text: What Qualifies as a Disability? | Special Education Blog
  By SpecialEducation-Lawyer on August 31, 2014
  Medically speaking, there are countless types of disabilities. Educationally speaking, the number disability categories is much more limited. What sometimes causes confusion and frustration for parents and school personnel alike is that the definition of disabilities under state and federal laws differs from the medical definitions used by doctors under the DSM-5 manual.
  For a child in Massachusetts to qualify for an IEP, he or she must have at least one of the following specifically defined types of disabilities: Autism, Developmental Delay, Intellectual Impairment, Sensory Impairment (Hearing Impairment or Deaf, Vision Impairment or Blind, Deafblind), Neurological Impairment, Emotional Impairment, Communication Impairment, Physical Impairment, Health Impairment, or Specific Learning Disability. 603 CMR 28.02(7). Although this might seem like a very limited list of disabilities, they are, in fact, very broad categories that cover a wide variety of conditions. The specific definitions under Massachusetts education law are as follows:
  (a) Autism – A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction. The term shall have the meaning given it in federal law at 34 CFR §300.8(c)(1).
  (b) Developmental Delay – The learning capacity of a young child (3-9 years old) is significantly limited, impaired, or delayed and is exhibited by difficulties in one or more of the following areas: receptive and/or expressive language; cognitive abilities; physical functioning; social, emotional, or adaptive functioning; and/or self-help skills.
  (c) Intellectual Impairment – The permanent capacity for performing cognitive tasks, functions, or problem solving is significantly limited or impaired and is exhibited by more than one of the following: a slower rate of learning; disorganized patterns of learning; difficulty with adaptive behavior; and/or difficulty understanding abstract concepts. Such term shall include students with mental retardation.
  (d) Sensory Impairment – The term shall include the following:
  Hearing Impairment or Deaf – The capacity to hear, with amplification, is limited, impaired, or absent and results in one or more of the following: reduced performance in hearing acuity tasks; difficulty with oral communication; and/or difficulty in understanding auditorally-presented information in the education environment. The term includes students who are deaf and students who are hard-of-hearing.
  Vision Impairment or Blind – The capacity to see, after correction, is limited, impaired, or absent and results in one or more of the following: reduced performance in visual acuity tasks; difficulty with written communication; and/or difficulty with understanding information presented visually in the education environment. The term includes students who are blind and students with limited vision.
  Deafblind – Concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes severe communication and other developmental and educational needs.
  (e) Neurological Impairment – The capacity of the nervous system is limited or impaired with difficulties exhibited in one or more of the following areas: the use of memory, the control and use of cognitive functioning, sensory and motor skills, speech, language, organizational skills, information processing, affect, social skills, or basic life functions. The term includes students who have received a traumatic brain injury.
  (f) Emotional Impairment – As defined under federal law at 34 CFR §300.8(c)(4), the student exhibits one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects educational 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 teachers; inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. The determination of disability shall not be made solely because the student's behavior violates the school's discipline code, because the student is involved with a state court or social service agency, or because the student is socially maladjusted, unless the Team determines that the student has a serious emotional disturbance.
  (g) Communication Impairment – The capacity to use expressive and/or receptive language is significantly limited, impaired, or delayed and is exhibited by difficulties in one or more of the following areas: speech, such as articulation and/or voice; conveying, understanding, or using spoken, written, or symbolic language. The term may include a student with impaired articulation, stuttering, language impairment, or voice impairment if such impairment adversely affects the student's educational performance.
  (h) Physical Impairment – The physical capacity to move, coordinate actions, or perform physical activities is significantly limited, impaired, or delayed and is exhibited by difficulties in one or more of the following areas: physical and motor tasks; independent movement; performing basic life functions. The term shall include severe orthopedic impairments or impairments caused by congenital anomaly, cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures, if such impairment adversely affects a student's educational performance.
  (i) Health Impairment – A chronic or acute health problem such that the physiological capacity to function is significantly limited or impaired and results in one or more of the following: limited strength, vitality, or alertness including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli resulting in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment. The term shall include health impairments due to asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemia, if such health impairment adversely affects a student's educational performance.
