1. IDEA Disability Categories
Emily Greenfield

2. Child with a Disability
(1) Child with a disability means a child evaluated in accordance with Sec. Sec through as having mental retardation, a hearing impairment (including deafness), a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment (including blindness), a serious emotional disturbance (referred to in this part as "emotional disturbance"), an orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, an other health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities, and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services.
(Kelly 2007)

3. Specific Learning Disability
(i) General. Specific learning disability means 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 the 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.
(ii) Disorders not included. Specific learning disability 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.
(Kelly 2007)

4. About Specific Learning Disability
In younger child, these are some common signs that they might have a learning disability:
-Speaks later than most children
-Pronunciation problems
-Slow vocabulary growth, often unable to find the right word
-Difficulty rhyming words
-Trouble learning numbers, alphabet, days of the week, colors, shapes
-Extremely restless and easily distracted
-Trouble interacting with peers
-Difficulty following directions or routines
-Fine motor skills slow to develop
67 percent of young students who were at risk for reading difficulties became average or above average readers after receiving help in the early grades.

5. Speech or Language Impairment
(11) 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.
(Kelly 2007)

6. About Speech or Language Impairment
One quarter of the students served in the public schools' special education programs (almost 1 million children in the school year) were categorized as having a speech or language impairment
Language disorders may be related to other disabilities such as mental retardation, autism or cerebral palsy.
It is estimated that communication disorders (including speech, language and hearing disorders) affect one of every 10 people in the United States.
Sometimes a child will have greater receptive (understanding) than expressive (speaking) language skills, but this is not always the case.

7. Mental Retardation
(6) Mental retardation means 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.
(Kelly 2007)

8. About Mental Retardation
Children with mild to severe mental retardation characteristics are:
-will probably need limited to extensive supports
-they are more likely to have a recognizable syndrome (such as Down Syndrome)
-therefore, may "look" different than their non-disabled peers
-their development is often significantly delayed
-they are typically identified as infants or toddlers
-most begin receiving special education during the preschool years
-they may be included in the regular classroom part of the school day
-but often spend much of the school day in a separate classroom where they learn adaptive living skills

9. Emotional Disturbance
(i) Emotional disturbance 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:
(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 under paragraph (c)(4)(i) of this section.
(Kelly 2007)

10. About Emotional Disturbance
Causes have not been determined.
Although various factors such as heredity, brain disorder, diet, stress, and family functioning have been suggested as possible causes.
Some characteristics and behaviors include:
-Hyperactivity (short attention span, impulsiveness)
-Aggression/self-injurious behavior (acting out, fighting)
-Withdrawal (failure to initiate interaction with others; retreat from exchanges of social interaction, excessive fear or anxiety)
-Immaturity (inappropriate crying, temper tantrums, poor coping skills)
-Learning difficulties (academically performing below grade level).

11. Deaf-Blindness
(2) Deaf-blindness means 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.
(Kelly 2007)

12. About Deaf-Blindness
Variety of causes, some include illness, accident, or genetic syndrome (Usher Syndrome I and II, Charge Syndrome and Down Syndrome are some genetic disorders that cause this).
Combination of hearing and vision loss which prevents access to communication, the environment, and people.
Exact prevalence is unknown it is estimated that 10% of the population is deaf and 1% of those individuals are blind or have vision loss (there are more than 70,000 deaf-blind individuals in the US.

13. Deafness
(3) Deafness means 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.
(Kelly 2007)

14. About Deafness
Hearing loss is generally described as slight, mild, moderate, severe, or profound, depending upon how well a person can hear the intensities or frequencies most greatly associated with speech. Generally, only children whose hearing loss is greater than 90 decibels (dB) are considered deaf for the purposes of educational placement.
A mixed hearing loss refers to a combination of conductive and sensorineural loss and means that a problem occurs in both the outer or middle and the inner ear.
A central hearing loss results from damage or impairment to the nerves or nuclei of the central nervous system, either in the pathways to the brain or in the brain itself.

15. Visual Impairment
(13) Visual impairment including blindness means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.
(Kelly 2007)

16. About Visual Impairment
The effect of visual problems on a child's development depends on the severity, type of loss, age at which the condition appears, and overall functioning level of the child.
Many children who have multiple disabilities may also have visual impairments resulting in motor, cognitive, and/or social developmental delays.
A young child with visual impairments has little reason to explore interesting objects in the environment.
This lack of exploration may continue until learning becomes motivating or until intervention begins.
May be unable to imitate social behavior or understand nonverbal cues.
Visual handicaps can create obstacles to a growing child's independence.

