Four Major Types of Special Needs Disabilities - Lisa Landman | Special Needs (2024)

FAQs

Four Major Types of Special Needs Disabilities - Lisa Landman | Special Needs? ›

The four major types of disabilities include physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional, and sensory impaired disorders. While many disabilities fall under one of these four umbrellas, many can fall under two or more.

Physical – muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, chronic asthma, epilepsy, etc. Developmental – down syndrome, autism, dyslexia, processing disorders. Behavioral/Emotional – ADD, bi-polar, oppositional defiance disorder, etc. Sensory Impaired – Blind, visually impaired, deaf, limited hearing.

Although the challenges individuals with disabilities face are unique and idiosyncratic, there are generally four main categories of disabilities – physical, behavioral, developmental, and sensory.

Disability results from the interaction between individuals with a health condition, such as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and depression, with personal and environmental factors including negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation and public buildings, and limited social support.

Children undergo rapid development from birth through adolescence, each stage presenting unique physical, cognitive, emotional, and social needs. Recognizing and meeting these developmental needs ensures children grow up healthy, confident, and secure.

The handout for Module 2 Activity 2 of the Disability Inclusion Facilitator's Guide includes the definitions of the four models of disability: charity model, medical model, social model, and rights-based model.

There are four main ways to look at disability: The medical model, the social model, the charitable model and the human rights model.

There are 13 different disability categories as defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), under which 3- through 22-years-olds may be eligible for services.

There are different types of learning disability, which can be mild, moderate, severe or profound. In all cases a learning disability is lifelong. It can be difficult to diagnose a mild learning disability as the individual will often mix well with others and will be able to cope with most everyday tasks.

What are the four factors of intellectual disability? ›

Disabilities are usually defined in five basic categories: vision, auditory process, physical ability, cognitive ability, and speech.

A high incidence disability can include emotional and behavioural disorders (ED/B), specific learning disabilities (SLD), mild intellectual disabilities (MID), high functioning Autism (ASD), speech and language disorder, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

There are 4 predominant learning styles: Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, and Kinaesthetic. While most of us may have some general idea about how we learn best, often it comes as a surprise when we discover what our predominant learning style is.

The Four D's: Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Dyscalculia and Dyspraxia.

Persons with disabilities have the same rights as all people to non-discrimination, access, equality of opportunity, inclusion and full participation in society. These are the basic principles underlying the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Many children (and adults) have some type of special needs disability. The four major types of disabilities include physical, developmental, behavioral or emotional, and sensory impaired disorders. While many disabilities fall under one of these four umbrellas, many can fall under two or more.

The Learning Disabilities Association of America and many other mental health practitioners regard the seven disorders as specific learning disabilities i.e. dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, auditory processing disorder, language processing disorder, nonverbal learning disabilities and visual perceptual disabilities.