Reflection

These 3 chapters in our textbook were required reading for our class.
These chapters provide authoritative information which is presented in a
concise manner. They are excellent references for the several ways
disabilities are classified. Intellectual Disability has been discussed in
Artifact 1 and will not be extensively considered in this artifact.

Organizing by Category
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in its most recent
reauthorization in 2004 defines 14 special education categories of
disabilities. These can be used to qualify infants, toddlers, preschoolers,
and young students for special education services. These categories can
contain many conditions. For example Specific Learning disability
addresses reading, writing, language and mathematics disabilities.
Individual states are required to use these terms when reporting statistics.
Individual states may use terms slightly different from the federal
government, but similarities are obvious. The 14 categories are:
1. Specific learning Disability
2. Speech or language impairment
3. Intellectual disability
4. Emotional disturbance
5. Multiple disabilities
6. Hearing impairment (including deafness)
7. Deafness
8. Orthopedic impairments
9. Other health impairments
10. Visual impairment (including blindness)
11. Autism
12. Deaf-blindness
13. Traumatic brain injury
14. Developmental Delay
It is interesting to note that as research and knowledge have progressed,
our understanding and classification of disabilities has changed since the
2004 IDEA. Autism is now thought to be composed of 5 related conditions
which make a spectrum - Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The 5
components of ASD are:
1. Autistic disorder (autism)
2. Childhood disintegrative disorder
3. Asperger’s syndrome
4. Rett syndrome
5. Pervasive developmental disorder

Another example of IDEA 2004 not being contemporary regards the

category of specific learning disabilities. Learning disability is the phrase
commonly used today.

Organizing by Severity
Disabilities can also be categorized based on severity.

DSM-5 deemphasizes types of ASD and focuses on classification based on

severity. This seem a more functional and practical approach. DSM-5
describes 3 levels of severity:
1. Level 1: “Requiring support.”
2. Level 2. “Requiring substantial support.”
3. Level 3. “Requiring very substantial support.

Similar to DSM-5’s classification of ASD, many educators feel there should

be less emphasis on the specific disability and greater consideration of how
the condition influences performance. Although disabilities occur on a
continuum of severity four groupings are used for categorization: mild,
moderate, severe and profound.
Organizing by Incidence
Incidence is a measure of disease that allows us to determine a person's
probability of being diagnosed with a disease during a given period of time,
it is the number of newly diagnosed cases of a disease (New York State
Department of Health, n.d.). Incidence can used to categorize disabilities.
The 14 special education categories of disability can be divided into high-
incidence (Categories 1-4) and low-incidence groups (Categories 5-14).
This categorization highlights the unequal distribution of disabilities.
Learning disability accounts for nearly one half of all disabilities. Similarly
more disabilities are mild rather than severe.

Low-incidence disabilities have common features. With the exception of

ASD their prevalence has been stable over time. The public has a
misconception that these disabilities tend to be severe in degree. Actually
they demonstrate a continuum of severity. These disabilities are readily
observed compared to high-incidence disabilities. Low-incidence disabilities
tend to require an intensive response which will generally results in low
rates of inclusion in the general education classroom. They can have
outstanding outcomes.