Special Education Eligibility Categories and Criteria

What do we do when children struggle in school?

• We give assessments to determine the specific skills the student needs to master
• We provide extra instruction inside the classroom through additional practice, academic grouping, and remediation activities
• If children still don't respond, we join with families for a Student Study Team (SST) meeting where we talk about the student's needs and select intervention groups for him or her that provide extra time to target the specific skill the child needs to learn.  The child will join these groups while we take data to see if the targeted instruction is working (called progress monitoring)
• If, after a suitable time, the student is still struggling and we feel we have tried all possible prereferral interventions, we refer him or her for special education evaluation
• The Student Study Team (which always includes parents or guardians) then works up an Assessment Plan (AP) where we determine which areas we are going to evaluate to see whether a student needs special education services in those areas  
• Once the plan is signed, the school district has 60 days to complete the assessments and present the results.  If the child is found eligible for services, an IEP is developed
• A child must be found eligible through one of the 13 categories below:

(Specific descriptions of each eligibility criteria can be found in Section 3030 (a through j) of the California Education Code)

Autism - ”means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three that adversely affects educational performance. Characteristics often associated with autism are engaging in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to changes in daily routines or the environment, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term autism does not apply if the child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has emotional disturbance as defined below. A child who shows the characteristics of autism after age 3 could be diagnosed as having autism if the criteria above are satisfied.”

Deaf-Blindness - ”means [simultaneous] hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.”

Deafness (Deaf Hard of Hearing—DHH) - ”means a hearing impairment so severe that a child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.”

Emotional Disturbance (ED) - ”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 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.
• 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.”

Hearing Impairment (HI) - ”means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but is not included under the definition of deafness.”

Intellectual Disability (ID) - "means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently [at the same time] with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Multiple Disabilities (Severely Multiply Handicapped—SMH) - ”means concomitant [simultaneous] impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness, mental retardation-orthopedic impairment, etc.), the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education program solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness.”

Orthopedic Impairment (OI) - ”means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes impairment caused by congenital anomaly (e.g. clubfoot, absence of some member, etc.), impairments caused by disease (e.g. poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from other causes (e.g. cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).”

Other Health Impaired (OHI) - ”means having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including 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 or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette syndrome; and adversely affects a child’s educational performance.”

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 an 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.”

Speech or Language Impairment (SLI) - ”means a communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.”

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) - ”means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; degenerative, or brain injuries induce by birth trauma.”

Visual Impairment (Including Blindness) (VI) - ”means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.”

Primary source: National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities

• An assessment is required in the following instances:
  • Prior to initial placement in special education program.
  • Whenever any significant change in the student’s special education placement occurs, including addition of new services, and discontinuation of existing services.
  • If the team of qualified assessors, which includes the parent(s), determine that additional data are needed in reviewing whether the student continues to need special education and related services.
  • Every three (3) years or more frequently, if conditions warrant or if the student’s parent(s) or teacher requests a new assessment when a new Individualized Education Program (IEP) is to be developed.