Disabilities and Definitions

« Back

Attention Deficit Disorder

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD), is the most common childhood neurobiological disability, characterized by developmentally inappropriate impulsivity, inattention, poor organization, distractability, and in some cases, hyperactivity. Symptoms must be present in two or more settings common to the child, and adversely impact the child's academic or social functioning for a minimum of six months, and onset must occur before age seven to meet the criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th Edition (DSM-IV). related terms: Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD), Mental Health Conditions, Learning Disabilities

Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism is a developmental disability that typically affects a person's ability to communicate, form relationships with others, and respond appropriately to the environment. Some people with autism are relatively high-functioning, with speech and intelligence intact. Others have mental retardation and/or are non-verbal. Although there is a broad range of symptoms in people with autism, they tend to share certain social, communication, motor, and sensory problems that affect their behavior in predictable ways. Asperger syndrome, a neurobiological disorder, includes serious deficits in social and communication skills without delays in spoken language development, and obsessive/repetitive routines and preoccupations with a particular subject matter. Pervasive Developmental Disorder is used to describe delay or deviance in social/language/motor and/or cognitive development. PDD is not one disorder but a category that encompasses a wide range of delays of different magnitude in different domains. Autism is the most severe of the pervasive developmental disorders. Oregon Department of Education definition: A developmental disability typically affecting the processing, integrating, and organizing of information that significantly impacts communication, social interaction, functional skills, and educational performance. Essential features, generally appearing during the first three years, may include: (A) Inconsistencies or discrepancies in the development of physical, language, social, or cognitive skills; (B) Unusual responses to sensory information; (C) Impaired verbal/nonverbal language or social communication; and (D) Impaired ability to relate to people or the environment. The term does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has a serious emotional disturbance. However, a child who qualifies for special education under the category of autism may also have a serious emotional disturbance as a secondary disability if the child meets the criteria under serious emotional disturbance. related terms: Asperger syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD), Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), Developmental Disabilities, Cognitive Disabilities, Mental Retardation

Blind / Visual Impairment

Oregon Department of Education definition: A visual impairment is an impairment that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes those children who are partially sighted or blind.

Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is a term used to describe a group of chronic conditions affecting body movement and muscle coordination. It is caused by damage to one or more specific areas of the brain, usually occurring during fetal development; before, during, or shortly after birth; or during infancy. Thus, these disorders are not caused by problems in the muscles or nerves. Instead, faulty development or damage to motor areas in the brain disrupt the brain's ability to adequately control movement and posture. Depending on which part of the brain has been damaged and the degree of involvement of the central nervous system, one or more of the following may occur: spasms; tonal problems; involuntary movement; disturbance in gait and mobility; seizures; abnormal sensation and perception; impairment of sight, hearing or speech; and mental retardation. "Cerebral" refers to the brain and "palsy" to muscle weakness/poor control. Cerebral palsy itself is not progressive (i.e. brain damage does not get worse); however, secondary conditions, such as muscle spasticity, can develop which may get better over time, get worse, or remain the same. Although cerebral palsy is not "curable" in the accepted sense, training and therapy can help improve function.

Cognitive Disabilities

American Association on Mental Retardation definition: Mental retardation is a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. Assumptions Essential to the Application of the Definition: Limitations in present functioning must be considered within the context of community environments typical of the individual's age peers and culture; Valid assessment considers cultural and linguistic diversity as well as differences in communication, sensory, motor, and behavioral factors; Within an individual, limitations often coexist with strengths; An important purpose of describing limitations is to develop a profile of needed supports; With appropriate personalized supports over a sustained period, the life functioning of the person with mental retardation generally will improve. Oregon Department of Education definition: Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, and includes a student whose intelligence test score is two or more standard deviations below the norm on a standardized individual intelligence test, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period.

Communication Disorders

Oregon Department of Education definition: The impairment of speech articulation, voice, fluency, or the impairment or deviant development of language comprehension and/or expression, or the impairment of the use of a spoken or other symbol system that adversely affects educational performance. The language impairment may be manifested by one or more of the following components of language: morphology, syntax, semantics, phonology, and pragmatics.

Deaf / Hearing Impairment

Oregon Department of Education definitions: Hard of Hearing - A hearing condition, which is functional with or without amplified sound, and adversely affects a child's educational performance. Deafness - A hearing impairment which is so severe that the child's hearing, with amplified sound, is nonfunctional for the purposes of educational performance.

