Autism is defined as, “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 experiences.
The term does not apply if a child’s educational performance is
adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance, as
defined in the current IDEA. A
child who manifests the characteristics of autism after age 3 could be diagnosed
as having “autism” if these criteria are satisfied.
Autism was added as an IDEA-disability category with the 1990 Amendments.
Deaf-blindness is defined as, “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 is defined as, “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” is a generic term used
to describe a disability characterized by a student’s inappropriate behavior
and emotional disabilities that result in a need for special education and
related services. The term is
defined in the current IDEA as, “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, and
·
A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with
personal or school problems.”
The term includes schizophrenia, but does not apply
to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have
an emotional disturbance. Students
who are substance abusers do not qualify under this disability category unless
they exhibit other behaviors consistent with the criteria of emotional
disturbance, whether independent of the drug use or as a result of the drug use.
While adverse behavior in the home environment may be useful in
determining the existence of an emotional disturbance, this alone cannot form
the basis for the disability.
Prior to the 1997 IDEA Amendments, the name of this
disability was “serious emotional disturbance.” The modifying word “serious” was removed as it was deemed
to have negative connotations, but the definition remained the same.
Hearing impairment is defined as, “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 means, “significant 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.” It is important to note that the basis for a classification
of mental retardation is the source of a student’s learning problem, not the
student’s actual I.Q.
The term multiple disabilities is used to describe,
“concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness,
mental-retardation-orthopedic impairment, etc.) the combination of which causes
such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special
education programs solely for one of the impairments.”
Orthopedic impairment means, “a severe orthopedic
impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.”
The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g.,
clubfoot, absence of some member), 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).
Orthopedic impairments should be distinguished from
physical impairments that are covered solely under section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Under
the applicable standard for the current IDEA eligibility, the orthopedic
impairment must adversely affect the student’s educational performance.
In contrast, the lesser standard for section 504 eligibility requires
only that the impairment substantially limit one or more of a student’s major
life activities.
Other health impairments describe a condition that
results in 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, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead
poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemia; and 2.)
adversely affects a child’s educational performance.
In practice and application, the category of other
health impairments encompasses a wide range of medical conditions.
Contagious diseases, such as AIDS, may fall within the definition of
“other health impairment.”
Chemical dependence, in and of itself, does not
fall within the definition of “other health impairment,” or any other
disability category under the current IDEA.
A substance-abusing student will only qualify as disabled within the
meaning of the current IDEA if another independent condition exists which
constitutes a disability requiring special education, or the use of drugs
results in a condition that is covered under of the current IDEA’s disability
categories.
Specific learning disability is defined as, “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, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities,
brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.”
The term does not include 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.
Under the current IDEA, the key to the existence of
a specific learning disability is a severe discrepancy between a student’s
ability and achievements levels.
Consistent with this existing notion, it is important to recognize that a
student who is identified as mentally gifted may indeed qualify as having a
specific learning disability if the student meets the eligibility criteria for
this disability. The designation of
a specific learning disability is not a function of a student’s I.Q., but
rather, is premised upon a psychological processing disorder.
Speech or language impairment means, “a
communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language
impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a child’s
educational performance.”
The category of “traumatic brain injury” was
added to the list of IDEA disabilities in 1990.
A traumatic brain injury is defined as, “as 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 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, judgment, 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 to brain occurrences
such as strokes or aneurysms. However,
the Department of Education has issued policy guidance that these types of brain
injuries may meet the criteria for several other IDEA disabilities.
Visual impairment, including blindness, is defined
as, “an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a
child’s educational performance.” The
term includes both partial sight and blindness.
