The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, categorizes Orthopedic Impairments to include a wide variety of disorders. Detailed features of someone with orthopedic impairment depends on both the disease and severity, as well as additional individual situations.
What Does Orthopedic Impairment Mean?
According to IDEA, Orthopedic impairment is a severe disability that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly, disability caused by disease (such as poliomyelitis or bone tuberculosis) and from other impairments that can cause contracture.
- Orthopedic impairment involves the central nervous system and is a disability of the brain, spinal cord, or nervous system . These impairments often result in compound motor problems that can affect several body systems.
- Neuromotor impairment can be loss of control of a certain part of the body, lack of ability to move, use or feel. The two most common types of neuromotor impairments are cerebral palsy and spina bifida.
Although orthopedic and neurological impairments are two distinct and separate types of disabilities, they can cause comparable limitations in movement. Many of the same educational, therapeutic, and recreational activities that work for students with orthopedic disabilities will also be appropriate for neurological impairments
Types of Orthopedic Impairment:
- Bone Diseases
- Brachial Plexus/Erb's Palsy
- Cerebral Palsy
- Hydrocephalus
- Muscular Dystrophy
- Poliomyelitis
- Scoliosis
- Spina Bifida
- Spinal Cord Injury
- Spinal Muscular Atrophies
As with most disabilities, classroom accommodations for students with orthopedic impairments will vary depending on the individual needs of the student. Many students with orthopedic impairment do not have cognitive impairment, so their collaboration may include most or all general curriculum. In order to have access to the general course of study, students with orthopedic impairment may need:
- A special seating arrangement to develop useful posture and movements
- Focus on development of gross and fine motor skills
- Use of communication and other assistive devices
- Other things to consider are the individual’s medical condition and its affect on the student (such as getting tired quickly)
Resources for Help with Orthopedic Impairments
Good information for understanding, help and support of Orthopedic Impairment can be found through ProjectIDEAL and the National Association of Parents with Children in Special Education, or NAPCSE.
Project Ideal is a site designed for teachers to help students with disabilities, but has a lot of information and many resources available for both families and educators.
NAPCSE is an organization is dedicated to helping with support and assistance to parents whose children receive special education services, both in and outside of school. NAPCSE’s website is an excellent source of community with many links and resources for both parents and educators, including one of the largest databases on special education in the United States.
Understanding the categories of Orthopedic Impairment helps both families affected by the disability and teachers and others who work with children and adults with Orthopedic issues. Utilizing as many resources as possible for any level of impairment will help those with this type of disability achieve optimal success.
Elizabeth Richards - Elizabeth Richards has published almost 200 articles for Suite101 since 2007 as a Contributing and Feature Writer.
