INTRODUCTION
Special Needs, a term defined by dictionary.cambridge.org, as the
particular things that are needed by or provided to help people who have an
illness or condition that makes it difficult for them to do things that other
people normally do. According to World Bank, about 1 billion people or about
15% of the world’s population experiences some form of disability. Based on
the data presented by the Philippine Statistics Authority, In Philippines,
alone, about 16 per thousand of our country’s population had disability.
Among the 92.1 million household population in the Philippines, about 1.44
million person had disability, covering up about 1.57% of our population.
Based on the report of the SPED Division of the Department of
Education on the year 2000, they estimated that 12% of the children
population had special needs; 2% were gifted and 10% have different forms
of disabilities. According to the Individuals with Disability Education Act
(IDEA), the term “child with disability” means a child with: “mental
retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language
impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional
disturbance, orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other
health impairments, or specific learning disabilities; and who, by reason
thereof, needs special education and related services.”
Intellectual Disability is one of the disabilities that can hinder a
learner’s studies. The American Association on Intellectual and Development
Disabilities describes it as “a disability characterized by significant
limitations both in intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem
solving) and in adaptive behavior, which covers a range of everyday social
and practical skills.” Similar to it, DSM-5 defines intellectual disabilities as a
neurodevelopmental disorder that begins at childhood and are characterized
by intellectual difficulties. It also strains an individual in different aspects
such as social, conceptual and practical areas of living. In DSM-5, there are
three criteria that should be observed in order to diagnose it as Intellectual
Disability; deficits in intellectual functioning, deficits in adaptive functioning
and the onset of these deficits should be during childhood.
Children with intellectual disabilities undeniably needs special
education. As they have limitations, they need different interventions in
order for them to be able to nurture their capabilities that might be beneficial
for them in the near future. The Institute of International Teachers Training
states that special education refers to the “educational programs and
practices designed for students- who are handicapped or gifted, with
mental, physical or emotional disabilities and hence require special