17. Hearing Impairment
(5) Hearing impairment means 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.
(Kelly 2007)

18. About Hearing Impairment
Students who are hearing impaired may require nothing more than some form of amplification to participate in class—a hearing aid, a classroom sound system, or a professor/student transmitter receiver unit.
Others may lip-read or have a cochlear implant, and some will require an interpreter.
Characteristics include:
Lack of attention • Turns or cocks head
Uses gestures • Lack of speech development
Works best in small groups • Monotone quality in voice
Acts out • Difficulty in following directions
Preoccupied with things, not people • Imitates others
Responds to noises instead of words • Reluctant to participate orally

19. Orthopedic Impairment
(8) Orthopedic impairment means 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).
(Kelly 2007)

20. About Orthopedic Impairment
Characteristics for the student with an orthopedic impairment (OI) fall more into the area of physical characteristics. These may include paralysis, unsteady gait, poor muscle control, loss of limb, etc. An orthopedic impairment may also impede speech production and the expressive language of the child.
Possible Causes:
-Students may be born with or acquire problem with their bones, their joints and/or their muscles.
-Orthopedic problems may result from deformities, diseases, injuries, or surgeries.
-Problems a child might be born with include cerebral palsy, Osteogenisis Imperfecta, joint deformities or muscular dystrophy.
-Injuries or surgeries may result in the loss of a bone and/or muscle tissue and may include the amputation of a limb.
-Burns and broken bones can also result in damage to both bones and muscles.

21. Other Health Impairment
(9) 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—
(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 poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette syndrome; and
(ii) Adversely affects a child's educational performance.
(Kelly 2007)

22. About Other Health Impairment
The following conditions may indicate the presence of an OHI:
(1) a long period of absence due to a chronic or acute health problem; (2) an inability to attend to task for the same length of time as peers due to a chronic or acute health problem;
(3) an inability to attend to task as a result of medication being taken for a chronic or acute health problem; and/or
(4) an inability to attend school for more than a few hours per day due to limited strength or vitality.

23. Autism
(i) Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, 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.
(ii) Autism does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance, as defined in paragraph (c)(4) of this section.
(iii) A child who manifests the characteristics of autism after age three could be identified as having autism if the criteria in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section are satisfied.
(Kelly 2007)

24. About Autism Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder
Is caused by a genetic basis, when you have 20 sets of chromosomes, exact cause is unknown.
Characteristics includes specific routines, repetitive behaviors, tics and/or twitches.
Can range from mild to severe.
Spectrum disorder (ASD).
There are no effective means to protect autism.
1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with autism (more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined).
Occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups.
Four times more likely to affect boys than girls.
Placing a child in an appropriate educational setting early on can result in improvements.
Many available programs, which focus mainly on developing communication, social, and cognitive skills.

25. Traumatic Brain Injury
(12) Traumatic brain injury means an 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. Traumatic brain injury 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. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
(Kelly 2007)

26. About Traumatic Brain Injury
May include:
-Physical impairments - speech, vision, hearing and other sensory impairment, headaches, lack of fine motor coordination, spasticity of muscles, paresis or paralysis of one or both sides and seizure disorders,balance, and other gait impairments.
-Cognitive impairments - short- and long-term memory deficits, impaired concentration, slowness of thinking, and limited attention span, as well as impairments of perception, communication, reading and writing skills, planning, sequencing, and judgement.
-Psychosocial-behavioral-emotional impairments - fatigue, mood swings, denial, self-centeredness,anxiety, depression, lowered self-esteem, sexual dysfunction, restlessness, lack of motivation, inability to self-monitor, difficulty with emotional control, inability to cope, agitation, excessive laughing or crying, and difficulty relating to others.

27. Multiple Disabilities
(7) Multiple disabilities means concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness or mental retardation-orthopedic impairment), the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. Multiple disabilities does not include deaf-blindness.
(Kelly 2007)

28. About Multiple Disabilities
Children with multiple disabilities will have a combination of various disabilities that may include: speech, physical mobility, learning, mental retardation, visual, hearing, brain injury and possibly others.
Along with multiple disabilities, they can also exhibit sensory losses and behavior and or social problems.
These students may exhibit weakness in auditory processing and have speech limitations.
Physical mobility will often be an area of need.
These students may have difficulty attaining and remembering skills and or transferring these skills from one situation to another.
Support is usually needed beyond the confines of the classroom.

29. Disability Category
# of Children
% of Total Section
Specific Learning Disabilities
2,816,361
47.20%
Speech and Language Impairment
1,118,543
18.80%
Mental Retardation
570,642
9.60%
Emotional Disturbance
482,597
8.10%
Other Health Impairments
449,093
7.50%
Autism
140, 473
2.30%
Multiple Disabilities
131,225
2.20%
Hearing Impairments
71, 118
1.20%
Orthopedic Impairments
67,772
1.10%
Developmental Delay*
65,878
Visual Impairments
25,294
0.40%
Traumatic Brain Injury
22,459
Deaf-Blindness
1,603
<0.1%
All disabilities
5,963,129
100%

30. (Kelly 2007)