ELIGIBILITY FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES & POSSIBLE CATEGORIES THEREIN

ELIGIBILITY FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION AS STATED BY FEDERAL LAW The regulations establish eligibility criteria for all students seeking special education services. In order to qualify as an individual with exceptional needs under the eligibility criteria, the assessment must demonstrate that the student's impairment

1) adversely affects his/her educational performance and 2) requires special education.

AGE REQUIREMENTS In terms of minimum age, a child may be eligible for special education services, in the form of early intervention services, from birth. Early intervention services are discussed in on the page titled Early Intervention Services. After age three and until school age, a child may be eligible for preschool special education. In terms of maximum age (and assuming the student has not yet graduated from high school), a student continues to be eligible for special education through his 18th year. Each state is different and may offer services for the student into his/her early twenty's'. However, for services to continue through to this age, the student must have been in special education prior to the age of 19.

A HEARING IMPAIRED CHILD Your child does not need to be deaf to qualify as hearing impaired. Your child is eligible if s/he has either a permanent or fluctuating hearing loss that impairs his/her ability to process information presented through amplified hearing channels and which also adversely affect the educational performance. COUNTY OR DISTRICT PROGRAMS FOR DEAF/BLIND CHILDREN
If your child has both hearing and visual impairments which, in combination, cause severe communication, developmental, and educational problems, s/he is eligible for county and district programs

LIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SERVICES PROVIDED TO CHILDREN WITH SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DISORDERS.
A student with speech and language difficulties is eligible for special education services if she meets one or more of the following criteria: 1)Articulation Disorder which reduces intelligibility and significantly interferes with communication and attracts adverse attention. The student's articulation competency must be below what is expected for his/her chronological age or developmental level. 2)Abnormal Voice which is characterized by persistent, defective voice quality, pitch, or loudness. 3)Fluency Disorder in which the flow of verbal expression, including rate and rhythm, adversely affects communication between the student and listener. 4)Language Disorder in which the student has a language disorder when s/he meets both of the following criteria: (a) Scores at least 1.5 standard deviations below the mean, or below the seventh percentile, for her chronological age or developmental level, on two or more standardized tests in one or more of the following areas of language development: morphology, syntax, semantics; (b) Displays inappropriate or inadequate usage of receptive or expressive language as measured on a representative spontaneous language sample of a minimum of fifty utterances. Once a student qualifies for special education services, s/he is eligible for any service required to meet her/his educational needs. The related service of speech and language therapy may be the only service some students need. Other students have speech and language disorders that are too severe for placement in a communicatively handicapped or severe language

PHYSICAL DISABILITIES THAT QUALIFY A CHILD FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION. The child's condition would have to: 1) affect your child's educational performance adversely and 2) not beVISUAL HANDICAPPED STUDENTS temporary in nature. Visually handicapped means a visual S/he might have severe orthopedic impairments such as impairment which, even with correction, polio, cerebral palsy, amputations, etc. Or, she might adversely affects a child's educational have limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to performance. chronic or acute health problems such as heart disease, The hemophilia, diabetes, childhood cancer, epilepsy,term includes both partially sighted and AIDS, blind children. etc. Students with traumatic brain injury are also eligible for special education. These include an injury to the brain caused by an external force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects his/her 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,

deficits in adaptive behavior, as well as significantly below average general intellectual functioning, which adversely affects the child's educational performance. [34 C.F.R Sec. 300.5(b)(4)] ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR SERIOUSLY EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED STUDENTS A student is considered seriously emotionally disturbed if he exhibits one or more of the following characteristics, over a long period of time and to a marked degree, which adversely affects educational performance: 1) An inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors. 2) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers. 3) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances exhibited in several situations.

4) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.

5) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. [34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.7(b)(9)] Note that the disability category "seriously emotionally disturbed" is a creation of Congress, not a recognized psychiatric diagnostic category. Thus, the term does not require a particular psychiatric diagnosis - such as

deficit hyperactive disorder alone is not sufficient to make a student eligible for special education services. An IEP team, after the required comprehensive evaluation, must determine that the student meets a federal and/or state eligibility category. A September 16, 1991, Joint Policy Memorandum from the U.S. Department of Education says that state and local education agencies: ....must ensure that children with ADD who are determined eligible for services. . . receive special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs, including special education and related services needs arising from ADD. Most commonly, students with ADD/ADHD may be eligible under the "specific learning disability" category, the "seriously emotionally disturbed" category, or the "other health impaired" category. School districts have not widely utilized the "other health impaired" category to qualify a student with ADD/ADHD for special education services. However, the federal Joint Policy Memorandum specifically addresses the "other health impaired" category: Children with ADD, where the ADD is a chronic or acute health problem resulting in limited alertness, may be considered disabled under Part B solely on the basis of this

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR CHILDREN WITH A The regulations define intellectual ability as including SUSPECTED LEARNING DISABILITY. both acquired learning and learning the eligibility To be considered learning disabled underpotential as determined by a systematic assessment of intellectual criteria, a student must meet three major requirements. functioning. Thea disorder level ofor more of theincludes S/he must have student's in one achievement basic his/her level of competence in materials and subject psychological processes involved in understanding or matter or written language. The as measured by using spokenexplicitly taught in schoolbasic psychological standardized achievement tests. The academic areas processes include: attention identified in the law are: visual processing auditory processing oral expression sensory-motor skills listening association, conceptualization cognitive abilities (including comprehension written expression & expression) basic reading skills reading comprehension That the disorder may manifest itself in an impaired ability mathematics calculation to listen, think speak, read, write, spell or do mathematical mathematics reasoning calculations. The student must have a severe discrepancy between In determining whether or not a severe discrepancy intellectual ability and achievement in one or more of the exists, the IEP team must take intoin the law. relevant academic areas referred to account all material available on the student. No single score (or product of scores) test or procedure shall be used as the sole criterion for the IEP team's decisions as to the

CHILDREN WHO DON'T MEET ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS A child who may have problems in learning may not be found SEVERE DISCREPANCY eligible for special education services because s/he does not fit into one of the special education eligibility categories and/or Some people will claim that there is a 2 severe enough to because his/her learning problems are not year rule, that the student must be two years behind is often the case for qualify him for special education. (This academically to be considered being hyperactive or having dyslexia or children identified as LD. There is no reference in the federal ADD, eligibility criteria for learning disabilities requiring that none of which automatically qualify a student for speciala student be two years law.) Such a child, however, may do education under federal behind academically. The criteria be require special student and a severe discrepancy between eligible for that the serviceshave program modifications under a ability and achievement. Therefore, the student's academic federal anti-discrimination law designed to reasonably achievement must be condition to his his ability levels, accommodate the student's comparedso thatownneeds are met as not to as the needs of non-disabled students. The law adequately other students' ability or to expected grade levelis performance. The district has an obligation to follow of 1973. commonly known as Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Actfederal eligibility criteria. [34 C.F.R. regulations at 34 [29 U.S. Code Sec. 794; implementingSec. 300.7(b)(10)] C.F.R. 104.1 and following.] Section 504 eligibility is not based on a categorical analysis of disabilities (except that some conditions, such as ADD, are frequently recognized as Section 504 qualifying conditions). Rather, Section 504 protections are available to students who can be regarded as "disabled" in a functional sense. Such students:

If your child is not found to be "disabled" for purposes of Section 504 accommodations and/or services, you can appeal that determination. The local education agency is responsible for arranging the Section 504 hearing process. The hearing officer selected by the local education agency must be independent of the local agency. The hearing officer could be, for example, a special education administrator from another school district, from the county office of education or from a special education local plan area - as long as there is not conflict of interest.
The Office of Civil Rights administers and enforces Section 504 protections in education. If you believe your child has not been afforded his/her rights under Section 504, you may file a complaint with your local OCR. SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES UNDER SECTION 504 An OCR Memorandum written April 29, 1993, addresses this issue. The question it was answering was whether or not a child. . . who has a disability within the meaning of Section 504 but not under the IDEA, is entitled to receive special education services. It stated that if a child. . . is found to have a disability within the meaning of Section 504, s/he is entitled to receive any special education services the placement team decides are necessary.

DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY
occurs when your child has the delayed achievement of one or more of his milestones. This may affect your child's speech and language, his fine and gross motor skills, and/or his personal and social skills.

P H Y S I C A L

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A D A P T I V E

CATEGORIES OF DISABILITIES
Autism Deaf-Blindness Deafness Emotional Disturbance Hearing Impairment Intellectual Disability Multiple Disabilities Orthopedic Impairment Other Health Impairment Specific Learning Disability Speech or Language Impairment Traumatic Brain Injury Visual Impairment including blindness

Autism

is a disorder of

neural development characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. The diagnostic criteria require that symptoms become apparent before a child is three years old.[2]Autism affects information processing in the brain by altering how nerve

Deaf-blindness

is the condition of little or no useful sight and little or no useful hearing. Educationally, individuals are considered to be deaf blind when the combination of their hearing and sight loss causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they require significant and unique adaptations

Deafness is defined as a
degree of impairment such that a person is unable to understand speech even in the presence of amplification. In profound deafness, even the loudest sounds produced by an audiometer (an instrument used to measure hearing by producing pure tone sounds through a range of frequencies) may not be detected. In total

Emotional Disturbance is
one of thirteen disabilities outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Section 1912(c) of the Public Health Service Act, as amended by Public Law 102-321 defines children with a serious emotional disturbance as those who are from birth to age of majority who have had a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder of sufficient duration to meet diagnostic criteria specified within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). For the individual to be deemed emotionally disturbed, it must be determined that the child's condition results in functional impairment, substantially interfering with one or more major life activities, such as the abilities to

Hearing impairment is the

decreased ability to hear and discriminate among sounds. It is one of the most common birth defects.

Intellectual disability is a
broad concept encompassing various intellectual deficits, including mental retardation(MR), deficits too mild to properly qualify as MR, various specific conditions (such as specific learning disability), and problems acquired later in life through acquired brain injuries or neurodegenerative diseases like dementia. Intellectual disabilities may appear at any age. Intellectual disability is also increasingly

Multiple disabilities is
a term for a person with several disabilities, such as a sensory disability associated with a motor disability. Depending on the definition, a severe intellectual disability may be included in the term "multiple disabilities". Individual usually has more than one significant disability, such as movement difficulties,

Orthopedic Impairment as
defined by the IDEA, is a bodily impairment that is severe enough to negatively affect a childs educational performance. This disability category includes all orthopedic impairments, regardless of cause. Examples of potential causes of orthopedic impairment include genetic abnormality, disease, injury, birth trauma, amputation, burns, or other causes.People with orthopedic impairments usually need physical accommodations orassistive technology in work and life and have legal

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: is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficient hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, or heart condition,

Specific Learning Disabilities are a group of disabilities

in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) The IDEA defines specific learning disabilities as a group of disorders in one or more of these areas of learning:Learning disabilities of expressive language, also called oral expression; Learning disabilities of receptive language, also called listening comprehension; Learning disabilities ofbasic writing mechanics; Learning disabilities ofwritten expression;

Speech And Language Impairment are basic categories that

might be drawn in issues of communication involve hearing, speech, language, and fluency. Hearing will be excluded from our discussion as it is the focus of experts in other domains. Speech is the first category, and it includes articulation and voice. Articulation refers to the sounds,syllables, and phonology produced by the individual. Voice, however, may refer to the characteristics of the sounds producedspecifically, the pitch, quality, and intensity of the sound. Often,fluency will also be considered a category under speech, encompassing the characteristics of rhythm, rate,

Traumatic brain injury (TBI),

also known as intracranial injury, occurs when an external force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism (closed orpenetrating head injury), or other features (e.g., occurring in a specific location or over a widespread area). Head injury usually refers to TBI, but is a broader category because it can involve damage to structures other than the brain, such as the scalp and skull. TBI is a major cause of death and disability worldwide, especially in children and young adults. Causes include falls, vehicle accidents, and violence. Prevention measures include use of technology to protect those suffering from

Visual

(or vision impairment) is vision loss (of a person) to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive correction, medication, or surgery.[1][2][3] This functional loss of vision is typically defined to manifest with best corrected visual acuity of less than 20/60, or significant central field defect, significant peripheral field defect including

Impairment