Ca tegories of

egories
D isabilit
isabilityy
1.800.695.0285
(Voice/TTY)
U nder IDEA
nichcy@aed.org
www.nichcy.org

April 2
April 009
2009

In troduc
Introduc tion
troduction Infan ts and Toddlers
Infants oddlers,,
Every year, under the federal law U nder Thr ee Years of AAge
hree ge
known as the Individuals with Under IDEA, “infants and toddlers with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA),
disabilities“ are defined as individuals
millions of children with disabilities under three years of age who need early
receive special services designed to meet their intervention services because they—
unique needs. Early intervention services are
★

provided through the state to infants and toddlers are experiencing developmental delays, as
with disabilities under three years of age and their measured by appropriate diagnostic
families. For school-aged children and youth instruments and procedures, in one or more
(aged 3 through 21), special education and related of the following areas:
services are provided through the school system.
These services can be very important in helping • cognitive development;
children and youth with disabilities develop, • physical development;
learn, and succeed in school and other settings.
• communication development;
Who is Eligible ffor
or SSer
er vic
ervic es?
vices? • social or emotional development; and

Under IDEA, states are responsible for • adaptive development; or

meeting the special needs of eligible children with
★

disabilities. To find out if a child is eligible for

services, he or she must first receive a full and have a diagnosed physical or mental
individual initial evaluation. This evaluation is condition that has a high probability of
free. Two purposes of the evaluation are: resulting in developmental delay.

• to see if the child has a disability, as defined by The term may also include, if a state chooses,
IDEA; and children under three years of age who would be at
risk of experiencing a substantial developmental
• to learn in more detail what special education delay if early intervention services were not
and related services he or she needs. provided.

National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities

NICHCY: www.nichcy.org
1825 Connecticut 1
Avenue N.W., Suite Categories
700 • Washington, DCof20009
Disability Under IDEA
C hildren and Youth
hildren C hildren AAge
hildren ge
gedd 3 Through 9
A ge
gedd 3 Through 21 It is important to know that, under
IDEA, states and local educational
IDEA lists 13 different disability categories
agencies (LEAs) can use the term
under which 3- through 21-year-olds may be
“developmental delay” with
eligible for services. The disability categories listed
children aged 3 through 9:
in IDEA are:

★
• autism; if they experience developmental
delays in one or more of the following
• deaf-blindness;
areas:
• deafness;
•physical development;
• emotional disturbance;
•cognitive development;
• hearing impairment; •communication development;
• mental retardation; •social or emotional development; or
• multiple disabilities;
•adaptive development; and
• orthopedic impairment;
★ who, because of the developmental delays,
• other health impairment; need special education and related services.
• specific learning disability; If a state chooses to include developmental
• speech or language impairment; delay in its definition of an eligible “child with a
disability,” it must define precisely what the term
• traumatic brain injury; or means and ensure that its definition is consistent
with IDEA’s definition. “Developmental delays”
• visual impairment (including blindness). must be measured by appropriate diagnostic
IDEA further defines each of these instruments and procedures. The state also deter-
disability terms. We’ve provided mines whether the term applies to children aged 3
those definitions on pages 3 through 9, or to a subset of that age range (for
and 4. example, ages 3 through 5).

Under IDEA, a child may not Three more points to note about the term
be identified as a “child with a developmental delay:
disability” primarily because • A state may not require an LEA to adopt and
he or she speaks a language use the term developmental delay.
other than English and does
not speak or understand • If an LEA uses the term, the LEA must conform
English well. A child may to both the state’s definition of the term and
also not be identified as to the age range the state has adopted.
having a disability just
because he or she has not had • If a state does not adopt the term, an LEA may
enough appropriate not independently use the term to establish a
instruction in math child’s eligibility under IDEA.
or reading.

NICHCY: 1.800.695.0285 2 Categories of Disability Under IDEA

 The 13 DDisabilit
isabilit
isabilityy amplification, that adversely affects a child's
educational performance.
C at egor ies
ies,, DDef
egories ef ine
inedd
efine
IDEA provides definitions of the 13 disability 4. EEmotional
motional DDisturbanc
isturbanc
isturbancee...
categories listed above. Federal definitions guide
how states define who is eligible for a free ...means a condition exhibiting one or more of
appropriate public education under IDEA. The the following characteristics over a long period of
definitions are as follows: time and to a marked degree that adversely affects
a child’s educational performance:

