ABSTRACT
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act identifies 13 disability categories that impact a student’s ability to learn and/or participate in school. If the impact of the disability adversely affects educational performance, the student may be eligible for special education and related services. The most common or high-incidence disabilities account for approximately 80% of students receiving special education services. High-incidence disabilities include specific learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, emotional disturbances and speech and language impairments. Two additional categories, autism (or more specifically Autism Spectrum Disorder) and other health impairments (which includes attention deficit disorders with and without hyperactivity), encompass approximately 15% of students with disabilities. The seven remaining categories (deafness, hearing impairment, visually impaired, deaf–blindness, orthopedic impairment, traumatic brain injury, and multiple disabilities) are considered low incidence, impacting roughly 5% of students with disabilities. This chapter will discuss each of these disabilities’ defining characteristics with an emphasis placed on educating the whole student rather than focusing on the general features of a disability.
