Special Education Disability Specific
Overview
Special education qualifying disability categories are outlined in the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) Special Education Rules. Students who qualify are entitled to special education services. This disability specific page outlines qualifying disability categories, including connections for stakeholders and educators to USBE specialists who can assist with specific questions.
Autism
Resources
Utah
The ACU is an independent council working to foster collaboration, communication, and learning among families and agencies. Our aim is to promote access to resources and responsible information for individuals of all ages who have, or are affected by autism, or related conditions.
Utah Registry of Autism and Developmental Disabilities (URADD)
URADD, an organization out of the University of Utah Department of Psychiatry, collects information about the number of individuals in Utah who have autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and other developmental disabilities (DDs).
National
AIM is designed to provide high-quality information and professional development for anyone who supports, instructs, works with, or lives with someone with autism. Each module guides you through case studies, instructional videos, pre- and post-assessments, a glossary, and much more. AIM modules are available at no cost.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention
The CDC has provided essential information about autism screening and diagnosis, treatments, and current research as well as free materials that can be used to raise awareness of early signs of autism and autism prevalence.
National Autism Center at May Institute
The National Autism Center is May Institute’s Center for the Promotion of Evidence-based Practice. It is a nonprofit organization dedicated to disseminating evidence-based information about the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), promoting best practices, and offering comprehensive and reliable resources for families, practitioners, and communities.
The National Professional Development Center (NPDC) on Autism Spectrum Disorder
NPDC on Autism Spectrum Disorder was funded by the Office of Special Education Programs in the US Department of Education from 2007-2014. The work of the NPDC was a collaboration among three universities—the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the MIND Institute, University of California-Davis. The goal of the NPDC was to promote the use of Evidence-based Practices (EBPs) for children and youth with ASD, birth to 22 years of age. This was accomplished through a comprehensive professional development process at state and local levels.
Tanya Semerad
Autism and Significant Cognitive Disabilities (SCD)
Phone: (801) 538-7726 | E-mail
Deafblindness
Concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combinations of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for students with deafness or students with blindness.
Teresa Judd
Inclusion and Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Specialist
Phone: (801) 538-7540 | E-mail
Developmental Delay
This category includes those age 3 through 8. A significant delay or deficit in one or more of the areas of development (communication, motor, cognition, social-emotional, or adaptive skills) in the expected way for a child's age.
Chelsea Oaks
Preschool Special Education
Phone: (801) 538-7765 | E-mail
Emotional-Behavioral
A student whose behavior or emotional condition over a long period of time and to a marked degree adversely affects his/her educational performance. "Emotional disturbance" is used as a generic term to cover two types of behavior difficulties which are not mutually exclusive but which adversely affect educational performance.
Sarah Daniels
Behavioral Support
Phone: (801) 538-7964 | E-mail
Hearing Impairment/Deafness
Deafness is a hearing impairment so severe that the student is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a student's educational performance. A hearing impairment, whether permanent or fluctuating, which adversely affects a student's educational performance, but that is not included under the definition of deafness.
Teresa Judd
Inclusion and Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing Specialist
Phone: (801) 538-7540 | E-mail
Intellectual Disability
A student who demonstrates sub-average intellectual functioning concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior. These deficits usually emerge during the student's developmental period. Students with intellectual disabilities are those individuals who exhibit cognitive and adaptive behavior deficits that are likely to be life-long disabilities which can interfere with independent living (ID).
Tanya Semerad
Autism and Significant Cognitive Disabilities (SCD)
Phone: (801) 538-7726 | E-mail
Multiple Disabilities
Technical Assistance on Multiple Disabilities Educational Classification in Utah Public Schools (coming soon)
Concomitant impairments (such as intellectual disability-blindness; intellectual disability-orthopedic impairment, etc.), the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deafblindness (MD).
Tanya Semerad
Autism and Significant Cognitive Disabilities (SCD)
Phone: (801) 538-7726 | E-mail
Orthopedic Impairment
Technical Assistance on Orthopedic Impairment Educational Classification in Utah Public Schools (coming soon)
A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a student's educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g., clubfoot, absence of some member, etc.), impairment caused by disease (e.g. Poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from other causes (e.g. cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures) (OI).
Brook Hatch
Secondary Mathematics
Phone: (801) 538-7630 | E-mail
Other Health Impaired
Presentation: Special Health Care Needs Technical Assistance (TA) Manual (coming soon)
Technical Assistance Manual for Servicing Students with Special Health Care Needs (coming soon)
Tanya SemeradAutism and Significant Cognitive Disabilities (SCD)
Phone: (801) 538-7726 | E-mail
Specific Learning Disability (SLD)
Process and Timeline for Special Education Evaluation of Students in Schools where Response to Intervention (RtI) or Tiered Instruction is Utilized in Order to Provide Effective Instruction to all Students Memo (coming soon)
Utah State Board of Education Dyslexia Handbook
Special Education Effective Instruction and Inclusion Resources
Utah State Board of Education Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) Eligibility Guidelines
Lindsey Cunningham
Inclusion Coordinator
Phone: (801) 538-7806 | E-mail
Speech-Language Impairment (formerly Communication Disorders)
Speech impairments means a communications disorder such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment, which adversely affects a student's educational performance (CD).
Maria Hawley
Related Services
Phone: (801) 538-7895 | E-mail
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
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. The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairment 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 function; information processing; and speech. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or brain injury-induced birth trauma (TBI).
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Guide for Educators
Resources
Brain Injury Alliance of Utah (BIAU)
Returning to School After TBI
Brainline
Section 504
Utah State Board of Education Educational Equity
The Center for Brain Injury Research and Training (CBIRT)
Utah Brain Injury Fund
Utah Brain Injury Council (UBIC)
Lavinia Gripentrog
Postsecondary Transition
Phone: (801) 538-7645 | E-mail
Visual Impairment
An impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a student's educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness (VI).
Children with Visual Impairments: Information for Parents (coming soon)
Letter for Braille (coming soon)
Teaching Students with Visual Impairments: A Technical Assistance Document for Educators and Administrators (2008) (coming soon)
- Requirements and Best Practice Training Session (coming soon)
The Use of the Utah Effective Teaching Standards by Teachers of the Blind and Visually Impaired (coming soon)
Utah Braille Core Standards Aligned with the Utah Core Curriculum Standards for Mathematics K–6
Utah State Plan for Children and Youth Who Are Deafblind (coming soon)
Dana Archuleta
Residential Treatment Centers and UPIPS
Phone: (801) 538-7698 | E-mail