Special Needs / Learning Disabilities / Differences

Hearing Impaired

A Hearing Impairment is hearing loss that:

(1) with or without amplification adversely affects educational performance and developmental progress;
(2) may be permanent or fluctuating;
(3) may be mild to profound in nature;
(4) may be unilateral or bilateral; and
(5) may also be referred to as hard of hearing or deaf.

One of the many goals of Linkonlearning is to provide a full interactive service for the hearing impaired
community. We have endeavored towards providing an e-learning environment with both visual and
interactive areas that appeal to each student. Our dream is to provide a full environment from K-College
that is inclusive of visual, interactive and video streaming with American Sign Language interpreters. If
you are interested in this project please e-mail asl@linkonlearning.us

Health Impairment, Diabetes, Epilepsy, Heart Condition, Hemophilia, Asthma, Severe Allergies,
Lead Poisoning, Leukemia, Nephritis (Kidney Disease / Lupus), Rheumatic Fever and Sickle Cell Anemia.

Diabetes is a variable disorder of carbohydrate metabolism caused by a combination of hereditary and
environmental factors and usually characterized by inadequate secretion or utilization of insulin, by excessive
urine production, by excessive amounts of sugar in the blood and urine, and by thirst, hunger, and loss of
weight. These elements combined can my school life difficult or impossible.

Epilepsy is a disorder marked by disturbed electrical rhythms of the central nervous system and typically
manifested by convulsive attacks usually with clouding of consciousness. It is unpredictable in nature and
could embarrass a child if they were to have an attack during school hours.

Heart Conditions come in a variety of disorders. No heart condition is to be taken lightly. Any heart condition
can lead to extended leaves from the classroom making attendance a very real problem to the student.

Hemophilia is a hereditary blood defect that occurs almost exclusively in males and is characterized by
delayed clotting of the blood and consequent difficulty in controlling hemorrhage even after minor injuries.
This too, could lead to accumulated absences making school work virtually impossible to make up.

Asthma is a condition often of allergic origin that is marked by continuous or paroxysmal labored breathing
accompanied by wheezing, by a sense of constriction in the chest, and often by attacks of coughing or
gasping. Asthma is brought on by a combination of different things but the end result is the same. Lots of
missed days in the doctor's office with breathing treatments.

Lead Poisoning is a chronic intoxication that is produced by the absorption of lead into the system and is
characterized by severe colicky pains, a dark line along the gums, and local muscular paralysis. While Lead
Poisoning isn't all that common today, it is a very real danger and also another hindrance in school
participation.

Leukemia is an acute or chronic disease of unknown cause in humans and other warm-blooded animals
that involves the blood-forming organs, is characterized by an abnormal increase in the number of white
blood cells in the tissues of the body with or without a corresponding increase of those in the circulating
blood, and is classified according to the type of white blood cell most prominently involved. Leukemia is
becoming more prominent and widespread and the reality of it, is that it is keeping far too many of our
children in the hospital or at home, rather than at school.

Nephritis (Kidney Disease/Lupus) is an acute or chronic inflammation of the kidney affecting the structure
(as of the glomerulus or parenchyma) and caused by infection, a degenerative process, or vascular disease.
Problems with the kidneys arise often without warning, and to a child, the symptoms seem to be everyday
routines that they develop. This causes the problem to worsen without proper diagnosis and leading to
many doctor's visits, perhaps even surgery, and extended absences from school.

Rheumatic Fever is an acute, often recurrent disease, occurring chiefly in children and young adults and
characterized by fever, inflammation, pain, and swelling in and around the joints, inflammatory involvement
of the pericardium and valves of the heart, and often the formation of small nodules chiefly in the
subcutaneous tissues and the heart. As you can see, children are one of the main focuses of this disease.
Children afflicted with Rheumatic Fever are prone to a lot of days outside of the classroom.

Sickle-Cell Anemia is a chronic anemia that occurs primarily in individuals of African descent who are
homozygous for the gene controlling hemoglobin S and that is characterized by destruction of red blood cells
and by episodic blocking of blood vessels by the adherence of sickle cells to the vascular endothelium
which causes the serious complications of the disease. Again, this is not typical in children, but in the rare
occasions that it does occur, missed school days are almost a guarantee.

Many of these Health Impairments take a child out of the classroom environment for short to extended
periods of time. These children have a great battle to fight with any one of the above conditions as well
as many that have not been listed.

Linkonlearning provides a strong educational experience for each unique child.

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