IEP Disability Categories
According to the Colorado Department of Education, there are fourteen categories of disabilities that can qualify a student for an Individualized Education Program (IEP). If a student aged three to twenty-one has one or more of these conditions and struggles to benefit from general education, they may qualify for special support.
Developmental Delay
A child with a developmental delay is between three and eight years old and is experiencing delays in areas like physical skills, thinking, communication, social or emotional development, or daily living skills. These delays make it hard for them to benefit from general education.
Deaf-Blindness
A child with deaf-blindness has both hearing and vision difficulties. Because these combined challenges make it hard for them to fit into standard special education programs for either hearing or vision impairments alone, they need a more tailored approach to meet their unique needs.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
A child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is someone who has challenges with both talking and understanding social cues. These differences usually become noticeable by the time they’re three years old.
Hearing Impairment, Including Deafness
A child with a hearing impairment, including Deafness, has significant hearing difficulties. This means they have trouble hearing pure tones or speech, even with hearing aids, which makes it hard for them to benefit from general education.
Intellectual Disability
A child with an Intellectual Disability has reduced general intellectual functioning along with deficits in adaptive behavior. These appear during the development period and prevent the child from benefiting from general education.
Multiple Disabilities
A child with Multiple Disabilities has significant challenges in two or more areas, including an intellectual disability. These combined difficulties lead to severe educational needs, making it hard for them to benefit from general education.
Orthopedic Impairment
A child with an Orthopedic Impairment has a serious neurological, muscular, or skeletal issue that affects their movement. This makes it difficult for them to benefit from general education.
Other Health Impaired
Other Health Impaired (OHI) refers to having limited strength, energy, or alertness due to a chronic or acute health issue. This can include conditions like asthma, ADHD, diabetes, epilepsy, or other serious health problems. To qualify as OHI, the health issue must significantly impact the child’s ability to learn in a regular classroom setting, requiring special instruction from a special educator.
Serious Emotional Disability
A child with a Serious Emotional Disability (SED) has emotional or social challenges that make it hard for them to benefit from regular education. These students often need support in several areas:
- Social Skills Training: Learning how to build relationships, solve problems, stay focused, handle conflicts, advocate for themselves, and create support systems.
- Emotional Regulation: Managing impulses, controlling anger, dealing with anxiety and depression, coping with trauma, and increasing tolerance for frustration.
- Behavioral Supports: Getting help with behavior assessments, intervention plans, and necessary accommodations.
Specific Learning Disability
A Specific Learning Disability is a disorder that affects one or more basic psychological processes needed for understanding or using language, whether it’s spoken or written. This can lead to difficulties in listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, or doing math. Examples include perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. However, Specific Learning Disabilities do not include learning problems caused by visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, intellectual disabilities, serious emotional disabilities, cultural factors, economic disadvantages, or limited English proficiency.
Speech or Language Impairment
To qualify for a Speech or Language Impairment, a student must show evidence of difficulties in one or more of these areas:
- Receptive and Expressive Language: Challenges with understanding and using language, including issues with word order, word forms, and developmental level.
- Semantics: Problems with vocabulary, understanding concepts, and finding the right words.
- Pragmatics: Difficulties with how language is used and for what purposes.
- Auditory Processing: Issues with hearing sensations, distinguishing sounds, sequencing, analyzing, and focusing attention on sounds.
- Oral Peripheral Mechanism: Problems with the structure and function of the mouth and related areas.
- Articulation: Difficulties with pronouncing sounds correctly, including substitutions, omissions, distortions, or additions.
- Voice: Issues with voice quality, pitch, loudness, and resonance.
- Fluency: Challenges like hesitant speech, stuttering, or cluttering.
- Auditory Perception: Problems with discriminating and remembering sounds.
Traumatic Brain Injury
A child with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has an injury to the brain caused by an external force. This injury can lead to total or partial disability or problems with social and emotional functioning, which affects the child’s ability to benefit from regular education. A TBI can result in difficulties in areas such as:
- Thinking and reasoning
- Language and memory
- Attention and abstract thinking
- Judgment and problem-solving
- Sensory, perceptual, and motor skills
- Social behavior and physical functions
- Information processing and speech
However, this term does not include brain injuries that are present at birth, degenerative, or caused by birth trauma.
Visual Impairment. Including Blindness
A child with a Visual Impairment, including Blindness, has vision problems that, even with corrective measures, significantly impact their ability to perform well in school. This means they need special instruction beyond what general education services can provide.