Kinds of Multiple Handicaps

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) defines multiple disabilities as concurrent impairments, such as a learning disability and motor impairment, which cause severe deficits and make it difficult for children to learn in a special education classroom receiving care for a single disability. The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities adds that children with multiple disabilities need several support systems to help them with life activities, such as medical doctors, educational specialists and community aids to assist them.

Types

• According to Help Guide, multiple disabilities often include motor impairments and a learning disability or a visual impairment. The most common disability is cerebral palsy (CP), which causes damage to the brain, primarily the section that controls movement. However, it may affect other parts of the brain, causing multiple impairments. Affected children have difficulty moving all four of their limbs and struggle with fine motor skills, such as writing with a pencil or cutting with scissors. Learning disabilities include having difficulty reading,recognizing letters and words, understanding the meaning of words and learning how to spell and write words.

Characteristics

• According to the National Center for Children with Disabilities, children suffering from multiple disabilities often exhibit similar traits, though to varying degrees of severity. Affected children struggle with basic mobility issues and have trouble with both gross and fine motor skills, frequently forgetting skills that are not used regularly. They have trouble communicating with others and may be hard to understand. Children with multiple disabilities face a lifetime of ongoing treatment from specialists, at-home exercises and community integration.

Complications

• Children affected with multiple disabilities often suffer from other medical issues such as seizures, Tourette's Syndrome or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). According to the IDEA definition, seizures occur because of abnormal brain activity and cause staring spells and jerky body movements, while Tourette's Syndrome is defined as verbal or motor tics that make the affected child move his body the same way repeatedly, say strange sounds without meaning to or speak inappropriate words. ADHD often occurs with learning disorders as children struggle with being being easily distracted and not being able to sit still, which often leads to poor homework performance and frustrated teachers and parents. The entire treatment team must consider all medical conditions when creating a treatment plan.

Treatment Plan

• Medical doctors, educational specialists and at-home exercise plans can all be part of your child's treatment plan. Affected children from three years old to 22 years old qualify for an individualized education program (IEP). The child's parents and a team of school specialists, such as the special education teacher, physical therapist and school counselor, attend the IEP to establish attainable goals for the child in regard to participating in the general education classroom, participating in social activities and what services are needed to attain these goals.

  At home, even when it is frustrating, try to involve your child in daily living activities, such as having her help you set the table by showing her where the silverware is kept and how to place it on the table. According to Familyconnect.org, teaching children to become independent is a key part of the process.