14 N.J. Disability Categories and What They Might Look Like in the Classroom

In this month's edition of the ThinkSpEd Newsletter, we’re going to explore New Jersey’s 14 disability classification categories and what they might look like in a classroom setting. I’m also asking you to tell me your own experience: Do you think the category matters?

Areas of Suspected Disability

Special Education attorneys and advocates talk a lot about?identifying and evaluating students with disabilities?so that they can be classified as eligible for special education.?Eligibility for special education can only be determined after evaluations are conducted in all areas of suspected disability.?For many of us, we had an idea of what our child, student or client was struggling with before anyone formally evaluated them. For instance, even if you didn’t know exactly what dyscalculia was before your child was diagnosed, you knew that they were struggling with math way more than they should have been, and something just wasn’t clicking the way everyone expected it to. That’s the suspected disability, and in that scenario, an evaluation to assess a learning disability in math would be warranted.

This means that no matter what a student is struggling with, before the appropriate evaluations can be conducted, areas of suspected disability need to be pinned down.?There is a finite universe of potential disabilities under the IDEA and state laws. In fact, there are detailed categories of disability that a student must fall into before they can receive services. This article will get us well-versed in New Jersey's special education disability categories, so we know what we need to request the proper evaluations.

I Know What a Disability is, but What is a Disability Category??

There are 14 disability categories in the IDEA, and 14 under New Jersey law. Essentially, these are the labels that the law requires our schools to place on our children in order to give them the help they need. They are cold and one-dimensional and honestly, I don’t know if they ever feel like a good fit for anyone’s child. Some of them feel downright offensive, and a few of them need different names. But they are legally defined categories and fitting into them is necessary for our children to receive IDEA protection. We need to talk about them and understand them, so here we go.

First, this is a list of the thirteen disability categories under the IDEA.

1. Autism
2. Deaf-Blindness
3. Deafness
4. Developmental Delay
5. Emotional Disturbance
6. Hearing Impairment
7. Intellectual Disability
8. Multiple Disabilities
9. Orthopedic Impairment
10. Other Health Impairment
11. Specific Learning Disability
12. Speech or Language Impairment
13. Traumatic Brain Injury
14. Visual Impairment Including Blindness

This list is every state’s starting point. These categories can vary in title and description depending on your state. For instance, New Jersey has fourteen categories instead of thirteen. It adds a category for all preschool aged children, and one for social maladjustment. It also removes the hearing impairment and deafness categories and combines them into one auditory impairment category.?

New Jersey’s 14 Disability Categories and What They Might Look Like in a Student

Auditory impairment

An auditory impairment is an inability to hear the way non-disabled students do and it includes both deafness and hearing impairments. Deafness would mean trouble hearing that is so severe that even with some type of amplification, the student cannot process auditory information in the school environment. A hearing impairment would mean something less severe than deafness, which could be either permanent or fluctuating, but it negatively impacts the student’s education. Some signs that a student may need an auditory impairment classification could be having limited speech, not following directions, not paying attention, not being able to hear announcements or bells signaling the end of class, or needing information repeated often. An auditory impairment requires an Audiological Evaluation and a Speech-Language Evaluation.

Autism

This is a vast area for classification in New Jersey. We have the highest rate of Autism in children in the country.?Nationally, 1 in 54 children has Autism. In NJ, it’s 1 in 32.?My own son has been diagnosed with Autism among other disabilities, and Autism is his current disability classification.?

It's important to note that Autism, and many other disabilities, are both a disability category for purposes of special education and a medical diagnosis.?An educational classification and a medical diagnosis are not the same, they are not interchangeable, and having a medical diagnosis does not automatically entitle you to a special education classification.?Remember, on top of having the disability, the impact of that disability on a student’s educational performance must be adverse enough that the student requires specialized instruction.?That means it’s harder to be found eligible for special education than it is to be diagnosed with a disability by your doctor.

The Autism classification focuses on a student’s communication and social skills. The students’ interactions in these two areas must be so impaired as to adversely affect their education. There are other indicators listed in the definition that mirror medical diagnoses, such as repetition, stimming movements, trouble transitioning, and sensory difficulties. Students with Autism may have trouble playing with and interacting with their classmates, make little eye contact, or have delayed developmental milestones. A Speech-Language Evaluation and assessment by a neurodevelopmentally-trained professional are required. Autism is not an available classification if the student’s educational troubles are caused by emotional regulation issues.

