1. Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology Compliments of Dr. Simon Hayhoe
What are Special Needs?
Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology
Compliments of Dr. Simon Hayhoe

2. What do you understand by special needs
In groups of three, please discuss:
Question 1: What do you understand by special needs in your class?
Question 2: What are physical barriers to learning in your class?
Question 3: What are social barriers to learning in your classrooms?

3. What are Special Needs
What does the term mean, Who has them, What does having one mean

4. Forms of special need Biological – disabilities:
Physical impairment
Cognitive learning impairments, such as dyslexia or dyspraxia
Sensory impairments, such as blindness and deafness
Social impairments to learning
students who speak English infrequently
social disadvantage, such as poverty
Emotional and behavioural impairments to learning
Behavioural problems which are the product of abuse or neglect
Eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia

5. The nature of special needs
Biological
Emotional / Behavioural
Social

6. What is disability?
Inability to perform tasks comfortably and normally by the standards of society.
Association to other people with similar traits.
Inability to look, sound and smell like mainstream society.
A need to use technology that identifies him or her as impaired.
The rarity of his or her trait compared with other disabling traits.
A person not being able to change his or her situation in a relatively short period of time, and without recourse to major medical interventions.
The perceived permanence of impairment.
The strength of his or her impairment in comparison to the social or cultural norms of ability.
(Hayhoe, S. (2011). Classifying Impairment in Western Societies. Downloaded from

7. Misconceptions about disability
Genetic differences or traits are not necessarily disabilities. This includes:
Handedness
Physical appearance
Dwarfism not cause restricted movement
Disability and special needs should not be seen a medical / health conditions or diseases
Disabilities are either:
the outcomes of a disease, accident or disorder
the symptom of a disease
People with the same disability do not necessarily have the same causes or traits
Disabilities are not absolutes, they are usually on a scale from slight to severe

8. Strategies for working with Students with Special Needs
Strategising your approach to working with students with special needs

9. The functional definition of special needs
Body Movement: Physical Development and Motor Skills
Thinking and Learning: Cognitive Development Skills
Communication: Language Development Skills
The Senses: Vision, Hearing and Touch (Including Sensory Integration)
Relating to Self and Others: Social Development Skills and Emotional Development Skills
Self-Care and Daily Living Skills: Adaptive Development
Taken from the Center for the Improvement of Child Caring (

10. What shouldn’t we do?
Draw attention to disability without the student wanting to be identified
Make assumptions about people with special needs based on their appearance or their disability
Underestimate the ability of students with disabilities
Overestimate the ability of students with disabilities

11. Tradecraft for students with special needs
They need to work with their teachers to develop an Individual Education Plan (IEP)
They need to have a strategy that can be transported from class to class
They have to be professionally assessed
They should work in conjunction with counsellors