State and federal regulations have been established to define children with exceptionalities. A child with an exceptionality means a child evaluated in accordance with the federal and/or state regulations as having:
Autism
Deaf / blind
Developmental delay
Giftedness
Hearing impairment including deafness
Intellectual disability
Orthopedic impairment
Other health impairments
Serious emotional disturbance
Specific learning disabilities
Speech or language impairment
Traumatic brain injury
Visual impairment including blindness
If it is determined through an appropriate evaluation that a child has one of the exceptionalities identified above, but only needs a related service and not special education, the child is not a child with a disability under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) regulations. The listing of disability terms with definitions from IDEA can be found on the Center for Parent Information and Resources website, http://www.parentcenterhub.org/categories/.