  (j) Specific Learning Disability – The term 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 an imperfect ability to listen, think speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. Use of the term shall meet all federal requirements given in federal law at 34 CFR §§300.8(c)(10) and 300.309.
  New Hampshire and Federal Education Law
  Unlike Massachusetts, New Hampshire education law simply defers to the federal educational definitions of disability, but then adds two more categories not found in the federal law. The federal special education disability categories are as follows: 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. 34 CFR 300.8. The extensive definitions are as follows:
  (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.
  (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.
  (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.
  (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.
  (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).
  (10) Specific learning disability.
  New Hampshire specifically references the federal definition (Ed 1102.01(t)(1)), but then also includes developmental delays and acquired brain injury as two additional categories. Ed 1102.01(t)(2 – 3).
  Posted in: Diagnosis, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Uncategorized
  Categories Select Category AANE (1) ABA (1) ABA/DTT (1) Accommodations (2) ADA (2) Anxiety (1) Applied Behavior Analysis (1) Asperger's (10) Attorney-client relationship (1) Autism Endorsement (1) Autism Spectrum Disorder (10) Basic Rights Workshop (5) Behavior (1) BSEA (6) Bullying (2) Bureau of Special Education Appeals (6) Chapter 222 (1) Classroom Observation (1) Compensatory Services (1) Consultations (1) COPAA (1) Coronavirus (2) COVID-19 (3) DCF (1) Department of Children and Families (1) Department of Education (2) Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (3) DESE (3) Diagnosis (3) Discipline (7) Discrete Trial Training (1) Disputes (1) Down Syndrome (1) Dracut (2) DTT (1) Due Process (6) Dyslexia (1) Eligibility (5) Emergency Orders (1) ESY (1) Evaluations (4) Executive Orders (2) Exhaustion (1) FAPE (5) Federation for Children with Special Needs (2) First Circuit (2) General Education (1) GWArc (1) High Stakes Exit Exams (3) Home Hospital (1) Home Hospital Services (1) IEP (5) In the News (7) Joinder (1) Language Pragmatics (1) Least Restrictive Environment (1) LRE (1) Massachusetts (9) Massachusetts Advocates for Children (3) MCAS (3) Methodology (1) Moving (1) N1 (1) Natick (1) New Hampshire (10) North Middlesex (1) Nurse Practitioners (1) OCR (3) Out-of-district (2) Placement (3) Prior Written Notice (1) Procedures Lite (2) Programs (1) Referral (1) Remote Instruction (3) Remote Learning (3) Rising Stars (1) RTI (1) School Exclusion (1) Screening (1) Section 504 (2) SEPAC (6) Service Delivery Grid (1) Service Dog (1) Services (4) Social Security Disability (1) Social Skills (1) Somerville (1) Special Education (14) Special Education Regulations (1) Special Education Screening (3) Special Needs (2) Specific Learning Disabilities (1) Stay Put (1) Super Lawyers (1) Transition Planning (2) Transition Specialist Endorsement (1) Uncategorized (17) Unilateral Placements (2) Waltham (2) Weston (1) WPN (1) Written Prior Notice (1) Zero Tolerance (1)
  Archives Select Month May 2020 (1) April 2020 (2) March 2020 (1) September 2019 (1) March 2018 (1) August 2017 (1) December 2016 (1) October 2016 (2) September 2015 (1) August 2015 (1) March 2015 (1) August 2014 (3) July 2014 (2) February 2014 (2) February 2013 (3) January 2013 (2) December 2012 (3) November 2012 (4) October 2012 (13) September 2012 (4) August 2012 (1) June 2012 (1) February 2012 (4) December 2011 (1) November 2011 (1) October 2011 (5) August 2011 (1) February 2011 (2) December 2010 (1) October 2010 (1) September 2010 (7) August 2010 (1) July 2010 (1) April 2010 (4)
  No surprise - school districts in New Hampshire are not happy with Governor Sununu's emergency order requiring Team… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 3 days ago
  ... MA DESE is advising special education directors that if the Team misses a mtg. because of school closure, and t… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 4 days ago
  Have you ever gotten frustrated by school districts that let an IEP expire, then hold the Team meeting well after t… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 4 days ago