Intellectual Disability (ID)

ID is characterized by below average cognitive functioning together with struggles in the area known as adaptive behavior. Cognitive functioning is usually measured with IQ tests and adaptive behavior refers to self-care and general life skills like getting dressed, toileting and safety behaviors like crossing the street. I personally hate IQ tests and always doubt their accuracy. However, they are used frequently in assessments for special education services, and many students complete them.?

ID can fall into a Mild, Moderate or Severe category. Mild ID is often characterized by an IQ between 55-70, a slow learning rate, and problem-solving skills that are below age expectations. Moderate ID is characterized by an IQ in the 40-55 range and poor problem-solving and socialization skills. Severe ID is characterized by an IQ below 35-40 and an inability to demonstrate understanding of simple concepts or to express wants and needs effectively. In addition to IQ tests, students with suspected ID can also be assessed using adaptive behavior questionnaires filled out by their parents and teachers.

Communication impairment

Communication impairment is a language disorder that is not due to an auditory impairment and that hinders a student’s formation of words. Two students with communication impairments can look drastically different from each other. Perhaps the student doesn’t know when to use “bad” versus “badly”, can’t create proper sentence structure, or doesn’t understand the meaning of words. Maybe they struggle to communicate effectively in social situations, known as pragmatic language. Communication impairment is determined by a score on two standardized language tests that are below the 10th percentile. The tests should address both expressive (what we say) and receptive (understanding what other people say) language skills, and they should be conducted by a Speech-Language specialist.?

If the evaluations show that the student requires only a speech-language provider to achieve their specialized instruction, that student will be entitled to what we call a?Speech Only IEP. That student is still protected under the IDEA and state education laws. A Speech Only IEP contains goals and objectives for the student, addresses any accommodations for testing, and requires an IEP team to make decisions collaboratively, just like a regular IEP. The difference is that the IEP is narrower in scope and the IEP team is smaller because not as many educational professionals are included in the planning.?

Another way to get a Speech Only IEP is to demonstrate adverse educational impact due to a speech disorder in articulation (producing the proper word sounds), phonology (using word sounds in the right place), fluency (the rate and smoothness of speech production), voice quality (pitch, loudness, etc.), or any combination, on formal speech-language assessments.?

Many students classified with other disabilities also receive speech-language therapy as a related service in their IEP.?Speech-language interventions are special in this way, in that they can be either the foundation of a student’s specialized instruction or a related service that the student will no longer receive if they can access their individualized education without it.

Emotional regulation impairment (ERI)

ERI is characterized by inabilities to learn that are due to an inability to regulate one's own emotions, to build and maintain friendships, and to behave appropriately in typical interactions. A student with ERI might have explosive outbursts in class, have difficult peer interactions, appear to always be sad, angry, or withdrawn, or express suicidal ideation. These symptoms need to present themselves over a prolonged period and to such a degree that they interfere with the student’s education.

What is a prolonged period? It’s unclear and undefined, but the gist is that these issues need to be a persistent problem as opposed to something with a predictable end in sight. Courts across the country have interpreted the vague language in this classification category. Often, they rely heavily on expert testimony from medical service providers to assess the appropriateness of the ERI classification. If this category is potentially appropriate for your child, your private psychologist or therapist will play a key role in designing an educational program.

Multiple Disabilities (MD)

A lot of kids have more than one disability. Few of them qualify for an MD classification. This might seem a little odd, but the reason is because MD is a specific classification reserved for students with two or more disabilities that, combined, require specialized instruction, and cannot be addressed in an educational program designed for just one of them. What does this mean? For instance, Autism and ADHD present together a lot of times. But kids who have both Autism and ADHD are most often not going to qualify for an MD classification because the programming that typically addresses Autism can also address the attention and impulsivity challenges that ADHD presents. On the other hand, a student with Autism and Auditory impairment is going to qualify for an MD classification if both disabilities have an equal educational impact, because programming for one disability doesn’t do anything to address the other.?

The MD classification also includes ID-Deaf/blindness and ID-Orthopedic impairment. It doesn’t include Deaf/blindness without another disability, and Communication impairment cannot count towards one of the qualifying disabilities.

Deaf/blindness

Deaf/blindness means co-occurring hearing and visual impairments that together cause such severe developmental and educational problems that they cannot be accommodated in programs solely designed for one or the other.

Orthopedic impairment

Orthopedic impairment is a physical disability including limb differences and conditions that adversely impact bone, muscle or other tissues and is severe enough to impact education.

