and support to children and youth
 with special needs such as the government, non-government organizations, socio-civic
organizations and other groups.
 The future environment. It is a forecast of how the child with a disability can move to the
next level of education, from elementary to secondary school and on to college or
vocational programs onto the workplace where the child can be gainfully employed. SPED
helps the child in the transition from a student wage earner so that s/he can lead a normal
life even if s/he has a disability.
There are four standpoints about special education by Heward (2003)
1. Special education is a legislatively governed enterprise.
This point of view is expressed in the legal bases of special education that are discussed in
the Philippine Constitution of 1987, Chapter1, Article lV, Section 1 states that the State shall
protect and promote the rights of all citizens to quality education at all levels and shall take
appropriate steps to make such education available to all. The State shall provide adult citizens,
the disabled and out-of-school youth with training in civics, vocational efficiency and other skills.
The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to health and other social
services available to all people at affordable costs. There shall be priority to the needs of the
underprivileged, the sick, the elderly, the disabled, women and children.
R.A. 7277: The Magna Carta for Disabled Persons –provides for the rehabilitation, self-
development and self-reliance of disabled persons and their integration into meanstream society.
The Philippine Policies and Guidelines for Special Education provides that every child with
special needs has a right to an educational program that is suitable to his/her needs. Special
education shares with regular education basic responsibilities of the educational system to fulfil the
right of the child to develop his/her potential.
2. Special education is a part of the country’s educational system.
Special Education has been part of the DEPED’s basic education program through its
Bureau of Elementary Education which formulates policies, plans and programs, develops
standards of programs and services. There are special education programs in public and private
schools in all the regions of the country. In-service education programs are conducted to upgrade
the competences of administrators, teachers and non-teaching personnel. Scholarship to
deserving school administrators and teachers to pursue graduate degrees in prestigious
universities in the country are also granted. Networks and linkages in the country and oversees
are sustained.
3. Special education is teaching children with special needs in the least restrictive
environment.
From this perspective, teaching is what special education is all about. SPED is defined in
terms of the who, what, how and where of its implementation.
WHO: The exceptional children or the children or youth with special education needs are the
most important persons in special education.
The school administrators, the special education teachers, the regular teachers, the
interdisciplinary teams of professionals such as the guidance counsellors, the school
psychologists, the speech therapists, the physical and occupational therapists, medical
doctors and specialists are individuals who help provide the specific services that
exceptional child needs.
WHAT: Every exceptional child needs access to a differentiated and modified curricular
 Program to enable him/her to learn the skills and competencies in the basic education
curriculum, The individualized education program (IEP) states the annual goals, quarterly
objectives the strategies for teaching and evaluation of learning and the services the
exceptional child needs.
HOW: Gifted children are provided with enrichment activities and advanced content knowledge so
that they can learn more than what the basic education curriculum offers. Most of them are
in accelerated classes where they finish elementary in less than six years. Mentally
retarded or children with down syndrome are taught adaptive skills and basic academic
content that are suitable to their mental ability, blind learn braille and orientation and
mobility or travel techniques and deaf learn sign language and speech reading.
WHERE: There are several educational placements for these children. The most preferred is
inclusive education where they are mainstreamed in regular classes. Other types of
educational placements are special schools, residential schools, self-contained classes,
home-bound and hospital instruction
4. Special education is purposeful intervention

Special education may be best described as a purposeful intervention designed to

overcome or eliminate the obstacles that keep children with disabilities from learning. In other
words, it is about providing children with disabilities with individualized plans of instruction to help
them succeed.

Intervention eliminates, prevents and/or overcome the obstacles that might keep the
individual with disabilities from learning, from full and active participation in school activities, and
from engaging in social and leisure activities.

Preventive intervention - is designed to keep potential or minor problem from becoming a

disability. Special education in this form seeks to either stop something from happening or reduce
a condition that has been identified

 Primary intervention- designed to eliminate or counteract risk factors so that disability is not
acquired.
 Secondary intervention- is aimed at reducing or eliminating the effects of existing risk
factors.
 Tertiary intervention- is intended to minimize the impact of a specific condition or disability
among those with disabilities.
Remedial intervention –attempts to eliminate the effects of disability. It is generally used to teach
children with disabilities skills that allow them to function successfully and independently. It may be
aimed at academic, social, personal , and/or vocational goals.

