Section 281.41.50. Other definitions associated with identification of eligible individuals.

The following terms may be encountered in the identification of children with disabilities.

       41.50(1) Autism. “Autism” means a developintellectual disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before the age of three, which adversely affects a child’s educational performance. 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. Autism does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has a behavior disorder, as defined in subrule 41.50(2). A child who manifests the characteristics of autism after the age of three could be identified as having autism if the criteria in the first sentence of this subrule are satisfied. This term includes all conditions described by the term “autism spectrum disorder,” which adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

       41.50(2) Behavior disorder. “Behavior disorder” (or emotional disturbance) means any condition that exhibits one or more of the following five characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

        a.           An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.

        b.           An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.

        c.           Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.

        d.           A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.

        e.           A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.

       41.50(3) Deaf-blindness. “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.

       41.50(4) Deafness. “Deafness” means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, and that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

       41.50(5) Hearing impairment. “Hearing impairment” 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 in 41.50(4).

       41.50(6) Intellectual disability. “Intellectual disability” means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, that exists concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and is manifested during the developmental period, and which adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

       41.50(7) Multiple disabilities. “Multiple disabilities” means concomitant impairments, such as intellectual disability-blindness or intellectual disability-orthopedic impairment, the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. Multiple disabilities does not include deaf-blindness.

       41.50(8) Orthopedic impairment. “Orthopedic impairment” means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly; impairments caused by disease, e.g., poliomyelitis or bone tuberculosis; and impairments from other causes, e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures.

       41.50(9) Other health impairment. “Other health impairment” means having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that:

        a.           Is due to a chronic or acute health problem such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette syndrome; and

        b.           Adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

       41.50(10) Specific learning disability. “Specific learning disability” 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 the 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. Specific learning disability does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of intellectual disability, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

       41.50(11) Speech or language impairment. “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.

       41.50(12) Traumatic brain injury. “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. Traumatic brain injury 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. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

       41.50(13) Visual impairment. “Visual impairment,” including blindness, means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness. Individuals who have a medically diagnosed expectation of visual deterioration in adolescence or early adulthood may qualify for instruction in Braille reading and writing.

[ARC 9376B, IAB 2/23/11, effective 3/30/11]