Deaf-Blind

Developmental Disabilities

Federal definition: A severe and lasting mental and/or physical impairment which occurs prior to age 22 and is likely to continue indefinitely, and results in substantial functional limitations in three or more major life activities, including self-care, speaking, understanding language, learning, mobility, ability to make decisions, living alone and financial independence. Oregon definition: A severe and lasting cognitive impairment which occurs prior to age 18 and is likely to continue indefinitely. IQ 69 is the cap for clearly defining mental retardation; people with an IQ span 70-75 may be eligible as a person with mental retardation if a significant impairment to adaptive functioning exists that is directly related to the issues of mental retardation. The support needs of the person must be "similar to that required by individuals with mental retardation, i.e.: self care, receptive language, expressive language, mobility, self-direction, and a need for multiple-specialized supports indefinitely. Related terms: Mental Retardation, Cognitive Impairment, Cerebral Palsy, Eplilepsy, Down syndrome, Fragile x syndrome, Genetic Disorder, Medical Condition

Down Syndrome

Down syndrome is the most frequently occurring chromosomal abnormality, occurring once in approximately every 800 to 1,000 live births. Down syndrome is usually caused by an error in cell division called non-disjunction. People with Down syndrome have an extra, critical portion of the number 21 chromosome present in all, or some, of their cells. This additional genetic material alters the course of development and causes the characteristics associated with the syndrome. Most people with Down syndrome have some level of mental retardation; however, the level usually falls into the mild to moderate range and is not indicative of the many strengths and talents that each individual possesses.

Dyslexia

A learning disability characterized by problems in expressive or receptive, oral or written language with problems emerging in reading, spelling, writing, speaking, or listening Dyslexia is not the result of low intelligence. Intelligence is not the problem. An unexpected gap exists between learning aptitude and achievement in school. The problem is not behavioral, psychological, motivational, or social. Dyslexia results from differences in the structure and function of the brain. People with dyslexia have problems translating language to thought (as in listening or reading) or thought to language (as in writing or speaking). related terms: Developmental Reading Disorder, Learning Disabilities

Emotional / Behavioral Disabilities

Fragile X Syndrome

The single most common inherited cause of mental impairment and one of the most common genetic diseases in humans. Symptoms incude: • Mental impairment, ranging from learning disabilities to mental retardation • Attention deficit and hyperactivity • Anxiety and unstable mood • Autistic-like behaviors • Long face, large ears, flat feet, and • Hyperextensible joints, especially fingers Boys are typically more severely affected than girls. While most boys have mental retardation, only one-third to one-half of girls have significant intellectual impairment; the rest have either normal IQ or learning disabilities. Emotional and behavioral problems are common in both sexes. related terms: Cognitive impairment, Mental retardation, Genetic disorder

Genetic / Rare Disorders

Oregon Department of Education definition: Other health impairment - 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 chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemia; and (b) adversely affects a child’s educational performance. related terms: Medical Conditions, Special Health Needs

Learning Disabilities

Disorders that affect people's ability to either interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain. These limitations can show up in many ways: as specific difficulties with spoken and written language, coordination, self control, or attention. Such difficulties extend to schoolwork and can impede learning to read, write, or do math. Oregon Department of Education definition: A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or do mathematical calculations. Children with a specific learning disability are unable to profit from regular classroom methods and materials without special educational help, and are, or will become, extreme underachievers. These deficits may be exhibited in mild to severe difficulties with perception (the ability to attach meaning to sensory stimuli), conceptualization, language, memory, motor skills, or control of attention. Specific learning disability includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, dyslexia, minimal brain dysfunction, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. related terms: Dyscalculia, Dyslexia, Perceptual Disabilities, Minimal Brain Dysfunction, Developmental Aphasia

Mental Health Conditions

Includes such disorders as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic and other severe anxiety disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, borderline personality disorder, and other severe and persistent mental illnesses that affect the brain. These disorders can profoundly disrupt a person's thinking, feeling, moods, ability to relate to others and capacity for coping with the demands of life. related terms: Mental illness

Other (see who served)

Physical Disabilities

Any disability which limits or precludes mobility or significantly impacts gross motor function. Oregon Department of Education definition: Orthopedic Impairment - A motor disability caused by an anomaly, disease or impairment by other conditions (e.g., cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy or traumatic injury) where the child requires specialized and integrated services in order to benefit from an educational program. related terms: Motor disability, Mobility impairment

Special Health Needs

Traumatic Brain Injuries

An injury to the brain caused by the head being hit by something or shaken violently. The term TBI is generally used for head injuries that can cause changes in one or more areas, such as: thinking and reasoning, understanding words, remembering things, paying attention, solving problems, thinking abstractly, talking, behaving, walking and other physical activities, seeing and/or hearing, and learning. Oregon Department of Education definition: 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. The term includes open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, including cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not include brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or brain injuries induced by birth trauma. related terms: Head Injury, Cognitive Impairment