(1)
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(i) Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting
verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident
before age 3, 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. The
term does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected
primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance, as defined in
paragraph (b)(4) of this section.
(ii) A child who manifests the characteristics of "autism" after age 3 could
be diagnosed as having "autism" if the criteria in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this
section are satisfied.
(2) Deaf-blindness means concomitant 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.
(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.
(4) Emotional disturbance is defined as follows:
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(i) The term 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:
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(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.
(ii) 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.
(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.
(7) Multiple disabilities means concomitant 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 programs solely for one of the impairments.
The term does not include deaf-blindness.
(8) Orthopedic impairment means a severe orthopedic impairment that
adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes
impairments 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).
(9) Other health impairment means 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-
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(i) 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, and sickle cell anemia; and
(ii) Adversely affects a child's educational performance.
(10) Specific learning disability is defined as follows:
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(i) General. 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, including
conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain
dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.
(ii) Disorders not included. 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.
(11) Speech or language impairment means a communication disorder, such
as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice
impairment, that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
(12) Traumatic brain injury 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; information processing; and speech. The term
does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to
brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
(13) 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.
