Read below to learn more about the disability and educational program.

Autism
Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting a child's social interaction and verbal and nonverbal communication, generally evident before age 3 that adversely affects learning and educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements resistant to environmental change or change in daily routines and usual responses to sensory experiences.

You can learn more about Autism on Wisconsin's DPI Website.

Cognitive Disabilities
Refers to individuals who exhibit significantly sub average general intellectual functioning manifested during the early developmental period and existing concurrently with defects in adaptive behavior.

You can learn more about Cognitive Disabilities on Wisconsin's DPI Website.

Deaf/Hard of Hearing
Refers to individuals identified by medical (otologic) and audio logic evaluations as having a loss of hearing which prevents successful functioning in an educational program without specialized instructions, additional support services and guidance.

You can learn more about Deaf/Hard of Hearing Impairments on Wisconsin's DPI Website.

Emotional Behavioral Disorder
Refers to individuals who have social, emotional, or behavioral functioning that significantly interferes with their total education program and development including the acquisitions and/or production of appropriate academic skills, social interactions, interpersonal relationships or interpersonal adjustment. The condition denotes intraindividual conflict or variant or deviant behavior or any combination thereof, exhibited in the social system of school, home and community and may be recognized by the child or others.

All children may experience situational anxiety, stress, and conflict or demonstrate deviant behavior at various times and to varying degrees. However, the handicapping condition of emotional disturbance shall be considered only when behaviors are characterized as severe, chronic, or frequent and are manifested in two or more of the child's social systems, e.g., school, home, or community.

You can learn more about Emotional Behavioral Disorder on Wisconsin's DPI Website.

Specific Learning Disorder
Refers to children who have severe and unique learning problems due to a disorder existing within the child which significantly interfere with the ability to acquire, organize, or express information. These problems are manifested in school functioning as a severe discrepancy in the ability to read, write, spell, or arithmetically reason or calculate.

You can learn more about Specific Learning Disabilities on Wisconsin's DPI Website.

Speech and Language Disability
Refers to individuals with communication difficulties characterized by a delay or deviance in the acquisition of pre linguistic skills, receptive skills or expressive skills of oral communication. The handicapping condition does not include problems due to disadvantagement of language systems different from mainstream English, unless the child has a disability in his/her first language system as well as mainstream. The handicapping condition does not include speech or language difficulties resulting from poverty, neglect delinquency, or cultural or linguistic isolation from the community at large. Speech and language difficulties may include articulation difficulties, voice difficulties, stuttering and language difficulties involving structure, content and processing skills.

You can learn more about Speech and Language on Wisconsin's DPI Website.

Visually Impaired
A visual impairment is determined by functional visual efficiency including visual fields, ocular motility, binocular vision and accommodation. A visual impairment is determined by a medical evaluation by an ophthalmologist and is of such severity as to prevent successful functioning in an educational program without guidance and accommodation.

You can learn more about Visual Impairment on Wisconsin's DPI Website.