Special Education Qualification

For a student to qualify for special education services, they must meet 2 conditions:

First – they must have a disability.

Second – they must need special education & related services.

There are specific “qualification criteria” (i.e. disabilities that may qualify a student for special education): autism, deaf-blindness, deafness, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities , orthopedic impairment, other health impairment (or “OHI”), specific learning disability (or “SLD”), speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment including blindness, developmental delay (limited to ages 3-9), & noncatagorical (limited to ages 3-5).

It is important to understand that these qualification criteria are not diagnoses. Moreover, the educational definitions of these terms may differ from their medical definitions. These special education qualification criteria are defined by law, and when a school evaluates a student for special education services, they are looking at the data from an educational perspective. Also, they generally do not use the DSM. Therefore, sometimes a student will receive a diagnosis from their private provider, but they will not receive a corresponding special education qualification criteria determination from the school. This is not to say that the student should not receive the corresponding qualification criteria – many times they should and often do. To the extent you disagree with the school’s determination regarding special education qualification, consider seeking assistance from a special education attorney or experienced advocate.