Compensatory Intervention- Compensatory intervention involves teaching special skills or using

special devices to improve functioning. Compensatory intervention may be best identified as
teaching a child to perform a task or conquer a skill in spite of a disability. It involves providing
children with disabilities an asset that non-disabled children do not need.

To further understand the variance between special education and regular/general education,
analyse carefully the matrix.
Matrix Showing the Difference Between Special Education and Regular (General)
Education
 SPECIAL EDUCATION REGULAR EDUCATION
Kind of Learners CSN who necessitate Regular Learners
individualized program
Number of Learners For one-on-one: 1 Private School: 35- 50
For group: 3 to 4 Public School: 50 – 60 or
For resource group: 5 to 10 more
Emphasis On the given intervention On the curriculum and mastery
of skills established within the
curriculum
Curriculum  Attention Skills (ADHD)
 Memory Skills (MR)
 Braille (VI)
 Sign Language (HI)
 Auditory and Visual
Perception Skills (LD) English, Reading, Math,
 Anger Management Makabayan…
(Emotional/Behavior
Disturbance)
 Creative and Critical
Thinking Skills (Giftedness)
 Functional Academics
(Autism)
Who dictates the Individual needs of the child School system (DepEd)
curriculum?
Instruction Intensive Systematic General Instruction
Instruction
Received instruction SPED Teachers
from? Occupational Therapist Regular Teachers
Physical Therapist (Subject Teachers)
Speech Therapist
Primary function Of SPED Teachers Of Regular Teachers
-To meet the goals and - To teach the
objectives established in the IEP curriculum
Type of Classroom SPED Classroom
Self-contained Room Regular classroom
Resource Room
Mainstream Classroom

Summary:
Special education is a set of educational programs/services designed to meet the unique needs of
children with special needs or exceptional children.
SPED focuses on the improvement of instructional arrangements/ procedures for evaluating and
meeting the learning needs of CSN.
It is an avenue to reach out and help CSN or exceptional children achieve the greatest possible
personal self-sufficiency and confidence in his move, life in th environment.
SPED is considered a legislatively governed enterprise, an important part of educational system,
teaching CSN in the least restrictive environment and as purposeful intervention. From these
standpoints, teaching is the heart of SPED in which defined as the who, what, how and where of
the implementation of SPED.
SPED as intervention it eliminates, prevents, and overcome obstacles that keep the CSN and
other exceptional students from learning. SPED teachers and regular teachers collaborate- help
one another to counteract and minimize CSN’s conditions potential problems from becoming a
disability and collegially attempts to eliminate disabilities.
Self-Assessment Questions (Respond and Reflect)

Directions: Respond scholarly to these questions using insights you have learned.
a. Define special education in your own understanding based on what you understand
b. Discuss substantially the difference between special education as essentially instruction and as
a purposeful intervention.
c. Enumerate the four standpoints about special education and describe each in one paragraph
using own words.
d. Compare the features of SPED education from regular education. Describe the salient
variance.

Suggested Reading /Enrichment Activity

Read the vignettes shared to you and submit insights through a reaction paper to be submitted on
October 2. (Please see attached vignette)
You can do this:
1. Which of the vignettes you consider most challenging and inspiring? Why?
2. What characteristics of these children empress you most? Why?
3. Write one paragraph of not less than 10 run on sentences for your simple analysis.

References

Inciong, Quijano, Capulong, et.al., Introduction to Special Education. A Textbook for College
Students, 1st Edition, 2007Rex Book Store Inc, QC Phils
Special Education Handbook Managing Children With Special Needs (Learning Disability,
ADHD, Autism) NCBTS Aligned, 2009, Rex Book Store Inc, QC Phils
Danocup, O Beriones, Classroom Management: Preparing Special Education Teachers,
LoriMar Publishing, 2010 Manila Phils
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_education
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