INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Heredity and Environment affect the factors that cause the uneven rate of growth and development among
individuals. These factors are called individual differences.
1. HEREDITY
1.1. AGE
Psychosocial Development
Stage Infancy
Age 0-18 Months
Issue Trust vs. Mistrust
Important person Mother
Related to Feeding
Associated value Hope
Stage Todlers
Age 13-18 Months
Issue Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt
Important person Parent
Related to Toilet Training
Associated value Will
Stage Pre-school
Age 3-6 years old
Issue Initiative vs. Guilt
Important person Family
Related to Exploration
Associated value Purpose
Stage School age
Age 6-12 years old
Issue Industry vs. Inferiority
Important person Teacher
Related to School
Associated value Competence
Stage Adolescence
Age 12-20 years old
Issue Identity vs. Role Confusion
Important person Peer
Related to Social relationship
Associated value Fidelity
Stage Young Adulthood
Age 20-40 years old
Issue Intimacy vs. Isolation
Important person Partner
Related to Relationship
Associated value Love
Stage Middle adulthood
Age 40-60 years old
Issue Generativity vs. Stagnation
Important person Shared household
Related to Workplace
Associated value Care
Stage Late adulthood
Age 60 and above
Issue Ego integrity vs. Despair
Important person Humankind
Related to Reflection to life
Associated value Wisdom

