Do you know these celebrities?

How well do you really know them? Tom Cruise –Successful actor who starred in such films as Top Gun, Rain Man, & Minority Report in spite of having dyslexia. Robin Williams –Successful actor and comedian who has starred in such films as Mrs. Doubtfire & Hook, who with all his success, has a learning disability and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). Sylvester Stallone –Star of the Rocky and Rambo movies who shares the same type of disabilities as Robin Williams (LD & ADD).

What about these women celebrities

Women Celebrities Audrey Hepburn, star of such classics as “The African Queen” and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” had depression. Erin Brockovich, woman who inspired a movie for her work on the environment in the southern US, has dyslexia.

What’s the point? Having a disability WILL NOT prevent you from obtaining success! YOU have to know your disability and make the appropriate accommodations that will generate your success. You’re not alone. There are thousands and millions of students with the same types of disabilities.

Specific Learning Disability (SLD) Federal Definition: Specific Learning Disability (SLD) means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations (Hallahan & Kauffman, 2003).

Specific Learning Disability (SLD) cont. Dyslexia, for example, is considered one SLD. Over half (50.8%) of the students with disabilities in the US have a SLD. The number of students with a SLD is close to 3 MILLION!

Speech & Language Disabilities Speech disorders include disorders of voice, articulation, & fluency. Language disorders affect the student’s ability to use language (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, & pragmatics). Over a million students have a speech or language disability.

Emotional Behavioral Disorders (EBD) Difficult to define: Behavior that is unacceptable because of social or cultural experiences that goes to an extreme and that is chronic. Includes Conduct Disorders, Affective Disorders, and Anxiety Disorders. Close to half a million students have an EBD, but the numbers are on the rise.

Emotional Behavioral Disorders (EBD) (cont) Conduct Disorders –Behaviorally based –Typically, the person has problems with peers & authority figures. –Manifests behavior with aggression –Behavioral management program & psychotherapy fam/conduct.htm Affective Disorders –Something in the body is affected. –Example: Bipolar Disorder. –Cause: Genetics –M.D. will place bipolar patients on medication to help stabilize chemicals in the body (brain) bp6

Autism A pervasive developmental disability characterized by extreme withdrawal, cognitive deficits, language disorders, self-stimulation; and the onset is before the age of 30 months. Sometimes regarded as PDD or Pervasive Developmental Disorder. Runs a “spectrum” Over 50,000 students are autistic but the numbers rise steadily every year.

Other Disabilities Orthopedic Disabilities Visual Disabilities Audio or Hearing Disabilities Traumatic Brain Injury Multiple Disabilities (MD)

Activity Time!!!!! Take about 7 minutes to fill out the Student Disability Worksheet