Severe Disabilities Chapter 12 Summary

I decided to read chapter twelve, which discusses severe/multiple disabilities, deaf-blindness, and traumatic brain injury. Just like all the other chapters, this one starts with definitions that will need to be understood when progressing through the chapter. Some of the terms listed in the chapter do not have a widely accepted definition such as severe disabilities. The book states that most of these classifications tend to be based on IQ scores. For example, profound disabilities are classified with IQ scores of 20 to 25. The chapter combines profound disabilities, multiple disabilities, and deaf-blindness when describing characteristics, prevalence and causes. Speaking of causes, the book clearly supports and promotes that these disabilities are based on biological issues
The second half of this chapter is intended for educators or parents who are curious about the educational approaches towards these disabilities. The focus for the severe disabilities is providing life skills more than educational facts or functions. This of course depends on the severity of the students’ disabilities. More severe disabilities will provide an educational program with more life skills. Questions asked are what skills are taught, what instructional methods should be used, and where should instruction take place? Accommodations and alterations are included within the chapter. These include partial participation, positive behavioral support, and small group instruction. Each of these programs are designed to aid certain disorders and various disabilities. Similar to the accommodations, the different environments provided for these students depends on the different types of disabilities that students may have. Finally, the chapter ends on the challenges that are associated with teaching severe and multiple