Determining Disability
Before a student can be considered as having a handicapping condition, there must be a mental, physical, social, emotional learning, and/or communication disability. The term disability refers to a deviance from normal growth and/or development. Therefore, a student must be assessed as functioning at a mental, social, emotional, physical, learning, and/or communication level of development which is less than normal.
To receive special education programming and services, a student must have a handicapping condition which is the result of an adverse interaction between his/her disability and the educational environment of the school. This adverse interaction prevents the student from functioning at a level commensurate to his/her regular education peers. Thus, it is implied that a handicap is an impaired functioning of the student in the educational situation. Specifically, the student is less able than his peers to derive academic and/or social-emotional benefits from his/her educational situation. Not all handicapping conditions qualify a child for special education.
Handicapping conditions by law which qualify a child for special education are:
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The Need for Special Education Programs and/or Services
The existence of a disability and a concomitant handicapping condition shall not, in and of themselves, qualify a student for special education. A student must have a need for special education programming and/or services. Specifically, the student must need special education programming or services in order to derive academic and/or social-emotional benefits from the educational situation.
It is imperative that, in determining the need for special education programs and services, we not think of special education as the only or the first service to be provided, but it should be perceived as a service of last resort. A student with a handicapping condition deserves the opportunity to receive his/her education in as normal an educational environment as possible, as long as the student can educationally benefit from the situation.
