1. Physical and Health Disabilities/Impairments:
By: Emily Sormanti
&
Khristi Green

2. If you were told that you would be working with a student who has a physical or health disability, what would you presume about that student? What would you not know?

3. Think about what it would have been like to miss a month or more of school when you were in elementary, middle, or high school. What concerns might you have had?

4. The following conditions and disorders can be thought of in terms of how the effect the individual….
Chronic- (Example: Cerebral Palsy)
Acute- (Example: Childhood Cancer)
Progressive- (Example: Muscular Dystrophy)
Episodic- (Example: Epilepsy)

5. IDEA definition of “Physical Disability”:
Conditions that affects movement- that is, an individuals gross-motor control or mobility (e.g. walking, standing) and fine-motor control (e.g. writing, holding/manipulating small objects using the hands). They may be mild, moderate, or severe.

6. Types of Paralysis: Monoplegia Paraplegia Hemiplegia
Tetraplegia/Quadriplegia

7. Paralysis:
Paralysis is related to a number of different medical conditions or diagnoses. The most common are:
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Brachial Plexus Injury
Brain Injury
Cerebral Palsy
Friedreich’s Ataxia
Guillain-Barre Syndrome
Multiple Sclerosis
Muscular Dystrophy
Post-Polio Syndrome
Spina Bifida
Spinal Cord Injury
Stroke
Syringomyelia/ Tethered Cord
Transverse Myelitis

8. Neurological Disorders:
Cerebral Palsy
Spastic Cerebral Palsy
Athetoid Cerebral Palsy
Ataxic Cerebral Palsy
Mixed Cerebral Palsy
Spina Bifida
Spinal Cord Injury

9. Musculoskeletal Disorders:
Two of the most common are:
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis

10. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI):
Types of TBI:
Closed Head Injury
Open Head Injury
Of the 1.4 million who sustain a TBI each year in the United States:
50,000 die;
235,000 are hospitalized; and
1.1 million are treated and released from an emergency department.
Among children ages 0 to 14 years, TBI results in an estimated:
2,685 deaths;
37,000 hospitalizations; and
435,000 emergency department visits annually.1

11. Other Health Impairments:
“Other Health Impairments” is the IDEA term for students having medical conditions that result in limited strength, vitality, or awareness. Examples of “Other Health Impairments”:
Asthma
Epilepsy/”Seizure Disorder”
HIV/AIDS
Cancer
Sickle Cell Disease
Diabetes

12. The emergency procedure for seizures:
Activity Time!!!
The emergency procedure for seizures:
What to do during a seizure:
Keep objects away from the individual's mouth
Cushion head
Turn individual on side
Do not try to restrain the individual
Look for medical I.D.
What to do after a seizure:
Ask the person their name and if they know where they are.
If the person is confused, incoherent, or is not able to answer, contact University Police or 911 immediately.
Call for emergency assistance in any of the following cases:
The seizure is lasting longer than one minute
The person is passing from one seizure to another
Breathing or pulse is faint or non-existent
The person is extremely disoriented after emerging from the seizure
Instructors and staff should assess the situation and use their best judgment in determining the need for immediate medical intervention. Erring on the side of caution is usually the best course of action when a student is having a seizure.

13. Characteristics of individuals with physical and health disabilities:
Cognitive and Academic
Behavior
Emotional
Social
Physical and Medical

14. General Accommodations for students with physical impairments:
Provide adapted grip for crayon, marker, pencil, or pen.
Provide adapted paper
Provide paper stabilizer (clipboard)
Provide a bookstand to stabilize the books
Provide an advanced reading aid for scanning and converting standard print text into electronic text
Apply adaptive features such as:
Enlargement features
Modification of text and background color
Speech feedback for auditory reading
Provide computer with:
word processing application with adapted access (control panel accessibility feature)
adaptive pointing devises for standard keyboard use
enlarged keyboard (IntelliKeys)
touch screen (Magic Touch)
trackball/joystick.