Disabling Conditions
A student shall be determined
eligible and classified "eligible for special education and related services"
when it is determined that the student has one or more of the
disabilities defined in 1 through 14 below; the disability adversely affects
the student's educational performance and the student is in need of special
education and related services. Classification shall be based on all assessments
conducted including assessment by child study team members and assessment by
other specialists as specified below.
1. "Auditorily impaired" corresponds
to "auditorily handicapped" and further corresponds to the Federal eligibility
categories of deafness or hearing impairment. "Auditorily impaired" means an
inability to hear within normal limits due to physical impairment or dysfunction
of auditory mechanisms characterized by (c)1i or ii below. An audiological
evaluation by a specialist qualified in the field of audiology and a speech and
language evaluation by a certified speech-language specialist are required.
i. "Deafness"--The auditory impairment is so severe that the student is impaired
in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without
amplification and the student's educational performance is adversely affected.
ii. "Hearing impairment"--An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or
fluctuating which adversely affects the student's educational performance.
2. "Autistic" means a pervasive
developmental disability which significantly impacts verbal and nonverbal
communication and social interaction that adversely affects a student's
educational performance. Onset is generally evident before age three. Other
characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive
activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or
change in daily routine, unusual responses to sensory experiences and lack of
responsiveness to others. The term does not apply if the student's adverse
educational performance is due to emotional disturbance as defined in (c)5
below. A child who manifests the characteristics of autism after age three may
be classified as autistic if the criteria in this paragraph are met. An
assessment by a certified speech-language specialist and an assessment by a
physician trained in neurodevelopmental assessment are required.
3. "Cognitively impaired" corresponds
to "mentally retarded" and means a disability that is characterized by
significantly below average general cognitive functioning existing concurrently
with deficits in adaptive behavior; manifested during the developmental period
that adversely affects a student's educational performance and is characterized
by one of the following:
i. "Mild cognitive impairment" corresponds to "educable" and means a level of
cognitive development and adaptive behavior in home, school and community
settings that are mildly below age expectations with respect to all of the
following:
(1) The quality and rate of learning;
(2) The use of symbols for the interpretation of information and the solution of
problems; and
(3) Performance on an individually administered test of intelligence that falls
within a range of two to three standard deviations below the mean.
ii. "Moderate cognitive impairment" corresponds to "trainable" and means a level
of cognitive development and adaptive behavior that is moderately below age
expectations with respect to the following:
(1) The ability to use symbols in the solution of problems of low complexity;
(2) The ability to function socially without direct and close supervision in
home, school and community settings; and
(3) Performance on an individually administered test of intelligence that falls
three standard deviations or more below the mean.
iii. "Severe cognitive impairment" corresponds to "eligible for day training"
and means a level of functioning severely below age expectations whereby in a
consistent basis the student is incapable of giving evidence of understanding
and responding in a positive manner to simple directions expressed in the
child's primary mode of communication and cannot in some manner express basic
wants and needs.
4. "Communication impaired"
corresponds to "communication handicapped" and means a language disorder in the
areas of morphology, syntax, semantics and/or pragmatics/discourse which
adversely affects a student's educational performance and is not due primarily
to an auditory impairment. The problem shall be demonstrated through functional
assessment of language in other than a testing situation and performance below
1.5 standard deviations, or the 10th percentile on at least two standardized
language tests, where such tests are appropriate one of which shall be a
comprehensive test of both receptive and expressive language. When the area of
suspected disability is language, assessment by a certified speech-language
specialist and assessment to establish the educational impact are required. The
speech-language specialist shall be considered a child study team member.
i. When it is determined that the student meets the eligibility criteria
according to the definition in (c)4 above, but requires instruction by a
speech-language specialist only, the student shall be classified as eligible for
speech-language services.
ii. When the area of suspected disability is a disorder of articulation, voice
or fluency, the student shall be evaluated according to N.J.A.C. 6A:14-3.4(g)
and, if eligible, classified as eligible for speech-language services according
to N.J.A.C. 6A:14-3.6(a).
5. "Emotionally disturbed" 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 student's
educational performance due to:
i. An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or
health factors;
ii. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships
with peers and teachers;
iii. Inappropriate types of behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances;
iv. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or
v. A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or
school problems.
6. "Multiply disabled" corresponds to
"multiply handicapped" and “multiple disabilities,” and means the presence of
two or more disabling conditions, the combination of which causes such severe
educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in a program designed solely
to address one of the impairments. Multiple disabilities includes cognitively
impaired-blindness, cognitively impaired-orthopedic impairment, etc. The
existence of two disabling conditions alone shall not serve as a basis for a
classification of multiply disabled. Eligibility for speech-language services as
defined in this section shall not be one of the disabling conditions for
classification based on the definition of "multiply disabled." Multiply disabled
does not include deaf-blindness.
7. "Deaf/blindness" means concomitant
hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe
communication and other developmental and educational problems that they cannot
be accommodated in special education programs solely for students with deafness
or students with blindness.
8. "Orthopedically impaired"
corresponds to "orthopedically handicapped" and means a disability characterized
by a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a student's educational
performance. The term includes malformation, malfunction or loss of bones,
muscle or tissue. A medical assessment documenting the orthopedic condition is
required.
9. "Other health impaired"
corresponds to "chronically ill" and means a disability characterized by having
limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness with
respect to the educational environment, due to chronic or acute health problems,
such as attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell
anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, diabetes or any other
medical condition, such as Tourette Syndrome, that adversely affects a student's
educational performance. A medical assessment documenting the health problem is
required.
10. "Preschool child with a
disability" corresponds to preschool handicapped and means a child between the
ages of three and five experiencing developmental delay, as measured by
appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures, in one or more of the areas
in (c)10i through v below, and requires special education and related services.
When utilizing a standardized assessment or criterion-referenced measure to
determine eligibility, a developmental delay shall mean a 33 percent delay in
one developmental area, or a 25 percent delay in two or more developmental
areas.
i. Physical, including gross motor, fine motor and sensory (vision and hearing);
ii. Cognitive;
iii. Communication;
iv. Social and emotional; and
v. Adaptive.
11. "Social maladjustment" means a
consistent inability to conform to the standards for behavior established by the
school. Such behavior is seriously disruptive to the education of the student or
other students and is not due to emotional disturbance as defined in (c)5 above.
12. "Specific learning disability"
corresponds to "perceptually impaired" and means a disorder in one or more of
the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or 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.
i. A specific learning disability can be determined when a severe discrepancy is
found between the student's current achievement and intellectual ability in one
or more of the following areas:
(1) Basic reading skills;
(2) Reading comprehension;
(3) Oral expression;
(4) Listening comprehension;
(5) Mathematical calculation;
(6) Mathematical problem solving;
(7) Written expression; and
(8) Reading fluency.
ii. A specific learning disability may also be determined by utilizing a
response to scientifically based interventions methodology as described in
N.J.A.C. 6A:14-3.4(h)6.
iii. The term severe discrepancy does not apply to students who have learning
problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor
disabilities, general cognitive deficits, emotional disturbance or
environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage.
iv. The district shall, if it utilizes the severe discrepancy methodology, adopt
procedures that utilize a statistical formula and criteria for determining
severe discrepancy. Evaluation shall include assessment of current academic
achievement and intellectual ability.
13. "Traumatic brain injury"
corresponds to "neurologically impaired" and means an acquired injury to the
brain caused by an external physical force or insult to the brain, resulting in
total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both. 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.
14. "Visually impaired" corresponds to "visually handicapped" and means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a student's educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness. An assessment by a specialist qualified to determine visual disability is required. Students with visual impairments shall be reported to the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired.