| (a) Special education services. To be eligible to receive special education services, a student must have been determined to have one or more of the disabilities listed in 34 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), §300.7, or the Texas Education Code (TEC), §29.003, or both. The provisions in this section specify criteria to be used in determining whether a student's condition meets one or more of the definitions in federal regulations or in state law. A student between the ages of three and five who is evaluated as having mental retardation, emotional disturbance, a specific learning disability, or autism may be described as noncategorical early childhood. (b) Autism. A student with autism is one who evidences the criteria for autism as stated in 34 CFR, §300.7(b)(1). Students with pervasive developmental disorders are included under this category. The team's written report of evaluation shall include specific recommendations for
behavior management. (c) Deaf-blind. A student with deaf-blindness is one who has a combination of severe hearing and visual losses after best correction and is determined to be eligible as auditorially impaired and as visually impaired according to the specific eligibility criteria for each of these disabilities. If an eligible student with a visual impairment has a suspected hearing loss that cannot be demonstrated conclusively, and if a speech/language evaluation performed by a certified speech and hearing therapist, certified speech and language therapist, or licensed speech language pathologist indicates there is no speech at an age when speech would normally be expected, the student may be eligible for services as deaf-blind. (d) Auditory impairment. A student with an auditory impairment is one who has been determined to have a serious hearing loss even after corrective medical treatment or use of amplification. This determination shall
have been made by an otological examination performed by an otologist or, with documentation that an otologist is not reasonably available, by a licensed medical doctor. An audiological evaluation by a certified audiologist shall also be conducted. This evaluation shall include a description of the implications of the hearing loss for the student's hearing in a variety of circumstances with or without recommended amplification. (e) Mental retardation. A student with mental retardation is one who has been determined to be functioning two or more standard deviations below the mean on individually administered scales of verbal ability, and either performance or nonverbal ability, and who concurrently exhibits deficits in adaptive behavior. (f) Multiple disabilities. (1) A student with multiple disabilities is one who has a combination of disabilities included in this section and who meets all of the following conditions:
(A) the student's disability is expected to continue indefinitely; (B) the disabilities severely impair performance in two or more of the following areas: (i) psychomotor skills; (ii) self-care skills; (iii) communication; (iv) social and emotional development; or (v) cognition. (2) Students who have more than one of the disabilities defined in this section but who do not meet the criteria in paragraph (1) of this subsection shall not be classified or reported as having multiple disabilities. (g) Physical disability. A student with a physical disability is one who meets one of the following criteria: (1) orthopedic impairment--a student who has been determined by a licensed physician to have a severe orthopedic impairment; (2) other health impairment--a student who
has been determined by a licensed physician to have limited strength, vitality, or alertness, due to chronic or acute health problems. (h) Emotional disturbance. A student with an emotional disturbance is one who has been determined to meet the criteria as defined in 34 CFR, §300.7(b)(9). The team's written report of evaluation shall include specific recommendations for behavior management. (i) Learning disability. (1) A student with a learning disability is one who has been determined by a multidisciplinary assessment team to meet the criteria as defined in 34 CFR, §300.7(b)(10), and in whom the team has determined whether a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability exists in accordance with the provisions in 34 CFR, §§300.540-300.543. (2) A severe discrepancy exists when the student's assessed intellectual ability is above the mentally retarded range,
but the student's assessed educational achievement in areas specified in 34 CFR, §300.541, is more than one standard deviation below the student's intellectual ability. (3) If the multidisciplinary assessment team cannot establish the existence of a severe discrepancy in accordance with paragraph (2) of this subsection because of the lack of appropriate assessment instruments, or if the student does not meet the criteria in paragraph (2) of this subsection but the team believes a severe discrepancy exists, the team must document in its written report the areas identified under paragraph (2) of this subsection and the basis for determining that the student has a severe discrepancy. The report shall include a statement of the degree of the discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement. (j) Speech impairment. A student with a speech impairment is one who has been determined by a certified speech and hearing therapist,
certified speech and language therapist, or licensed speech language pathologist to meet the criteria as defined in 34 CFR, §300.7(b)(11). (k) Traumatic brain injury. A student with traumatic brain injury is one who has been determined by a licensed physician to have an injury to the brain caused by an external physical force resulting in total or partial functional disability and/or psychosocial impairment. Assessment to determine educational need is performed by district personnel qualified to assess those areas identified in 34 CFR, §300.7(b)(12), that are suspected to adversely affect the student's educational performance. (l) Visual impairment. (1) A student who has a visual impairment is one who: (A) has been determined by a licensed ophthalmologist or optometrist to have no vision or to have a serious visual loss after correction. The visual loss should be stated in exact measures of
visual field and corrected visual acuity at distance and near in each eye. The report should also include prognosis whenever possible. If exact measures cannot be obtained, the eye specialist must so state and give best estimates; and (B) has been determined by the following assessments to have a need for special services: (i) a functional vision evaluation by a professional certified in the education of students with visual impairments or a certified orientation and mobility instructor. The evaluation must include the performance of tasks in a variety of environments requiring the use of both near and distance vision and recommendations concerning the need for a clinical low vision evaluation and an orientation and mobility evaluation; and (ii) a learning media assessment by a professional certified in the education of students with visual impairments. The assessment must include recommendations concerning which specific
visual, tactual, and/or auditory learning media are appropriate for the student and whether or not there is a need for ongoing assessment in this area. (2) A student who has a visual impairment is functionally blind if, based on the preceding assessments, the student will use tactual media (which includes Braille) as a primary tool for learning to be able to communicate in both reading and writing at the same level of proficiency as other students of comparable ability.
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