What are the four most common types of exceptionalities found in todays classrooms describe each briefly?

            In the classroom, teachers will face multiple types of exceptionalities. What is exceptionality? A child who has exceptionality has a characteristic(s) that deviate(s) from the considered “norm” for physical and mental abilities. There are many different categories for exceptionality that include intellectual disability, hearing impairments, speech and language impairments, visual impairments, emotional disturbance, orthopedic impairments, multiple disabilities, autism, traumatic brain injuries, and giftedness and talent. These exceptionalities are ones that are most common in the classroom, but there are many other exceptionalities. It is important for teachers to understand characteristics and signs for these exceptionalities so that they are able to get them the proper help and curriculum to be successful.

            One of the most common exceptionalities is intellectual disability. Students with intellectual disabilities have difficulties in reading, written language, math, social settings, behavior, and experience low self-esteem. It is important for teachers to recognize these issues early so that they can get students the help they need before falling behind their classmates. Students who have intellectual disabilities experience difficulty in remembering information, retaining information, paying attention, using new knowledge, and being motivated to learn. These difficulties present many issues for student success and self-efficacy if not caught early on in the student’s education. Therefore, it is essential for teachers to know characteristics of intellectual disabilities so that they can help identify potential reasons or causes for student difficulties in school. There are also other issues for students and people with intellectual disabilities that range from issues learning self-care skills to having problems creating and maintaining personal relationships and friendships. Although there are many issues for people with intellectual disabilities to overcome, they also have many positive attributes that include tenacity and interest in learning, getting along well with others, and can be positive influences on other people.

            Another exceptionality that teachers need to be aware of is emotional and behavioral disorders. There are two primary behavioral excesses: externalizing behaviors and internalizing behaviors. Externalizing behaviors are the most common behavior patterns and include lying, tantrums, stealing, destruction, and threats to themselves or others. These behaviors can be very disruptive to the classroom environment and to other children, so it is essential that teachers be able to recognize these as possible clues and signs to emotional and behavior disorders. Internalizing behaviors include being overly shy or immature, withdrawn from others, hypochondriac, and/or being easily upset and difficult to be calmed down. These disorders affect the students in academic achievement and social skills. They tend to have a low GPA, problems passing standardized tests or exams, many absences, and other learning disabilities and language delays. These students also tend to have less participation in extracurricular activities, poor peer relations, low levels of empathy, and higher rates of juvenile delinquency. Emotional disorders can create many issues in the classroom if they are not address, which is why it is important for teachers to be able to recognize them early. Early intervention for these students is essential to getting students the help they need and keeping them on the right track.

             One of the biggest exceptionalities that more and more teachers have to learn to recognize and accommodate is autism. Many schools and school districts are moving towards inclusion, which is “the full-time membership of all students with disabilities in age-appropriate general education classrooms with supports provided to students and teachers to enable them to be successful” (“Supporting Students”, n.d.). Because of inclusion, teachers need to know the characteristics and signs of autism. This is essential because teachers need to develop a system in their classroom that provides a structure to the classroom with as little disruptions as possible. When students have autism or other disorders, teachers need to know how to plan the instruction that accommodates these children smoothly in their classroom. Teachers also need to know how to effectively incorporate these students with autism into groups that will be helpful and supportive and not judgmental and disrespectful. Teachers also need to know how to develop lessons and curriculum for students with autism so that they can effectively communicate and plan with special education teachers (“Supporting Students”, n.d.). Teachers need to have high expectations for these students and know how to effectively communicate with them (“Supporting Students”, n.d.). Autism is “a group of developmental brain disorders, collectively called autism spectrum disorder (ASD)” ("National institute of," 2010). The spectrum includes autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, pervasive developmental disorder, Rett’s disorder, and childhood disintegrative disorder ("National institute of," 2010). It is not known what causes ASD, but scientists have research suggesting that “both genes and environment play important roles” ("National institute of," 2010).Students with autism experience impairment in social interactions and issues communicating with language. About half of the children with autism do not or are not able to speak. For those how can speak, often use echolalia. They are repetitive, ritualistic, and have unusual behavior patterns. They often insist on sameness and preservation  and they have responsiveness to sensory stimuli. In the autism spectrum, there are varying levels of intellectual functioning. Some autistic children exhibit “splinter skills”, which are areas of relatively superior performance that is unexpected compared to other function areas. There are many problem behaviors associated and characteristic of children with autism. These behaviors include property destruction, aggression, sleep issues, food pickiness, and pica (the recurrent consumption of nonfood items). All of these behavioral issues can pose a problem on classroom learning and structure if teachers do not know the signs of autism or how to help children with autism be included in the main class.

