Physical disability schools

Private schools offering support for disabled children

Find a list of schools  

A physical disability is any condition that temporarily or permanently affects a person’s physical capacity and/or mobility. Physical disabilities are a kind of special need, and children with physical disabilities require special support in school.

Luckily, there are many private (and public) schools in Canada that provide this support. Disability schools make education accessible to children with a wide range of physical disabilities.

Types of physical disabilities schools

There are many different types of physical disabilities. Private and public schools in Canada support students with a wide range of physical challenges that can impede access to education. Some of the main ones are listed below.

• Blindness: Significant impairment of vision, which is temporary or permanent.
• Deafness: Significant impairment of hearing, which is temporary or permanent,.
• Cystic Fibrosis (CF): An inherited genetic condition, which affects the body’s respiratory, digestive, and reproductive systems.
• Multiple Sclerosis (MS): A condition of the central nervous system affecting the brain, optic nerves, and spinal cord. Symptoms can include fatigue, loss of motor control, memory loss, depression, and cognitive difficulties.
• Cerebral Palsy (CP): A group of permanent movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Symptoms caninclude poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, shaking, tremors, and developmental delays.
• Muscular dystrophy: A group of disorders that lead to progressive and irreversible weakness and loss of muscle mass.
• Spina bifida: A condition present at birth due to the incomplete formation of the spine and spinal cord. It can lead to a number of physical challenges, including paralysis or weakness in the legs, bowel and bladder incontinence, hydrocephalus (too much fluid in the brain), and deformities of the spine.
• Tourette syndrome: A neurological disorder that involves involuntary and repetitive vocalizations, sounds, and movements, called tics.

Other physical disabilities include acquired brain and spinal injuries, neural tube defects, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, epilepsy, obesity, heart disease, sickle cell anemia, and diabetes. Some also consider ADHD a physical disability, since it has a neurological component.

What private physical disability schools offer

Private physical disability schools can be a great option for a child with one or more disabilities. They offer several accommodations, modifications, and remediations that give disabled children equal access to material and resources, and that can help them excel in the school years and beyond.

Accommodations

Accommodations are a type of support that removes obstacles to learning. They concern how kids learn, not what they learn. Accommodations provided by disability schools include

• Environmental: These allow children to overcome physical barriers and access all parts of the learning environment. Examples include ramps, elevators, and wheelchairs.
• Learning: These allow children to overcome learning challenges (that may be caused by physical disabilities), and access grade-level expectations. Examples include hearing aids, speech-to-text software, and resource rooms.
• Psychological: These allow children to cope with the emotional challenges that may stem from their disabilities. Examples include psychotherapy, academic counselling, and support groups.

Modifications

Modifications change what’s taught and can alter standards. They can involve simplifying material or lowering grade-level expectations. Ideally, accommodations provide enough support. Sometimes, though, modifications are needed.

• Assignments: Complete fewer or different homework problems, write shorter papers, answer fewer or different test questions
• Curriculum: Learn different material, get graded or assessed using a different standard, get excused from a class assignment or project

Remediations

Remediations are meant to eliminate, reduce, or ameliorate challenges facing children with physical disabilities. They’re often research-based therapeutic measures which involve intensive and individualized interventions and treatments.
 

Below, we list schools for physically disabled children. Click on a school to find out more about it, including how it supports accessibility. Find a physical disability school near you.