How do students vary in ability and disability?

Students also differ in according to their special needs and talents. Some enter the world with exceptional abilities and talents others enter the world with different disabilities.

Students with disabilities are provided with special education and special services along with exceptional learners that teachers may encounter in classrooms, which are students that are one of the following:

1. physically handicap
2. mentally handicap
3. emotionally handicap
4. gifted and talented students

*Students with special needs are often referred to as handicapped or disabled, which is why it is important for all teachers to understand what those terms actually mean. As teachers you should never look or act differently around a child who has disability.

There are quite a few different disabilities that are possible to have:

• specific learning disability
• speech or language impairments
• mental retardation
• serious emotional disturbance
• hearing impairments
• orthopedic impairments
• visual impairments
• multiple disabilities
• deaf blindness
• autism and other

*Since the term learning disability was founded in the 1960's there has been no university accepted definition.

Teachers can help in the early identification of students with learning disabilities so that they can receive the instructional adaptions or special education services they need by being alert for students who exhibit several of the following academic and behavioral characteristics.

• inability to problem solve
• lack of engagement with learning tasks
• poor language and cognitive development
• lack of basic reading skills
• excessive movement
• impulsivity
• poor motor coordination
• poor motivation
• lack of attention during lectures or class discussion