Special Education

Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability generally evident before age three that adversely affects a child's educational performance and significantly affects developmental rates and sequences, verbal and non-verbal communication and social interaction and participation. Other characteristics often associated with autism spectrum disorder are unusual responses to sensory experiences, engagement in repetitive activities and stereotypical movements and resistance to environmental change or change in daily routine.

Deafblind means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.

A child who is deaf or hard of hearing is one who exhibits a hearing loss that, whether permanent or fluctuating, that interferes with the acquisition or maintenance of auditory skills necessary for the normal development of speech, language, and academic achievement and, therefore, adversely affects a child’s education performance.

A child with Emotional/Behavior Disorder is a child who exhibits one or more of the emotionally based characteristics (identified below) of sufficient duration, frequency and intensity that interferes significantly with educational performance to the degree that provision of special educational service is necessary.

1. An inability to build, or maintain, satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and/or teachers.
2. An inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors.
3. A consistent or chronic inappropriate type of behaviors or feelings under normal conditions.
4. A displayed pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
5. A displayed tendency to develop physical symptoms, pains or unreasonable fears associated with personal or school problems.

Intellectual disabilities refer to significantly sub average general intellectual functioning which exists concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior, which adversely affects educational performance and originates before age 18. A child’s intellectual disability may be classified

Orthopedic impairment refers to a child whose severe orthopedic impairments adversely affects their educational performance to the degree that the child requires special education. This term may include: (1) Impairment caused by congenital anomalies, e.g., deformity or absence of some limb; (2) Impairment caused by disease (poliomyelitis, osteogenesis imperfecta, muscular dystrophy, bone tuberculosis, etc.); (3) Impairment from other causes, e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures.

Other health impairment means having limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that

1. Is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, or heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette Syndrome, and
2. Adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

The term SDD refers to a delay in a child’s development in adaptive behavior, cognition, communication, motor development or emotional development to extent that, if not provided with special intervention, the delay may adversely affect a child’s educational performance in age-appropriate activities. The term does not apply to children who are experiencing a slight or temporary lag in one or more areas of development, or a delay which is primarily due to environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage or lack of experience in age appropriate activities. The SDD eligibility may be used for children from ages three through nine (the end of the school year in which the child turns nine).

Specific learning disability is defined as a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological process involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not apply to children who have learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, intellectual disabilities, emotional or behavioral disorders, environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage.

The child with a specific learning disability has one or more serious academic deficiencies and does not achieve adequately according to age to meet State-approved grade-level standards. These achievement deficiencies must be directly related to a pervasive processing deficit and to the child’s response to scientific, research-based interventions. The nature of the deficit(s) is such that classroom performance is not correctable without specialized techniques that are fundamentally different from those provided by general education teachers, basic remedial/tutorial approaches, or other compensatory programs. This is clearly documented by a child’s response to instruction as demonstrated by a review of the progress monitoring available in general education and Student Support Team intervention plans as supported by work samples and classroom observations. The child’s needs for academic support alone is not sufficient for eligibility and does not override the other established requirements for determining eligibility.

Speech or language impairment refers to a communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, language or voice impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. A speech or language impairment may be congenital or acquired. It refers to impairments in the areas of articulation, fluency, voice or language. Individuals may demonstrate one or any combination of speech or language impairments. A speech or language impairment may be a primary disability or it may be secondary to other disabilities.

TBI refers to an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects the child’s educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments which are immediate or delayed in or more areas, such as cognition, language, memory, attention, reasoning, abstract thinking, judgement, problem solving, sensory, perceptual and motor abilities, psychosocial behavior, physical functions, speech and information processing. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative in nature, brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

A child with a visual impairment is one whose vision, even with correction, adversely impacts a child’s educational performance. Examples are children whose visual impairments may result from congenital defects, eye disease, or injuries to the eye. The terms include both visual impairment and blindness as follows:

1. Blind refers to a child whose visual acuity is 20/200 or less in the better eye after correction or who has a limitation in the field of vision that subtends an angle of 20 degrees. Some children who are legally blind have useful vision and may read print.
2. Visually impaired refers to a child whose visually acuity falls within the range of 20/70 to 20/200 in the better eye after correction or who have a limitation in the field of vision adversely impacts educational progress. (a) Progressive visual disorders: Children, whose current visual acuity is greater than 20/70, but who have a medically indicated expectation of visual deterioration may be considered for vision impaired eligibility based on documentation of the visual deterioration from the child’s optometrist or ophthalmologist.