PROF.

ED 9: INTRO TO SPED
TOPIC: PHYSICAL DISABILITIES
Physical Disabilities
– a child with a physical disability has a problem with the structure or functioning of
the body
– refer to impairments that are temporary or permanent that:
o affect the bones and muscle systems and make mobility and manual dexterity
difficult and/or impossible;
o cause deformities and/or absence of body organs and systems necessary for
mobility;
o and affect the nervous system making mobility awkward and uncoordinated.
- some children’s physical disabilities or health impairments appear in combination
with other disabilities and are often considered to have multiple disabilities 
concomitant impairments – combination of which causes such severe educational
problems that they cannot be accommodated in SPED programs solely for one of the
impairments (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA])

CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF PHYSCAL DISABILITIES

CAUSES PREVENTION
Motor Vehicle Accidents child restraints, safety belts, auto
air bags, helmets
Water and Diving Accidents diving safety, swimming safety,
flotation devices, supervision
Gunshot Wounds gun control and weapons training
Sports Injuries (boxing, skiing, football) headgear, safe fields and slopes,
conditioning/training
Child Abuse family support services, parenting
training

POSSIBLE SIGNS OR CHARACTERISTICS OF PHYSICAL DISABILITIES AND HEALTH

IMPAIRMENTS
• Limited vitality and energy
• Many school absences
• Need for physical accommodations to participate in school activities
• Physical presence but mental “absence”
• Poor motor coordination
• Frequent falls
• Speech difficult to understand

CLASSIFICATION/TYPES
1. Orthopedic Impairment
– related to a physical deformity or disability of the skeletal system and associated
motor function
– affects the bones, joints, limbs and associated muscles of the skeletal system
a. Poliomyelitis – “infantile paralysis”
b. Osteomyelitis – or tuberculosis of the bones and spine
c. Bone Fracture – or breakage in the continuity of the bone results from falls and
accidents
d. Muscular Dystrophy – a group of long-term diseases that progressively weakens,
deteriorates and wastes away the muscles of the body
e. Osteogenesis Imperfecta – a rare inherited condition marked by extremely brittle
bones. The skeletal system does not grow normally and the bones are easily
fractured.
f. Limb Deficiency – refers to the absence or partial loss of an arm or leg. The Greek
word “PLEGIA” which means “to strike” is used in combination with the affected limb,
that is, arm or leg, to describe the condition.
o Quadriplegia – all 4 limbs, both arms and legs, are affected. Movement of the
trunk and face may also be impaired.
o Paraplegia – motor impairment of the legs only
o Hemiplegia – only one side of the body is affected
o Diplegia – major involvement of the legs, with less severe involvement of the
arms
o Monoplegia – only one limb is affected
o Triplegia – three limbs are affected
o Double Hemiplegia – major involvement of the arms, with less severe
involvement of the legs
g. Crippling Conditions
o Clubfoot – the child is born with 1 or both feet deformed usually with the feet
and toes inward, outward or upward often accompanied by webbed toes
o Clubhand – same as clubfoot but this time the hands and fingers are deformed
o Polydactylism – the child is born with extra toes or fingers
o Syndactylism – the fingers or toes or both are webbed like those of fowls,
ducks and hens
2. Neurological Impairment
- involves the nervous system and affects the ability to move, use, feel, or control
certain parts of the body
- are problems with the structure or functioning of the central nervous system,
including the brain and the spinal cord
b. Convulsive Disorders/Epilepsy – a tendency to have recurrent seizures 
are sudden, excessive, spontaneous, and abnormal discharge of neurons in the brain
accompanied by alteration in motor function, and/or sensory function, and/or
consciousness.
Types of Seizures
1. Generalized Absence (Petit Mal) – short lapses in consciousness
2. Generalized Tonic-Clonic (Grand Mal) – convulsions and loss of
consciousness
3. Complex Partial (Psychomotor) – the result of discharge in a localized
area of the brain

Causes
Primary Epilepsy (Congenital) – usually appear at a young age, occur in families
where there is some history of epilepsy, have stereotypical pattern of the seizure, and
have a predictable response to specific medication
Secondary Epilepsy (Lesional) – may appear at any age and result from accidents or
child abuse, metabolic disturbances such as hypoglycemia, brain tumors and abscesses,
lesions, brain injury, meningitis, or alcohol or drug withdrawal