Other Health Impairment (OHI)

This is another big one, mostly because it encompasses a lot of different disabilities. The defining aspect of OHI is that the student’s strength, alertness, or energy are limited in the educational environment due to health problems. These health problems can include ADHD, heart conditions, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, leukemia, lead poisoning, diabetes, and Tourette’s Syndrome, among others.

Preschool child with a disability (PCD)

PCD is reserved for children aged 3-5, who have not yet entered Kindergarten. The classification requires that the child be developmentally delayed in the areas of gross motor, fine motor, sensory, vision, hearing, intellectual functioning, communication, social, emotional, or adaptive skills. Or, if not delayed in those areas, the student has an already identified disability that requires specialized instruction.

If your child has started receiving special education services from your public school right on their third birthday after a transition from state Early Intervention services, they will be classified as PCD until after they turn five.

Social Maladjustment

Social maladjustment is the consistent inability to behave according to societal norms and school rules. The student’s behavior would be severely disruptive to other students’ education as well as their own, but not fall into the ERI category. This might present as manipulative behaviors, defiance of authority, and?in older students,?truancy or dangerous behaviors like substance abuse. You may see a co-occurring medical diagnosis of Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, or Anti-social personality disorder as well.

It’s important to note that the IDEA’s Emotional Disturbance classification does not include Social maladjustment, and Social maladjustment is not a recognized disability category in every state.

Specific Learning Disability (SLD)

SLD, the largest disability category in the country, includes disabilities impacting basic processes for understanding language. It can impact spoken language, written language, mathematical calculations, the ability to read or spell, think, speak, or listen. It includes dyslexia, dyscalculia, aphasia, and perceptual disabilities, among others.

SLD can be diagnosed in New Jersey through the discrepancy method of comparing measured potential (IQ) with achievement on various standardized tests. The areas tested are reading skills such as comprehension and fluency, oral expression, written expression, listening comprehension, math calculation, and math problem solving. If your district’s Board of Education uses the discrepancy model, it may specify the scoring difference between IQ and achievement test that will result in the SLD classification. It’s usually twenty points, but it can vary. Also, remember that SLD can be determined using data collected through I&RS services instead of the discrepancy model.

SLD might be further broken down based on the academic weaknesses demonstrated. For instance, a student might be classified as “SLD with a weakness in written expression”, “SLD with a weakness in reading”, or SLD with a weakness in math calculations”.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

TBI is an acquired disability resulting from an injury to the brain. TBI is characterized by some amount of functional disability or psychosocial impairment.

Visual impairment

Visual impairment is a disability that, even with correction, still impacts educational performance. It could include blindness or partial sight.

How Important is the Category?

Some people wonder why choosing one disability category over another even matters. What difference does it really make whether a student is classified under ERI versus Social maladjustment? They’ll both result in therapeutic support. They might tell their Child Study Team to just pick one so services can start. I used to tell people that I didn’t care if they called Mario autistic, communication impaired, or a purple elephant if he was getting the support he needed. I still don’t place much weight in the label itself. To me, these categories serve mostly a procedural purpose. But some argue that procedural purpose is important, and classification does matter. Let’s look a little closer.

Regardless of classification, a student’s IEP must address all their needs.?Classification must be based on what disability most impacts a child’s ability to learn. If a student doesn’t fit into the MD or Deaf/blindness categories, there is no other option for them to have a dual classification. So, if a student has both a tic disorder that would fall under OHI and Mild ID, the IEP team must pick which disability is most impactful at school and go with that one. This does not mean that if the IEP team chooses OHI as the classification, then the student’s ID goes unaddressed. The student’s IEP must provide for all necessary support and modifications, regardless of the chosen classification category.?

Classification is not permanent. It can change whenever the nature of the student’s disability warrants it.

BUT…

Classification can come into play in a big way when placement is disputed. If you want your child placed in a private special education school, it may help if the students there share your child’s classification. That doesn’t have to be a deal-breaker, but someone trying to convince their school that an ERI student should attend a SLD school will have a tougher hill to climb than someone trying to convince their school to pay for an ERI student to attend a therapeutic school.

Some classifications almost presume that certain services are needed, and that can benefit the student. For instance, the autism classification often comes with parent training as a related service. Another classification may not open that service to your family as easily.

I’d love to know what you think. Does disability category matter in special education?

DISCLAIMER: The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for individual advice regarding your own situation.