AUTISM

Definition

a variable developmental disorder that appears by age three and is characterized especially
by difficulties in forming and maintaining social relationships, by impairment of the ability to
communicate verbally or nonverbally, and by repetitive behavior patterns and restricted
interests and activitiesication tools that can be used as lectures.

Causes
There is no known single cause for autism spectrum disorder, but it is generally accepted
that it is caused by abnormalities in brain structure or function.

Effects on Learning
• Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) develop atypically and don’t necessarily
develop skills in a typical fashion as neurotypical children do.
• Children with ASD can experience difficulties paying attention to others, communicating,
understanding other perspectives, and seeing things in entirety. These challenges affect a
child’s trajectory in a significant way.
• Understanding the challenges your child experiences will enable you to assist and aid in
their development in a positive way.

Deaf-Blindness
Definition
A person who has a severe hearing impairment in addition to a visual defect. It is usually con
genital but it may result from ageing or some systemic disease or as part of a syndrome.

Causes
There are many causes of deaf-blindness. Those that are present or occur around the time a
child is born include prematurity, childbirth complications, and numerous congenital
syndromes, many of which are quite rare. Deaf-blindness may also occur later in childhood or
during adulthood due to causes such as meningitis, brain injury, or inherited conditions.

Effects on Learning
The world of a child with deaf-blindness is limited to what can be gathered from other
senses, particularly touch, and any available vision or hearing. Without appropriate
intervention, this limited access leads to isolation that affects a child’s development and
learning. The more severe a child’s deaf-blindness, the narrower the world from which they
can learn and the more important the sense of touch becomes. Understanding the severity of
a child’s deaf-blindness is the first step in helping the child expand their learning to the world
beyond their reach.

Deafness

Definition
A general deafness definition is a condition of extreme hearing loss. Deaf people have very
little hearing or no hearing at all.

Deafness can result from problems with the outer or middle ear (conductive) or the inner ear
or auditory nerve (sensorineural). In some cases, a mix of these problems causes deafness
or hearing loss. These causes can be acquired during a person’s lifetime or present at birth or
immediately afterwards. Some cases of deafness have no identifiable cause.

Causes
Hearing loss causes the delay in the development of speech and language, and those delays
then lead to learning problems, often resulting in poor in school performance.

Effects of hearing loss on learning

2. It may reduce academic achievements.

3. Communication is affected adversely. Learning solely depends on communication. Thus

poor communication leads to poor learning.

4. It may have an impact on your own choices.

Emotional disturbance
Definition

any mental disorder not caused by detectable organic abnormalities of the brain and in which

a major disturbance of emotions is predominant. affective disorder, emotional disorder, major

affective disorder.

Causes

 Prenatal exposure to drugs or alcohol.

Effects on Learning
 A student with an emotional disturbance has the inability to learn in school which cannot be
explained by other factors, as well as the inability to build or maintain good relationships at
school. These students display difficulties with behavior or feelings, and may be generally
unhappy or sad.

Intellectual disability

Definition

Intellectual disability is a disability characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual

functioning and in adaptive behavior, which covers many everyday social and practical

skills. This disability originates before the age of 22.

Causes
The most common causes of intellectual disabilities are: Genetic conditions. Sometimes
an intellectual disability is caused by abnormal genes inherited from parents, errors when
genes combine, or other reasons. Examples of genetic conditions are Down syndrome,
Fragile X syndrome, and phenylketonuria (PKU).

Effects on Learning

Intellectual disabilities in children cause learning difficulties, social problems, motor skill

impairment, and adversely affect ability to perform successfully in daily life. This negatively

impacts a child's ability to learn in a typical educational setting.

Hearing impairment

Definition

Hearing Impairment is the loss of part or all of one's ability to hear and is classified according

to severity and type. Further explore the definition of hearing impairment, its causes, and

treatment.

Causes
Conductive hearing loss is when a hearing impairment is due to problems in the outer ear,
middle ear, ear canal, eardrum, or the ossicles, which are the tiny bones in the middle ear.
When the sound is not being conducted properly through the ear, conductive hearing loss
occurs. Most cases of conductive hearing loss can be corrected medically or surgically.
Causes of conductive hearing loss include:

 Fluid in the middle ear as a result of colds

Definition

A term of art referring to a combination of impairments in a child, for example mental retardati

on plus blindness, or mental retardation plus physical disabilities, which creates severe logisti

cal problems that make it difficult to accommodate the child in a special education program.

Causes
Some of the causes for multiple disabilities include lack of oxygen at birth, difficulties at birth,
premature birth, chromosomal abnormalities, genetic disorders, infections, poor development
of the brain or spinal cord and injuries from accidents.

Specific learning disability

Definition

Specific Learning Disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological

processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may

manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or do

mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual

Causes
 Genetic--There is a higher prevalence of people with SLD passing on the traits to their
offspring.
 Neurological Central Nervous System - Information Processing (link to central nervous
system)
 Trauma - Before, During, and after Birth--lack of oxygen to the brain during birth air loss due
to suffocation/drowning, and other factors can contribute to SLD from a very young age
 Environmental Influences--smoking, lead paint, illegal drugs, prescription drugs (not
prescribed by a physician), certain diseases, etc. can cause delays or prevent development in
a child (or in some cases an adult) causing SLD.
 Biochemical--some chemicals can contribute to the development of SLD in individuals
 Otitis Media--middle ear infections can cause problems under certain situations
Speech of language impairment

Traumatic brain injury

Visual impairment

Orthopedic impairment

Other health impairment