Orthopedic Impairment

Disability Label & Prevalence

Definition

General Characteristics

Identification & Assessment

Educational Approaches

Educational Placement Alternatives

Orthopedic Impairment

1% of Special Education Population

IDEA - a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly (e.g. clubfoot, absence of some member, etc.), impairments caused by disease (e.g. poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).

Depends on disability and individual

Depends on disability and individual

Teaming and Related Services: physical therapists, occupational therapists

Environmental Modifications

Assistive Technology

Animal Assistance

Special Health Care Routines: seating and movement, lifting and transferring students

Independence and Self-Esteem

General Education Classroom

Resource Rooms

Separate Classrooms

Home/Hospital

Description of 2 evidence-based strategies

Parallel Curriculum: using adaptive methods and assistive technologies for mobility, communication, and daily-living tasks; increasing independence by self-administering special health care routines; and learning self-determination and self-advocacy skills. (Heward, 2012)

Scientific Research Based Interventions (SRBI): a major advantage is the early use of valid and reliable curriculum-based assessments that inform specific interventions. Equally important, the [SRBI] approach requires ongoing monitoring to ensure that teaching is bringing about improvement in targeted movement skills and that needed interventions are implemented appropriately. SRBI is set up in a three-tier system. Tier 1: Identified students would receive individualized instruction within the general physical education setting. Tier 2: students receive intensive small-group instruction, along with instruction provided in tier 1. Tier 3: intervention, which would be an even more intensive, more individualized program of instruction. (Connecticut State Department of Education)

Practitioner Based Article related to this area: Include reference and summary of the article.

Use of Environmental Modifications: enables a student with physical disabilities to participate more fully and independently in school. These modifications include adaptions to provide increased access to a task or an activity, changing the way in which instruction is delivered, and changing the manner in which the task is done. Some examples of these would be barrier free architecture, paper cups available for students in wheelchairs, and moving activities to more accessible places in the school if needed.   (Heward, 2012)