1.2. SEX
Refers to the biological differences between males and females, such as the genitalia and genetic differences.

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 1.3. GENDER
Refers to the different ways men and women play in society, and to the relative power they wield.
1.4. PHYSICAL CONDITION
The condition or state of the body or bodily functions. Physiological condition and physiological state.
Basic terms in Special Education
Developmental Disability
Refers to severe, chronic disability of a child five years of age or older.
Impairment or Disability
Refers to reduced functions or loss of a specific part of the body organ.
Handicap
Refers to a problem a person with disability or impairment encounters when interacting with people, events and the
physical aspects of the environment.
At risk
Refers to children who have greater chances than other children to develop a disability.
Physical Disabilities
Refers to impairments that are temporary or permanent
Orthopedic Impairments
Poliomyelitis
Also known as infantile paralysis
Osteomyelitis
Or tubercolosis of the bones and spine
Bone Fracture
Or breakage in the continuity of the bone results form falls and accidents
Muscular Dystrophy
Is a group of long-term diseases that progressively weakens, deteriorates and wastes away the muscles of the body
Osteogenesis Imperfecta
Is a rare inherited condition marked by extremely brittle bones
Limb Deficiency
Refers to the absence or partial loss of an arm or leg
- Quadriplegia: All four limbs, both arms and legs are affected
- Paraplegia: Motor impairment of the legs only
- Hemiplegia: only one side of the body is affected (left leg/left arm)
- Monoplegia: major invlovement of the legs with less severe involvement of the arms
- Triplegia: three limbs are affected
- Double hemiplegia: mojor involvement of the arms with less severe involevement of the legs
Crippling Conditions
That are congenital or present at birth include:
- Clubfoot: the child is born with one or both feet deformed usually with the feet and toes inward, outward or upward
often accompanied by webbed toes
- Clubhand: hand and finger are deformed
- Polydactylism: the child is born with extra toes or fingers
- Syndactylism: the fingers or toes or both are webbed like those of fowls, ducks and hens
Neurological Impairment
Cerebral palsy
Is characterized by disturbances of voluntary motor functions that may include paralysis, extreme weakness, lack of
coordination, involuntary convulsions and other motor disorders
Characteristics
- Hypertonia: this characterized by tense, contracted muscles and the movements may be jerky, exaggerated and
poorly coordinated
- Hypotonia: weask floppy muscles particularly in the neck and trunk
- Athetosis: characterized by slow, worm-like involuntary, uncontrollable and purposeless movements
- Ataxia: disturbance of balance and equilibrium resulting in a gait like that of a drunken person when walking and may
fall easily if not supported
- Rigidity: characterized by the marked resistance of the muscles to passive motion and display extreme stiffness in the
affected limbs
- Tremor: marked by rithmic, uncontrollable movements or trembling of the body or limbs
- Mixed type: characterized by the presence of traits mentioned the prexeding categories
Spina Bifida
Is a congenital defect in the vertebrae that encloses the spinal cord
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord injuries are results of accidents. Injury to the spinal cord column is generally described by letters and
numbers indicating the site of the damage
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Traumatic brain injury
It is commonly caused by injuries to the head as results from automobile, motorcycle and bicycle accidents, falls,
assaults, gunshot wounds and child abuse.
Categories of Exceptionalites
Mental Retardation
Refers to substantial limitaions in present functioning.
Speech and Language Disorders or Communication Disorders
Speech and communication are affected
Hearing Impairment
Is a generic term that includes hearing disabilities ranging form mild to profound, thus encompassing children who
are deaf and those who are hard of hearing
Visual Impairment
Display a wide-range of visual disabilities – from total bilndness to relatively good residual vision
1.5. INTELLIGENCE
Analytical style vs. Global style
Analytical Learner Global Learners
Left-brained Right-brained
Words Images
Numbers Patterns
Parts Whole
Sequential Simultaneous
Detail Whole picture
Punctual Without sense of time
Field-independent Field-dependent
Requires orderly, quiet surroundings Prefer music or other background noise
Learning disabilities
Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)
Also known as Central Auditory Processing Disorder, this is a condition that advesely affects how sound that travels
unimpeded through the ear is processed or interrupted by the brain.
Dyscalculia
A specific learning disability that affects a person’s ability to understand numbers and learn math facts.
Dysgraphia
A specific learning disability that affects a person’s handwriting ability and fine motor skills.
Dyslexia
A specific learning disability that affects reading and related language-based processing skills.
Language processing disorder
A specific type of auditory processing disorder in which there is difficulty attaching meaning to sound groups that
form words, sentences and stories.
Non-verbal learning disability
A disorder which is characterized by a significant discrepancy between higher verbal skills and weaker motor, visual
spatial and social skills.
Visual perceptual/visual motor deficit
A disorder that affects the understanding of information that a person sees, or the ability to draw or copy.
ADHD
A disorder that includes difficulty staying focused and paying attention.
Dyspraxia
A dsiorder that is characterized by difficulty in muscle control, which causes problems with movement and
coordination, language and speech, and can affect learning.
Excutive functioning
An inefficiency in the cognitive management systems of the brain that affects a variety of neuropsychological
processes such as planning, organizing, strategizing, paying attention to and remembering details, and managing time and
space.
Memory
Our memory are important to learning. The short term memory, and long term memory are used in the processing of
both verbal and non-verbal information. If there are deficits in any or all of these typpes of memory, the ability to store and
retrive information required to carry out tasks can be impaired.
The exceptionalities
Giftedness and Talent
Refer to high performance in intellectual, creative or artistic areas, unusual leadership capacity, and excellence in
specific academic fields.

