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1342.12 Companion
July 12, 2017
Page 64
Areas of Disability Quick Reference Chart
DISABILITY
DESCRIPTION
AUTISM
SPECTRUM
DISORDER
A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social
interaction that adversely affects a student’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. Essential features are typically, but not necessarily, manifested before age three.
Autism may include autism spectrum disorders such as, but not limited to, autistic disorder;
pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified; and Asperger’s syndrome. The term
does not apply if a student’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the
student has an emotional disturbance.
DEAFNESS
A hearing loss or deficit so severe that it impairs a student’s ability to process linguistic information
through hearing, with or without amplification, and affects the student’s educational performance
adversely.
DEAF-BLINDNESS
A combination of hearing and visual impairments causing such severe communication,
developmental, and educational needs that the student cannot be accommodated in programs
specifically for student with deafness or student with blindness.
DEVELOPMENTAL
DELAY
A significant discrepancy, as defined and measured in accordance with this Enclosure 3 o
f DoDM 1342.12 and confirmed by clinical observation and judgment, in the actual functioning of a student,
birth through age seven, or any subset of that age range including ages three through five, when
compared with the functioning of a non-disabled student of the same chronological age in any of
the following developmental areas: physical, cognitive, communication, social or emotional, or
adaptive development. A student determined to have a developmental delay before the age of
seven may maintain that eligibility through age nine.
EMOTIONAL
DISTURBANCE
A condition confirmed by clinical evaluation and diagnosis and that, over a long period of time and
to a marked degree, adversely affects educational performance and exhibits one or more of the
following characteristics: (a). Inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or
health factors; (b). Inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers
and teachers; (c). Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; (d). A
tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems; (e). A
general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. Includes students who are schizophrenic,
but does not include students who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined they are
emotionally disturbed.
HEARING
IMPAIRMENT
An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a student’s
educational performance, but is not included under the definition of deafness.
INTELLECTUAL
DISABILITY
Significantly below-average general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in
adaptive behavior. This type of disability is manifested during the developmental period and
adversely affects a student’s educational performance.
ORTHOPEDIC
IMPAIRMENT
A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a student’s educational performance. That
term includes congenital impairments such as club foot or absence of some member; impairments
caused by disease, such as poliomyelitis and bone tuberculosis; and impairments from other causes
such as cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns causing contractures.
OTHER HEALTH
IMPAIRMENTS
Limited strength, vitality, or alertness including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli that
results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that is due to chronic or
acute health problems and that adversely affects a student’s educational performance. Such
impairments may include, but are not necessarily limited to, attention deficit disorder, attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder, heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma,
sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, seizure disorder, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes.