Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004)

There are 14 Specific Primary Terms that define “Child with a disability” For the purpose of Free Appropriate Education Child’s Educational Performance must be “adversely” affected due to disability.

List 1. Autism, 2. Deaf-blindness, 3. Deafness, 4. Developmental Delay, defined by States means a delay in one or more of the following areas: physical development; cognitive development; communication; social or emotional development; or adaptive [behavioral] development

5. 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. The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.

6. Hearing Impairment, 7. Mental Retardation, 8. Multiple Disabilities, 9. Orthopedic Impairment, 10. Other Health Impairment,

11. Specific Learning Disability, SLD...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. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term 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.

12. Speech or Language Impairment Speech and language disorders refer to problems in communication and related areas such as oral-motor function--sucking, swallowing, drinking, eating. These delays and disorders range from simple sound substitutions to the inability to understand or use language or use the oral-motor mechanism for functional speech and feeding. Some causes of speech and language disorders include hearing loss, neurological disorders, brain injury, intellectual disability, drug abuse, physical impairments such as cleft lip or palate, and vocal abuse or misuse. Frequently, however, the cause is unknown.

13. Traumatic Brain Injury, means an ACQUIRED INJURY (open or closed head injury causing impairments in one or more: cognition, language, memory attention, reasoning, abstract thinking, judgment, problem-solving, sensory, perceptual, & motor abilities, psychosocial behavior, physical functions, information processing, and speech 14. Visual Impairment including blindness