Special Education Categories
The Special Education Categories site includes information,
research, resources, and best practices on the following program
areas: Deaf-Blindness, Deafness, Emotional Disturbance, Hearing
Impairment, Mental Retardation, Multiple Disabilities, Orthopedic
Impairment, Other Health Impairment, Specific Learning Disability,
Speech/Language Impairment, Speech/Language Pathology Services,
Traumatic Brain Injury, and Visual Impairment. (External
Resources are also available.)
Autism is 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.
(A child who manifests the characteristics of autism after
age 3 could be diagnosed as having autism if the other criteria
of this Section are satisfied.) 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.
Cognitive Disability 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.
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.
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.
Emotional Disability (includes schizophrenia
but does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted,
unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance)
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:
- 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 anxiety or unhappiness or
depression; or
- A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated
with personal or school problems.
Hearing Impairments 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.
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.
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).
Other Health Impairment means having limited
strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened sensitivity
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, or
sickle cell anemia; and
- adversely affects a child’s educational performance.
Specific Learning Disabilities 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 do mathematical calculations,
including 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. [105 ILCS 5/14-1.03(a)]
For more information on Specific Learning Disabilities, contact
the Illinois Division for Learning Disabilities, Joyce Myer,
President, 345 West Street, Gurnee, IL 60031, 847/360-5473,
847/360-5396 (Fax), jmeyer@mail.wps.lake.k12.il.us.
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. Listed below are related
sites for speech-language:
Speech-Language Pathology Services encompass
such activities as:
- Screening, diagnosis and appraisal of specific speech
and language impairments;
- Identification of children with speech and/or language
impairments;
- Referral and follow-up for medical or other professional
attention necessary for the habilitation of speech and language
impairments;
- Planning and developing interventions and programs for
children or youth with speech and language impairments;
Provisions of services for the habilitation and prevention
of speech and language impairments; and
- Counseling and guidance of parents, children, and teachers
regarding speech and language impairments.
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; psychosocial 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.
Visual Impairment means an impairment in
vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s
educational performance. The term includes both partial sight
and blindness.
External Special Education Resources
Bilingual/Bilingual Special Education
Barb Marler and Cristina Sanchez 847/803-3535
(approval courses, professional development, and technical
assistance)
Bilingual Therapies Inc.
John Consalvi, Director 773-784-9393
(offers bilingual speech language pathology services)
Cross Cultural Interpreting Services
Jill Bunten, Director 773-751-4094
(offers professional interpreting services in over 25 languages)
Illinois State Board of Education EBD/PBIS Network
Emotional-Behavioral Disabilities/Positive Behavior Interventions
& Supports
Lucille Eber, Project Director, 708/447-3706
Illinois Service Resource Center (ISRC)
Cheri Sinnott - Main Office 847/559-0110
(deaf/behavior & emotional disorders training & technical
assistance resources)
Project CHOICES
Ruth Henning (SASED) 630/778-4508
(Inclusive education training & technical assistance)
Project H.E.A.R.
Marcia Breese 217/479-4393
(Deaf/Hard of Hearing training & technical assistance
Resources)
Project Reach
Tina Dorsey (Philip Rock Center) 630/790-2474
(Deaf-Blind technical assistance resources)
Section 504 and Office of Civil Rights
Don Pollar 312/886-8419
back to Special Education Home Page |
