Types of Disabilities for Public Schools

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The public schools basic responsibilities are:

To provide a free appropriate public education for students with disabilities age three through twenty-one.
To provide an individualized education program (IEP) for every student in need of special education and related services.
To assure that testing and evaluation materials, procedures and interpretation of results are not biased.
To educate students with disabilities within the least restrictive environment (LRE) appropriate to meet those students needs.
To protect the confidentiality of the educational records of those students with disabilities; to conduct a comprehensive search to identify, locate and evaluate students with disabilities from birth through age twenty one; and
To protect the rights of students and parents by providing all procedural safeguards of due process.

The parent’s basic responsibilities in securing a free appropriate public education for their student with a disability are:

To give consent for individual educational evaluation and placement for their child;
To participate in the case conference committee (CCC), which includes the development and writing of their child’s individualized education program (IEP); and
To cooperate with the school, including attendance at the annual case review (ACR), to make certain that the individualized education program (IEP) continues to be appropriate and is followed.

The IEP process can sometimes be complex; to avoid misunderstanding, both the parents and the school cooperation should keep a record of the various telephone calls, meetings and decisions that occur along the way.

Types of Disabilities

A student with autism has a developmental disability characterized by impairments in communication, learning and reciprocal social interaction. The disability typically becomes evident in infancy or early childhood.

A student with a communication disorder has a communication handicap, such as stuttering, impaired pronunciation, language or voice impairment, which adversely affects educational performance and/or social, emotional or vocational development.

A student with a dual sensory impairment has both a hearing and visual impairment, which causes severe communication and other developmental and educational problems.

A student with an emotional handicap has an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships, has inappropriate types of behavior or feelings, or has an inability to learn which cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors; any or all of which adversely affects educational performance.

A student with a hearing impairment which adversely affects educational performance is either deaf or hard of hearing.

A student with a learning disability has a disorder in understanding either spoken or written language which results in difficulty in listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, spelling or doing mathematical calculations. The student with a learning disability has a severe discrepancy between academic achievement and normal potential which is not the result of visual, hearing or motor handicaps, mental handicap, emotional disturbance or environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage.

A student with a mental handicap has below average general intellectual functioning and difficulties with personal inappropriate reasoning and judgment. The severity of the handicap determines whether the student has a mild mental handicap, moderate mental handicap or severe mental handicap.

A student with a multiple handicap has two or more handicapping conditions, which result in problems so complex that services in regular programs or special education programs designed for students with single handicaps will not result in meaningful growth and development.

A student with an orthopedic impairment has a physically disabling condition, which is determined to be a serious impairment of the student’s locomotive or motor functions, and adversely affects educational performance.

A student with other health impairment has impairment with adversely affects a student’s educational performance and is manifested by limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems.

A student with a traumatic brain injury has an impairment, which adversely affects the student’s educational performance caused by an external physical force resulting in an impairment of functional ability and/or psychosocial ability.

A student with a visual impairment has an impairment, which adversely affects educational performance and may be either blind or partially sighted.

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