5 Different types of Special Education Needs

Special education needs basically refers to a range of educational and social services catered by educational institutions to those children who are born with disabilities and who are between 3 to 21 years of age. Special education program is designed to make sure that the students with disabilities are getting an environment which allows them to be educated effectively.

Disabilities which qualify for special education needs are given as follows:-

-physical disabilities such as deafness or blindness
-mental disabilities such as Down’s syndrome and autism
-medical conditions such as oxygen dependence of traumatic brain injury
-learning deficits such as dyslexia
-behavioral disorder such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and -conduct disorder.

Special educators facilitate such instruction or teaching methods which are specially designed to meet the individualized needs of the children. These teachers are trained to make the process of education easily available and accessible to those children who are devoid of basic education due to their physical disabilities they are struggling with.

The basic motive of special education is to provide access to free education to special need children in the public school system. Special education need system assumes that every special need child is capable of being successful. Each child will succeed according to his or her abilities. The special education focuses on enhancing the child’s strengths and show support towards their weaknesses. Teachers let each student feel and know that they believe in him or her. The rewards of such education cannot be described in words for both the child and the teacher.

Types of Special Education Needs for Children in School

Cognition and Learning Needs

Children and young people for whom learning, thinking and understanding is much harder than most of the other students. Some of the things which are found to be difficult for such children are: –

1. Taking longer time to learn necessary or important skills.
2. Finding it difficult to recall or memorize things such as the crucial words for reading and time tables.
3. Finding it difficult to understand how to use letter sounds to read and spell words.
4. Requiring more time than normal to think and tell the answers for any question.

Communication and Interaction Needs

Such requirements are for those children who find it difficult to interact and communicate with people around them or with the world. These needs are also called speech, language & communication needs (SLCN). Some of those things which children or young people with such difficulty might find difficult are: –

1. Communicating with other students or adults, especially when in a group.
2. Talking about something which they haven’t already chosen to talk about.
3. Making new friends or keeping the old ones for a long time.
4. Dealing with changes in the way of doing things that they use to do.
5. Dealing with noises, smells or other sensations which occur around them or happen with them.

Social, Emotional and Mental Health Needs

These needs are for those people who find it difficult to manage their emotions and behavior and how it affects their daily life. The difficulties faced by the children with these kinds of problems are: –

1. They might find it difficult to understand how they are feeling and they have difficulty in making new friends.
2. They find it difficult to follow the fuels which are set by other people and they have problems in listening and following instructions.

Sensory and/or Physical Needs

Children with sensory or physical needs or both have difficulty in managing their daily life without any support or other medical requirements.

Link: https://www.teachertrainingdelhi.com/blog/2018/07/18/5-types-of-special-education-needs/