1. AAutism...
utism... (a) An inability to learn that cannot be
explained by intellectual, sensory, or
...means a developmental disability health factors.
significantly affecting verbal and
nonverbal communication and social (b) An inability to build or
interaction, generally evident before maintain satisfactory interpersonal
age three, that adversely affects a relationships with peers and
child’s educational performance. teachers.
Other characteristics often associ- (c) Inappropriate types of
ated with autism are engaging in
behavior or feelings under
repetitive activities and stereotyped normal circumstances.
movements, resistance to environ-
mental change or change in daily (d) A general pervasive mood of
routines, and unusual responses to unhappiness or depression.
sensory experiences. The term autism
does not apply if the child’s educational (e) A tendency to develop physical symptoms
performance is adversely affected primarily or fears associated with personal or school
because the child has an emotional disturbance, problems.
as defined in #4 below. The term includes schizophrenia. The term
A child who shows the characteristics of does not apply to children who are socially
autism after age 3 could be diagnosed as having maladjusted, unless it is determined that they
autism if the criteria above are satisfied. have an emotional disturbance.

2. DDeaf-B
eaf-B lindness
eaf-Blindness ...
lindness... 5. HHear
ear ing Impair
earing men
mentt ...
Impairmen
...means concomitant [simultaneous] hearing and ...means an impairment in hearing, whether
visual impairments, the combination of which permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a
causes such severe communication and other child’s educational performance but is not
developmental and educational needs that they included under the definition of “deafness.”
cannot be accommodated in special education
programs solely for children with deafness or 6. M en
Men tal RRetar
ental etar da
etarda tion...
dation...
children with blindness.
...means significantly subaverage general
intellectual functioning, existing concurrently [at
3. DDeafness
eafness...
eafness... the same time] with deficits in adaptive behavior
...means a hearing impairment so severe that a and manifested during the developmental period,
child is impaired in processing linguistic informa- that adversely affects a child’s educational
tion through hearing, with or without performance.

NICHCY: www.nichcy.org 3 Categories of Disability Under IDEA

7. Multiple DDisabilities
isabilities...
isabilities... minimal brain
dysfunction, dyslexia,
...means concomitant [simultaneous] impair- and developmental
ments (such as mental retardation-blindness, aphasia. The term does
mental retardation-orthopedic impairment), the not include learning
combination of which causes such severe problems that are
educational needs that they cannot be primarily the result of
accommodated in special education programs visual, hearing, or
solely for one of the impairments. The term does motor disabilities; of
not include deaf-blindness. mental retardation; of
emotional disturbance;
or of environmental,
8. Or thope
Orthope dic Impair
thopedic men
mentt...
Impairmen cultural, or economic
disadvantage.
...means a severe orthopedic impairment
that adversely affects a child’s educational
performance. The term includes impairments 11. SSpee
pee ch or LLanguage
peech anguage Impairmen
mentt...
Impairmen
caused by a congenital anomaly, impairments
caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone ...means a communication disorder such as
tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes stuttering, impaired articulation, a language
(e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or impairment, or a voice impairment that adversely
burns that cause contractures). affects a child’s educational performance.

9. OOther
ther HHealth
ealth Impair men
mentt...
Impairmen 12. Trauma tic BBrr ain Injur
aumatic Injuryy...
...means having limited strength, vitality, or ...means an acquired injury to the brain caused by
alertness, including a heightened alertness to an external physical force, resulting in total or
environmental stimuli, that results in limited partial functional disability or psychosocial
alertness with respect to the educational impairment, or both, that adversely affects a
environment, that— child's educational performance. The term applies
to open or closed head injuries resulting in
(a) is due to chronic or acute health impairments in one or more areas, such as
problems such as asthma, attention deficit cognition; language; memory; attention;
disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-
disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities;
hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, psychosocial behavior; physical functions;
nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, information processing; and speech.
and Tourette syndrome; and
The term does not apply to brain injuries that
(b) adversely affects a child’s educational are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries
performance. induced by birth trauma.

10. SSpe
pe cif
pecif ic LLear
cific ear ning DDisabilit
earning isabilit
isabilityy... 13. Visual Impairmen
mentt Including
Impairmen
...means a disorder in one or more of the basic Blindness ...
lindness...
psychological processes involved in understanding
or in using language, spoken or written, that may ...means an impairment in vision that, even with
manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, correction, adversely affects a child’s educational
think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do math- performance. The term includes both partial sight
ematical calculations. The term includes such and blindness.
conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury,