             A mild exceptionality is speech and language disorders. Although many children experience this as a child in the early grade, it can be corrected with a speech therapist or a little extra help. Their errors include distortions, omissions, substations, and additions. Children with speech disorders may not be able to say particular sounds. These children may also have phonological disorders, fluency disorders, voice disorders, and language impairments. If a teacher recognizes any of these signs or symptoms, they have the opportunity to get students the help they need in order to fix the problem they are having with speech.

             Another issue students might experience is deafness or hearing loss. Their levels of functioning are influenced by many things like the type of hearing loss, age of hearing loss, attitudes of other family members, opportunities to acquire a first language, and the presence or absence of other disabilities. Students with hearing problems experience smaller vocabularies, trouble learning abstract words, differentiating questions from statements, and atypical speech problems. These problems lead to academic issues like reading and math, illiteracy, and staying on the same academic level as their grade level peers. Hearing loss also causes social issues like behavioral difficulties in school, depression issues, withdrawal, isolation, poor reading skills, and other’s attitudes about them. If students are having a tough time hearing, teachers need to be able to get them the help they need to that they do not find behind grade level.

             Going along with hearing loss is blindness and vision loss. Poor vision makes it difficult to see connections between personal experiences and concepts. Motor development and social interaction suffer due to vision loss. Students are scared to interact more with their peers because many others have poor attitudes towards them and about them. It is the teacher’s responsibility to steer kids away from stereotypes and judgments about disabilities, which will help students with visual impairments act more with their peers.  If teachers are able to recognize the signs of vision loss and prepare their students for acceptance of everyone, students with vision loss with be much more prosperous in the classroom.

             Teachers might encounter students with health impairments such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, and spinal cord injuries. All of these disorders cause developmental delays physically and/or intellectually. Teachers need to know how to help these students with their needs, so it is important for teachers to know about the characteristics of these disorders. One disorder that is becoming more and more common is attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. This disorder can cause chaos in the classroom if the teacher does not know how to channel these student’s attention and energy. Students with ADHD have trouble behaving, being distracted, control impulses, hyperactivity, and troubling following directions (Segal & Smith, 2010). Teachers need to communicate with parents about a behavioral plan that they have set up at home or one that the teacher has set up in the classroom. The biggest thing teachers can do for children with ADHD is develop a consistent schedule that involves “breaking long work into short chunks” (Segal & Smith, 2010). Children with ADHD have trouble controlling impulses, so it is important to work one-on-one with these students to develop a behavior plan and an appropriate consequence for not following the plan (Segal & Smith, 2010).The last biggest factor for students with ADHD is hyperactivity. Teachers need to creatively incorporate as much movement as possible into the classroom to help students with ADHD release some of their energy (Segal & Smith, 2010). Following these tips can help teachers keep better control of the classroom and prevent disruptions.

             Lastly, it is important to include students with giftedness and talent.  This is characterized by the ability to rapidly acquire large amounts of information, relate ideas to one another, make good judgments, appreciate other viewpoints, and an extreme ability to solve problems. These students tend to be intellectually curious, fascinated with words and ideas, perfectionists, precise, and have a great need for mental stimulation. It is important for teachers to keep these students’ needs in mind so that they are able to continue learning and not be bored or complacent.

             In the general classroom, there is a wide range of exceptionalities that teachers need to be aware of and know how to help assess. Teachers need to be aware of signs and characteristics of these exceptionalities so that early intervention can happen in order to get students the help and needs that are essential to success. Teachers may also have students with these exceptionalities in their classroom and knowing ways to effectively communicate and handle them can help unite a classroom that promotes learning and acceptance for all. 

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