When it comes to people and disabilities, nobody likes labels. But there are plenty of them out there. Where do they come from and what do they mean?
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) generalizes about what constitutes a disability for the purposes of that law:
- "(A) In general.--The term 'child with a disability' means a child-- (i) with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance (referred to in this title as 'emotional disturbance'), orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities..."
With some minor alterations, each state established its own process for determining whether a student is elibible for special education services under the IDEA law. That eligibility process involve putting a label on the student being evaluated by an eligibility committee.
States tweak the list a little. Some states create a separate category for students that have both a hearing impairment and a vision impairment. But the federal list above is always evident in the state list.
The majority of special education students being served under IDEA fall into one of just two eligibility categories: Mentally Impaired and Learning Disabled. Here is a loook at those two categories.
Specific Learning Disabilities: The name is misleading because learning disabilities are usually anything but specific. Basically, a child can be considered to have an SLD if the child's achievement level does not match up with their ability level in areas like their oral communication abilities, writing, reading skills and comprehension, or math. In other words, if the child has an average (or better ) IQ but just can't seem to "get it" in one of these areas, the child can probably be classified as having a learning disability.
If all of that seems clear as mud, don't feel bad. Kids with a huge variety of disorders and conditions get labelled as LD and this designation is probably the least defined of the disability categories under IDEA.
Mentally Impaired: We used to say "retarded." Like SLD at the moment, intelligence plays an obvious role in being MI - obvious, but not definitive. I say that because regardless of how low a child's IQ may be, they are not considered MI unless they are also having difficulty adapting to life in two or more areas like communication, the ability to care for themselves, social skills, academics, etc. Generally, to be considered MI, a student must have an IQ of about 70 or lower. While there are a number of genetic conditions like Downs Syndrome that usually lead to a student being classified as MI, most mentally impaired children do not have such obvious symptoms.
Find it all confusing? Or are you looking for more familiar terms, like "Dyslexic" or "Hyperactive?" You're not alone. Many people have trouble with the Disconnect between conditions and disorders a doctor might recognize and the label a child gets at school...
Copyright © 2006, Greg Cruey and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.
