Which term refers to students with educationally significant vision or hearing loss?

What is Deaf-Blindness?

Excerpted from Overview on Deaf-Blindness by Barbara Miles

Profiles

We hope you enjoy the following profiles of eight children who are deaf-blind (be sure to click through all the slides!). Thanks to all the kids and families who shared their photos and stories.

Causes of Deaf-Blindness

Education

Because deaf-blindness significantly impacts a child or youth's ability to access information, communicate, and interact with other people, it has profound implications for educational services. The limited sensory channels available for learning necessitate developing a highly-individualized program for each child that addresses their interests and unique ways of learning. Sensory deficits can easily mislead even experienced educators into underestimating (or occasionally overestimating) intelligence and constructing inappropriate programs. Assessment is crucial every step of the way. (Miles, 2008)

Both the beginning and end of a child's education require special attention. It's important for children with deaf-blindness to be identified early in life when the brain is most sensitive to learning and begin receiving appropriate intervention as infants and toddlers. Once a child reaches age 14, it's time to begin careful planning and preparation for successful transition to employment, post-secondary education, and life in the community when they leave school. 

It is critical that families and educators have access to training and support regarding the assessment and education of infants, children, and youth who are deaf-­blind. Each state has a federally-funded deaf-blind project that provides information and assistance.

(c) Definitions of disability terms. The terms used in this definition of a child with a disability are defined as follows:

(i) Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences.

(ii) Autism does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance, as defined in paragraph (c)(4) of this section.

(iii) A child who manifests the characteristics of autism after age three could be identified as having autism if the criteria in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section are satisfied.

(2) Deaf-blindness means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.

(3) Deafness means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

(i) 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 child’s educational performance:

(A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.

(B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.

(C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.

(D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.

(E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.

(ii) Emotional disturbance includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance under paragraph (c)(4)(i) of this section.

(5) Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section.

(6) Intellectual disability means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term “intellectual disability” was formerly termed “mental retardation.”

(7) Multiple disabilities means concomitant impairments (such as intellectual disability-blindness or intellectual disability-orthopedic impairment), the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. Multiple disabilities does not include deaf-blindness.

(8) Orthopedic impairment means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly, impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).

(9) Other health impairment means having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that—

(i) Is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette syndrome; and

(ii) Adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

(10) Specific learning disability—

(i) General. 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 the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

(ii) Disorders not included. Specific learning disability does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of intellectual disability, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

(11) Speech or language impairment means a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

(12) Traumatic brain injury means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Traumatic brain injury applies to 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 apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

(13) Visual impairment including blindness means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.

[71 FR 46753, Aug. 14, 2006, as amended at 72 FR 61306, Oct. 30, 2007]

Severe Discrepancy, Severe Discrepancy, Severe Discrepancy

idea_regulations-template-default single single-idea_regulations postid-56657 wp-custom-logo wp-embed-responsive with-font-selector no-anchor-scroll footer-on-bottom animate-body-popup social-brand-colors hide-focus-outline link-style-standard has-sidebar content-title-style-normal content-width-normal content-style-boxed content-vertical-padding-show non-transparent-header mobile-non-transparent-header kadence-elementor-colors elementor-default elementor-kit-82278 Sec.300.8(c) Sec.300.8(c) Sec 3008 (c) Sec 300 8 (c) Sec. 300.8 c Sec.300.8c Sec. 300.8 c Sec.300.8c Sec.--300.8-c Sec. 300.8 100 Sec.--300.8-100 Sec.300.8100

Last modified on May 25, 2018

What is the meaning of hearing impaired children?

Hearing impairment is defined by IDEA as "an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance."

What are the characteristics of student with hearing impairment?

The student with hearing impairment may appear to hear normally, when in fact the student can not hear speech sounds clearly enough and is misinterpreting the information. The student may have difficulties pronouncing speech sounds correctly, poor vocal quality, or trouble explaining ideas clearly.

What is the common cause of hearing loss in the early childhood?

Fluctuating conductive hearing loss nearly always occurs with all types of otitis media. In fact it is the most common cause of hearing loss in young children. How common is otitis media? Otitis media is the most frequently diagnosed disease in infants and young children (1).

How do you identify hearing impairment?

Adults.
Inattentiveness..
Buzzing or ringing in their ears..
Failure to respond to spoken words..
Persistent ear discomfort after exposure to loud noise (regular and constant listening to electronics at high volumes).
Muffled hearing..
Constant frustration hearing speech and other sounds..
Avoids conversation..
Social isolation..