Operational
Definitions of Disabilities and Eligibility Criteria
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Students with autism or autistic-like behavior are those whose severe disorders of communication and behavior became manifest during the early developmental stages of childhood, generally before the age of 3. The term includes, but is not limited to, students who exhibit those characteristics of infantile autism which may include:
Autism may also include other
conditions characterized by severe deficits in language ability and by sustained
impairment of interpersonal relationships with others. Autistic children appear
to primarily experience pervasive impairment of cognitive and/or perceptual
functioning which is not primarily due to mental retardation, sensory deficits,
or cultural differences as manifested by limited ability to understand,
communicate, learn, and participate in social situations.
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Students with deaf blindness have concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational problems that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for visually-impaired or hearing-impaired students.
Students, ages 2 through 9, can be identified as developmentally delayed when they demonstrate delays of 25 % or greater in one or more of the following areas of development:
A student may NOT be identified as developmentally delayed if the delay(s) can be primarily attributed to:
A student also MAY NOT be identified as developmentally delayed if the delays observed are primarily the result of:
Students who have emotional disabilities are those students who demonstrate one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree which adversely affects educational performance:
o
an inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual,
sensory or health factors
o an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships
with peers and teachers
The term does include
students who are schizophrenic.
The term does not include students who are socially maladjusted, unless
it is determined that they are also seriously emotionally disabled.
Hearing
Impairment (including Deafness)
A student who has a hearing impairment must demonstrate a hearing loss which adversely affects their educational performance. The hearing loss must be documented by complete audio logical assessments and may be conductive, sensorineural, or mixed in nature. The hearing impairment may be:
The educational impact of the hearing impairment should be manifested by one or more of the following:
Mild Mental Retardation
Students who have mild mental retardation demonstrate a reduced rate of intellectual development and a level of academic achievement below that of their age peers. They concurrently demonstrate deficits in adaptive behavior, including significant limitations in two or more of the following areas:
Specifically:
Moderate Mental Retardation
Students who have moderate retardation demonstrate difficulty in acquiring necessary skills due to a substantially reduced rate of intellectual development. They concurrently demonstrate deficits in adaptive behavior.
Specifically:
Students who have multiple disabilities demonstrate concomitant impairments (such as cognitive, orthopedic, or visual impairments, and/or serious emotional disability), the combination of which causes such severe educational problems that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include students who are deaf and blind.
Students who have orthopedic impairments are those whose physical conditions adversely affect their educational performance and result in the need for special provisions for educational purposes. Included are students with:
Students who qualify for other health impairment are those with limited strength, vitality, or alertness from chronic or acute health problems which adversely affect their educational performance, such as arthritis, diabetes, cancer, asthma, chronic lung disease, heart condition, leukemia, lead poisoning, nephritis, hemophilia, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, tuberculosis, epilepsy, and sickle-cell anemia. Current documentation by a physician of the health problem is required, along with evidence of the condition causing adverse educational performance, manifested by the following:
A student may not be identified as Other Health Impaired if the adverse educational performance can be primarily attributed to a specific learning disability, emotional disability, mental retardation, vision, hearing or motor disability, cultural or economic disadvantage.
Students who have severe-profound disabilities are those who:
Specifically included are students who:
Students with learning disabilities exhibit an academic deficit associated with a disorder in 1 or more of the basic cognitive processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may be manifested by difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing or mathematical abilities.
The student does not achieve commensurate with age and ability levels in 1 or more of the areas listed below when provided with learning experiences appropriate for the student’s age and ability levels, and the student must demonstrate an objectively observable discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement in 1 or more of the following areas:
This discrepancy must be "significant" as evidenced by achievement below expected performance based on measured intelligence (in Lexington, this is a minimum of 15 points with supportive evidence from observations and classroom performance).
A student may not be identified as having a specific learning disability when there is no demonstrable processing disorder or if the significant discrepancy between ability and achievement is primarily due to a visual, hearing, or motor disability; mental retardation; emotional disability; or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
A comprehensive diagnostic summary supporting the presence of a learning disability as causal for the ability-achievement discrepancy must be formulated from an examination of the interrelationships of all available data. Prior to recommending Specific Learning Disability, and in order to ascertain that appropriate learning experiences have been provided for the child’s age and ability levels, all aspects of the general education program and school services should be investigated as possible sources of assistance for meeting the specific needs of the student.
Students who have speech-language impairments are those children who have a communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment which adversely affects educational performance. Specifically:
Students who have traumatic brain injury are those who have had an injury to the brain caused by an external physical force resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial maladjustment that adversely affects educational performance. The term includes open or closed head injuries resulting in mild, moderate, or severe impairments in 1 or more areas, including 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 include brain disorders that are congenital or degenerative, or brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
Visual
Impairment (to include Blindness)
Students who have visual impairments are those children who have vision, which after best correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. They include:
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