Deaf or hard of hearing is 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 of this section.  Deaf is 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.

Autism is a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, which 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.

Emotional Disturbance is 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 education performance.

• An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors.
• An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and/or teachers.
• Inappropriate type of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.
• A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
• A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
• The term includes schizophrenia. It does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have a serious emotional disturbance.

Intellectual Disability is significantly sub average general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Multiple Disabilities is concomitant impairments (such as intellectual disability-blindness, intellectual disability-orthopedic impairment, etc), 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.

A student with multiple disabilities is one who has a combination of disabilities included in this section and who meets all of the following conditions:

• The student’s disability is expected to continue indefinitely, and

• The disabilities severely impair performance in two or more of the following areas:

1. Psycho-motor skills
2. Self-care skills,
3. Communication,
4. Social and emotional development, or
5. Cognition

Orthopedic Impairment is 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 and impairments from other causes such as cerebral palsy and amputations.

Other Health Impairment is 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

• Is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemia, and
• Adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Specific Learning Disabilities is 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, and development aphasia.

Speech or Language Impairment is a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, language impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Traumatic Brain Injury is an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psycho-social 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, abstract thinking judgment, problem-solving, sensory, perceptual and motor abilities, psycho social 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.

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.