Disability Categories

 Autism is developmental disability that affects communication, social interaction, and behavior. It often includes repetitive behaviors, sensory sensitivities, and challenges with verbal and nonverbal communication. Symptoms typically appear before age three.

Deaf-blindness combination of hearing and vision impairments that significantly impact communication and learning. This disability does not mean necessarily complete deafness or blindness, but enough impairment that traditional supports for single disabilities are not sufficient.

Deafness is a severe hearing impairment that affects a child’s ability to process linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification. This differs from “hearing impairment” because it is more profound and significantly affects communication and learning because it is more profound and significantly affects communication and learning.

A developmental delay significant delay in one or more developmental areas: physical, cognitive, communication, social-emotional, or adaptive skills. Some states can define their own criteria for determining eligibility under this category. This category is for children ages 3-9.

A diagnosis of an emotional disturbance is condition that significantly affects a child’s educational performance due to issues such as: Inability to build or maintain relationships, Inappropriate behavior or feelings under normal circumstances, Persistent depression or anxiety, and Schizophrenia and other mental health disorders. This disability does not include social maladjustment unless it is due to an emotional disturbance.

A hearing impairment is hearing loss that affects a child’s educational performance but is not severe enough to be classified as deafness. This may be temporary or permanent.

 An intellectual disability is significantly below-average intellectual functioning (IQ below ~70) and adaptive behavior limitations. This affects learning, reasoning, and problem-solving. Intellectual disabilities were previously known as “mental retardation” but changed to a more respectful term.

Having a diagnosis of multiple disabilities is a combination of two or more disabilities that result in severe educational needs. This does not include deaf-blindness, which is categorized separately. Students with multiple disabilities require more intensive support across different areas.

 An Orthopedic Impairment is a physical disability that affects a child’s educational performance. This can result from congenital conditions (e.g., spina bifida), diseases (e.g., cerebral palsy), or injuries (e.g., amputations).

A diagnosis of Other Health Impairment covers conditions that limit strength, energy, or alertness, affecting educational performance. This includes chronic illnesses like ADHD, epilepsy, diabetes, and sickle cell anemia.

 A Specific Learning Disability is a disorder in one or more basic psychological processes involved in learning. This directly affects skills such as reading (dyslexia), writing (dysgraphia), and math (dyscalculia). This does not however, include learning issues due to vision, hearing, or motor disabilities.

A Speech Language Impairment is a diagnosed learning difficulty with articulation, fluency, voice, or expressive/receptive language skills. This includes speech sound disorders, stuttering, and language processing difficulties.