NICHCY: 1.800.695.0285 4 Categories of Disability Under IDEA

 M or
oree AAbout
bout DDisabilities
isabilities For children and youth ages 3 through 21,
special education and related services are provided
IDEA’s definitions of disability terms— through the public school system. One way to
combined with comprehensive assessment find out about these services is to call your local
information on the child—help states, schools, public school. The school should be able to tell
service providers, and parents decide if the child is you about special education policies in your area
eligible for early intervention or special education or refer you to a district or county office for this
and related services. Beyond these definitions, information. You can also contact your state’s
there is a great deal of information available Parent Training and Information (PTI) center for
about specific disabilities, including disabilities this information. You’ll find the PTI listed on
not listed in IDEA. NICHCY would be pleased to NICHCY’s State Resource Sheet for your state (look
help you find that information, beginning with: under “Organizations Especially for Parents”).
State sheets are available online at: http://
• our disability fact sheets and other publica- www.nichcy.org/Pages/StateSpecificInfo.aspx
tions on the disabilities listed in IDEA;
If you are a parent who thinks your child may
• contact information for many organizations need special education and related services, be
that focus their work on a particular disability. sure to ask how to have your child evaluated
under IDEA for eligibility. Often there are
Mor
oree AAbout
bout SSer
er vic
ervic es
vices materials available on local and state policies for
special education and related services.
Special services are available to eligible
There is a lot to know about early
children with disabilities and can help children
intervention, about special education and related
develop and learn. For infants and toddlers under
services, and about the rights of children with
the age of three, early intervention services may be
disabilities under IDEA, our nation’s special
provided through state systems such as the state’s
education law. NICHCY offers many publications,
health department or education department. If
all of which are available
you are a parent and would like to find out more
on our website or by
about early intervention in your state, including
contacting us directly.
how to have your child evaluated at no cost to
We can also tell you
you, try any of these suggestions:
about materials available
• ask your child's pediatrician to put from other groups.
you in touch with the early
intervention system in your
community or region;
Mororee on
• contact the pediatrics branch in a
local hospital and ask where you
“A dversely AAff
ffffee c ts EEduca
duca tional PPer
ducational er
erffor manc
mancee”
ormanc
should call to find out about early You may have noticed that the phrase “adversely
intervention services in your area; affects educational performance” appears in most of
• visit NICHCY’s website, where you the disability definitions. This does not mean,
however, that a child must be failing in school to
can identify the contact information
receive special education and related services.
for early intervention in your state
According to IDEA, states must make a free
(look under State Specific Info). The
state office will refer you to the appropriate public education available to “any
contact person or agency in your individual child with a disability who needs special
education and related services, even if the child has
area.
not failed or been retained in a course or grade, and
is advancing from grade to grade.” [§300.101(c)(1)]

NICHCY: www.nichcy.org 5 Categories of Disability Under IDEA

 Other SSour
our
ourcc es of Inf or
Infor ma
orma tion
mation
for PPar
aren
aren ts
ents

There are many sources of • help you learn about early

information about services for intervention and special
children with disabilities. Within education services;
your community, you may wish to
contact: • tell you about IDEA’s
requirements;
• the Child Find coordinator for
your district or county (IDEA • connect you with disability
requires that states conduct Child groups and parent groups in
Find activities to identify, locate, and your community or state; and
evaluate infants, toddlers, children, and • much, much more!
youth with disabilities aged birth through
21);

• the principal of your child’s school; or To find out how to contact your state’s PTI,
look at the NICHCY State Resource Sheet for
• the special education director of your child’s your state (available on our website). You'll
school district or local school. find the PTI listed there (look under
Any of these individuals should be able to “Organizations Especially for Parents”), as
answer specific questions about how to obtain well as many other information resources,
special education and related services (or early such as community parent resource centers,
intervention services) for your child. disability-specific organizations, and state
agencies serving children with disabilities.
In addition, every state has a Parent Training
and Information (PTI) center, which is an
excellent source of information. The PTI can:

National Dissemination Center

for Children with Disabilities
1.800.695.0285 (Voice/TTY)
nichcy@aed.org
www.nichcy.org

April 2009
This publication is copyright free. Readers are encouraged to copy and share it, but please credit
NICHCY, the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities.

We’d like to thank our Project Officer, Judy L. Shanley, Ph.D., at the Office of Special Education
Programs (OSEP) of the U.S. Department of Education, for her support of this publication
and of NICHCY itself. A special thanks goes out to the Office of Policy and Planning, at
OSEP, for their involvement and the fine-tooth-comb review to ensure this document’s
consistency with the requirements of IDEA 2004. NICHCY is made possible through Cooperative Agreement
Number H326N030003 between OSEP and the Academy for Educational Development. The contents of this
document do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Education, nor does mention
of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
NICHCY: 1.800.695.0285 6 Categories of Disability Under IDEA