Treatment
Usually involves medication: too much, too little, or the wrong medication can
have serious effects. But even at the proper dose, medication has side effects such as
drowsiness, lethargy, intellectual dullness, coarsening of facial features, behavioral
changes, or sleep disturbances in the child.
Another recent treatment for epilepsy is brain surgery, which is gaining in
popularity because techniques for finding and removing diseased tissue are improving.
The results of surgery are especially promising for infants and young children, whose
brains seem to be more able to reorganize after the surgery.
b. Cerebral Palsy
- characterized by disturbances of voluntary motor functions that may include
paralysis, extreme weakness, lack of coordination, involuntary convulsions and other
motor disorders
- a long term condition resulting from a lesion to the brain or an abnormality of brain
growth
- can be treated but not cured, not fatal, not contagious, and in most cases not
inherited
- causes are varied and not nearly known. It is often attributed to the occurrence of
injuries, accidents, illnesses that are prenatal (before birth), perinatal (at or near the
time of birth) or postnatal (soon after birth)  Congenital cerebral palsy
- acquired cerebral palsy is usually the result of brain damage resulting from
accidents, brain infections or child abuse
- Other disabilities that sometimes accompany cerebral palsy include seizures, sensory
deficits such as abnormal sensation and perception, visual impairments, hearing
impairments, speech impairments, and learning problems. Although mental
retardation is present in some children with cerebral palsy, others function in the
normal or higher intellectual range.
- An individual’s cerebral palsy is usually described by the type of cerebral palsy and
the area of the body affected:
o Hypertonia/Spastic – movements are very stiff
o Athetoid/Athetosis – a condition characterized by slow, worm-like involuntary,
uncontrollable and purposeless movements
o Ataxic/Ataxia – a disturbance of balance and equilibrium resulting in a gait like
that of a drunken person when walking and may fall easily if not supported
- Although cerebral palsy cannot be cured, proper management or treatment can limit
further physical damage, increase strength, improve the child’s functional skills, and
offer opportunities for increased independence and autonomy. A variety of treatment
services are available for children with cerebral palsy. The treatment is usually
customized to the needs of the individual.
o Some individuals with cerebral palsy have impaired mobility.
o Some children with cerebral palsy need surgery to help improve their
condition.
o Specially designed tools also serve to improve the way children with cerebral
palsy accomplish ordinary activities of daily living.

c. Spina Bifida and Myelodysplasia

- failure of the spinal column to close properly
- is a congenital defect in the vertebrae that encloses the spinal cord
- About 80 – 90% of children born with spina bifida develop hydrocephalus, the
accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in tissues surrounding the brain. This could lead
to head enlargement and severe brain damage.
- Risks includes the possibility of infection and further damage to the delicate nervous
system, brain damage such as hydrocephaly and paralysis

Types
Spina Bifida Occulta is a defect in which the bony protective arches of the spinal
column have failed to develop. The spinal cord and its covering (meninges 
membranes that cover the spinal cord and brain) are protected, if at all, only by skin.
Spina Bifida Meningocele is the most serious, involving not only a defect in the spinal
column but also some protrusion of the meninges. Meningocele indicates a skin sack
protruding on the back containing some of the cord covering but not the cord.
 Spina Bifida Myelomeningocele is the most serious form of spina bifida because the
back, the meninges, and the actual spinal cord are involved. Myelomeningocele indicates
a skin sack protruding on the back containing a portion of the spinal cord and its
covering that have escaped through a defect in the bony spinal column.

- The causes of these spinal canal defects are not yet clear, although the presence of a
virus or an unknown environmental toxin during early fetal development and genetic
factors have been suggested. The defect occurs very early in the development of a
fetus, between the 20th and 30th day of fetal development, before a woman even
knows she is pregnant
- Today, infants born with spinal column defects generally have surgery to repair the
back to avoid infection. If the infection is not treated or if the infant contracts
meningitis, the effects can be devastating and can include mental retardation.
Surgical closure of the defect allows the infant’s motor, sensory, and intellectual
functioning to be preserved and a suitable environment for the child’s neural tissue
development to continue.
- Medical procedures for these children include insertion of a shunt (a tube to drain
excess spinal fluid from the brain into a body cavity such as the abdomen) to drain
excess spinal fluid from the child’s brain. The use of the shunt can prevent the brain
damage that results when the brain ventricles fill up with the fluid and expand,
stretching the child’s head outward and squeezing and compressing the brain and
nerves.
- Without treatment, the future for a child with a major spinal cord defect can be bleak.
With treatment, however, the child’s prognosis is excellent.

Spinal Cord Injuries

- Results of accidents. Injury to the spinal column is generally described by
letters and numbers indicating the site of the damage.

d. Traumatic Brain Injury

- commonly caused by injuries to the head as results from automobile, motorcycle and
bicycle accidents, falls, assaults, gunshot wounds and child abuse
- is severe trauma to the head that results in lingering physical and cognitive
impairments
- “An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in
total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that
adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term applies to open or
closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition;
language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-
solving; sensory, perceptual and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical
functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain
injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or brain injuries induced by birth
trauma.” (IDEA)
- number-one killer of people under 34

Causes
- motor vehicle accidents
- alcohol
- drug abuse
- child abuse

Includes
- long term problems
o cognition problems
 o behavioral problems
 poor judgment
 over-activity
 aggression
 destructiveness
 impulsivity
o psychosocial problems
o sensory
o motor problems
 paralysis
 poor balance
 poor coordination
o language impairments
- chronic fatigue
- pain
- epilepsy
- memory impairments
- poor ability to organize

For teachers to enhance these students’ ability to succeed

- retrain and teach cognitive skills
- consider whether the student is thinking and processing appropriately
- check on any prerequisite cognitive skills
- provide frequent feedback
- refocus student’s attention if necessary
- repeat and review
- provide examples and models
- give simple and frequent instructions, both verbal and written
- provide enough time to respond
- use computers, especially for drill and practice