Specific Learning Disability

disorder in 1 or more of the basic psychological processes involved in:

understanding or in using language (spoken or written)

that may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to:

listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do math calculations

including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

(does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.)

Autism

a developmental disability significantly affecting:

• verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction,
• evident before age 3
• adversely affects a child's educational performance.

Other characteristics:

• engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements
• resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines
• unusual responses to sensory experiences.

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

child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing

with or without amplification

that adversely affects a child's educational performance.

Emotional disturbance

a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects educational performance:

(A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.

(B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.

(C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.

(D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.

(E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.

(ii) Emotional disturbance 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

• permanent or
• fluctuating
• adversely affects educational performance

but not included under the definition of deafness in this section.

Mental retardation

significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning

existing concurrently with:

• deficits in adaptive behavior
• manifested during the developmental period
• adversely affects educational performance

Multiple disabilities

concomitant impairments

(e.g. MR-blindness or MR-orthopedic impairment)

the combination causes:

• such severe educational needs
• cannot be accommodated in programs solely for 1 of the impairments

Multiple disabilities 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:

• congenital anomaly
• disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis)
• other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).

Other health impairment

• limited strength, vitality, or alertness
• heightened alertness to env stimuli, results in ltd alertness to educational env.
• adversely affects educational performance

Is due to chronic or acute health problems such as:

• asthma
• ADD or ADHD
• diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette syndrome

Speech or language impairment

a communication disorder

• stuttering
• impaired articulation
• a language impairment
• a voice impairment

that adversely affects educational performance

Traumatic brain injury

an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force

• total or partial functional disability
• psychosocial impairment (or both)
  
• that adversely affects a child's educational performance.

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.

does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

Visual impairment

an impairment in vision that

even with correction

adversely affects a child's educational performance

includes both partial sight and blindness.

Developmental Delay

children - birth to 3

children - 3 to 9

a delay in one or more of the following areas:

• physical
• cognitive
• communication
• social or emotional
• or adaptive [behavioral]