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 Stanford-Binet Intelligent Quotient Classification
IQ range IQ Classification
145 – 160 Very gifted of highly advanced
130 – 144 Gifted or very advanced
120 – 129 Superior
110 – 119 High average
90 – 109 Average
80 – 89 Low average
70 – 79 Borderline impaired or delayed
55 – 69 Mildly impaired or delayed
40 - 54 Moderately impaired or delayed
Multiple Intelligences Theory
Visual / spatial intelligence (Picture Smart)
Verbal / Linguistic intelligence (Word smart)
Logical / Mathematical intelligence (Number / Reasoning smart)
Bodily / Kinesthetic intelligence (Body smart)
Musical intelligence
Intra-personal intelligence (Self-smart)
Inter-personal intelligence (People smart)
Naturalistic intelligence (Nature smart)
Existential intelligence (Spirit smart)
1.6. APTITUDE
An aptitude is a component of a competence to do a certain kind of work at a certain level.
1.7. TEMPERAMENTS
Refers to consistent individual differences in behavior that are biologically based and are relatively independent of
learning, system of values and attitudes.
9 temperamental traits
Activity Level
This is the child’s “idle speed or how active the child is generally.
Distractibility
The degree of concentration and paying attention displayed when a child is not particularly interested in an activity.
Intensity
The energy level of a response whether positive or negative.
Regularity
The trait refers to the predictability of biological functions like appetite and sleep.
Sensory Threshold
Related to how sensitive this child is to physical stimuli.
Approach/Withdrawal
Refers to the child’s characteristic response to a new situation or strangers.
Adaptability
Related to how easily the child adapts to transitions and changes, like switching to a new activity.
Persistence
This is the length of time a child continues in activities in the face of obstacles.
Mood
This is the tendency to react to the world primarily in a positive or negative way.
1.8. EXTROVERSION
Is the state of primarily obtaining gratification from outside oneself.
1.9. INTROVERSION
Is the state of being predominantly interested in one's own mental self.
1.10. AMBIVERSION
An ambivert is moderately comfortable with groups and social interaction, but also relishes time alone, away from a
crowd.
1.11. EFFORT MAKING CAPACITY
- Form over substance
- Substance over form
1.12. CRIMINAL TENDENCY
Psychologists can prove that criminal tendency is inherited. Children who have this tendency are ussually bullies,
troublemakers and they commit many anti-social acts, in or out of school. Usually, individuals with this tendency end up in
early death, or in prison or in perpetual hiding from the agents of the law unless the criminal tendency is redirected or
softened by the environment

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 2. ENVIRONMENT
2.1. FAMILY BACKGROUND
Children comming from poor family with very meager incomes have stunted growth especially if they have not
pursued higher education or none at all. Family background that includes level of education and value orientation of parents is
another determinant. If the parents suffer from ignorance and wrong values, the children likewise suffer the adverse
consequences because such parents with the right values can grow and develop more progressively than children coming from
poor families. Besides, rich homes are usaully provided with more learning materials and tools which the children can avail of
for their learning activities. Naturally, children of affluent families can pursue higher education which is usually denied to
children of poor families.
2.2. COMMUNITY BACKGROUND
Children coming from squatter or slum areas and from crime infested areas have a very slim chance of growing
progressively becasue of bad influence of their neighborhood. The barkada influence is especially strong in this places. While it
is true that a minority can reach optimum development in such areas, surely, the majority can not. On the other hand, those
children coming from affluent areas, and from the average social class, have all the opportunities offered by society for them to
attain optimum growth and development
2.3. SCHOOL
Education is one major factor which brings individual differences. There is a wide gap in the behaviors of educated and
uneducated persons. All traits of human beings like social, emotional and intellectual are controlled and modifies through
proper education.
This education brings a change in our attitude, behaviour, appreciations, Personality. It is seen that uneducated persons
are guided by their instinct and emotions where as the educated persons are guided by their reasoning power.
Educational implications of Individual differences are listed below:
i. Aims of education, curriculum, method of teaching should be linked with individual differences considering the different
abilities and traits individual.
ii. Curriculum should be designed as per the interest, abilities and needs of different students.
iii. The teacher has to adopt different types of methods of teaching considering individual difference related to interest, need,
etc.
iv. Some co-curricular activities such as Drama, music, literary activities (Essay & Debate Competition) should be assigned to
children according to their interest.
v. Teacher uses certain specific teaching aids which will attract the children towards teaching considering their interest and
need.
vi. Various methods such as playing method, project method, Montessori method, story telling methods are to be used
considering/discovering how different children respond to a task or a problem.
vii. The division of pupils into classes should not be based only on the mental age or chronological age of children but the
physical, social and emotional maturity should be given due consideration.
viii. In case of vocational guidance the counselor is to plan the guidance technique keeping in view the needs and requirements
of the students.

Prepared by:

JANBERT E. DELA CRUZ

MA.Ed – EDU MGT 1

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