Definitions taken from COMAR 13A,05.01 Provision of a Free Appropriate Public Education, 1999.


Autism I Blindness I Deaf-Blind I Developmental Delay I Emotional Disturbance
Hearing Impairment I Mental Retardation I Multiple Disabilities I Orthopedic Impairment  
Other Health Impaired I Specific Learning Disability I Speech or Language Impairment  
Traumatic Brain Injury I Visual Impairment
 

Mental Retardation means general intellectual functioning, adversely affecting a student's educational performance, which is significantly subaverage, exists concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior, and is manifested during the developmental period.
 

Hearing Impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a student's educational performance, but which is not included in the definition of deafness.
 

Deafness means a hearing impairment which is so severe that the student is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification; and adversely affects the student's educational performance.
 

Speech or Language Impairment means a communication disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, voice impairment, or language impairment that adversely affects a student's educational performance.
 

Visual Impairment means impairment in vision which, even with correction, adversely affects a student's educational performance. Visual Impairment includes partial sight and blindness.
 

Emotional Disturbance means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree, that adversely affects a student's educational performance: an inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors; an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; a general, pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. Emotional Disturbance includes schizophrenia. It does not include a student who is socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that the student has an emotional disturbance.

Orthopedic Impairment means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a student's educational performance. Orthopedic Impairment includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly, such as clubfoot or absence of some member and impairments from other causes such as cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns which cause contractures.
 

Other Health Impairment means having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, adversely affecting a student's educational performance, due to chronic or acute health problems such as: a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes.
 

Specific Learning Disability means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. Specific Learning Disability includes conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. Specific Learning Disability does not include students who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor impairments, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.
 

Multiple Disabilities means concomitant impairments, such as mental retardation-blindness or mental retardation-orthopedic impairment, the combination of which causes such severe educational problems that the student cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. Multiple Disabilities does not include students with deaf-blindness.
 

Deaf-Blindness means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational problems that the student cannot be accommodated solely as a student with deafness or a student with blindness.
 

Traumatic Brain Injury means an acquired injury to the brain, caused by an external force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a student's educational performance. Traumatic Brain Injury includes open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas such as: cognition, language, memory, attention, reasoning, abstract thinking, judgment, problem solving, sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities, psychosocial behavior, physical functions, information processing, and speech. Traumatic Brain Injury does not include brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or those induced by birth trauma.
 

Autism means a developmental disability which: does not include emotional disturbance as defined in these definitions; significantly affects verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction; is generally evident before 3 years old; adversely affects a student's educational performance. Autism may be characterized by engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences.
 

Developmental Delay can only be considered as a categorical option for children three through five years of age who meet one or more of the following criteria: a) they are experiencing at least a 25% delay, as measured and verified by appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures, in one or more of the following areas--cognitive development, physical development (including vision and hearing), communication development, social or emotional development, adaptive; b) they manifest atypical development or behavior, which is demonstrated by abnormal quality of performance and function in one or more of the above specified developmental areas, interferes with current development, and is likely to result in subsequent delay (even when diagnostic instruments and procedures do not document a 25% delay); or c) they have a diagnosed physical or mental condition that has a high probability of resulting in developmental delay (e.g., children with sensory impairments, inborn errors of metabolism, microcephaly, fetal alcohol syndrome, epilepsy, Down Syndrome and/or other chromosomal abnormalities). The identification of Developmental Delay can only be made by staff at the Early Childhood Centers. The definition of Developmental Delay by the Maryland State Department of Education has been approved for use only through June 30, 1999.