SPECIAL EDUCATION DISABILITIES
•!• Autism
A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social
interaction , generally evident before age 3 , that 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 expenences.
•!• Deaf-Blindness
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.
•!• Deafness
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.
•!• Emotional Disturbance
The term 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 Jearn 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.
The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted,
unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.
•:• Hearing Impairment
An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's
educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section.
•:• Mental Retardation I Intellectually Disabled
A 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 Disabilities
Concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness, mental retardation-orthopedic
impairment), the combination of which caused such severe educational needs that they cannot be
accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term does not
include deaf-blindness.
•!• Orthopedic Impairment
A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term
includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly, impairments caused by disease (e.g.,
poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations,
and fractures or burns that cause contractures).
•!• Other Health Impairment
Having limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental
stimuli , that results in limited alertness with respect to the education environment, that - (i) is due to
chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poi soning, leukemia,
nephritis, rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemja and Tourette syndrome; and (ii) adversely affects a
child's educational performance.
•!• Specific Learning Disability
Not achieving adequately for the child's age or meeting state-approved grade-level standards in one or
more of the following areas, when provided with learning experiences and scientifically based
instruction appropriate for the child's age or state approved grade level standards: oral expression,
listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skill , reading fluency skills, reading
comprehension, mathematics calculation and mathematics problem-solving.
•!• Speech or Language Impairment
A communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice
impairment, that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
•!• Traumatic Brain Injury
An acqwred injury to the brain caused by an external physical force , resulting in total or partial
functional disabil ity or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child's educational
performance. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more
areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgement;
problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions;
information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or
degenerative, or brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
•!• Visual Impairment Including Blindness
An impairment in vision that, even with correction adversely affects a child's educational performance.
The term includes both partial sight and blindness.