Some learners require special educational provision because they have a physical or sensory disability which inhibits their ability to use one or more of their senses, or physical movement. Physical and sensory needs cover a wide range of impairments, including:
Hearing impairment refers to a range of hearing conditions from those with a mild hearing loss to those who are profoundly deaf. In school, learners are regarded as having a hearing impairment if they require hearing aids, adaptations to their environment or particular teaching strategies to access the curriculum. For some learners, hearing loss may be because of conductive or sensorineural problems and can be measured on a decibel scale. There are four categories or hearing loss: mild, moderate, severe and profound.
A visual impairment is a problem with a learner’s eyesight that cannot be corrected by wearing glasses or surgery. The terms partially sighted, low vision, legally blind, and totally blind are used in the educational context to describe students with visual impairments.
Children with a physical disability may have difficulty carrying out some day-to-day activities.
Physical disabilities can include: