Auditory impairment (AI)
Means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired
in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without
amplification that adversely affects a child’s educational
performance.
Autism (AU)
Means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal
and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident
before age three, which adversely affects a child’s educational
performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism
are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements,
resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines,
and unusual responses to sensory experiences.
Deaf-Blindness (DB)
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
Emotional disturbance (ED)
Means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics
over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely
affects a child’s educational performance:
- An inability to learn that cannot be explained
by intellectual, sensory, or health factors;
- An inability to build or maintain satisfactory
interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers;
- Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances;
- A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression;
- A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated
with personal or school problems.
Emotional disturbance includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance as defined in this section.
Learning disability (LD)
Means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes
involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written,
that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think,
speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. This
category does not include learning problems that are primarily the
result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation,
or emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic
disadvantage.
Mental retardation (MR)
Means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning,
existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested
during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s
educational performance.
Multiple impairments (MI)
Means concomitant impairments, the combination of which causes such
severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special
education programs solely for one of the impairments. Multiple impairments
does not include deaf-blindness.
- In order to meet the definition of Multiple Impairment,
(i) the student's disability is expected to continue indefinitely;
and
(ii) the disabilities severely impair performance in two or more
of the following areas:
(I) psychomotor skills;
(II) self-care skills;
(III) communication;
(IV) social and emotional development; or
(V) cognition.
Orthopedic impairment (OI)
Means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s
educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by
a congential anomaly, impairments caused by disease, and impairments
from other causes
Other health impairment (OHI)
Means having limited strength, vitality or alertness, including
a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in
limited alertness with respect to the learning environment that
is due to chronic or acute health problems and adversely affects
a child’s educational performance.
Speech impairment (SI)
Means a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation,
language impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects
a child’s educational performance.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
Means an 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. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries
that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries by birth
trauma.
Visual impairment (VI)
Means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely
affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes
both partial sight and blindness.
Noncategorical Early Childhood (NCEC)
Means a student between the ages of 3-5 who is evaluated as having
mental retardation, emotional disturbance, a specific learning disability,
or autism may be described as noncategorical early childhood. The
student must meet all of the eligibility criteria for the appropriate
handicapping condition, MR, ED, LD, or AU in order to consider the
use of NCEC. |
