Definitions taken from the Michigan Department of Education’s Special Education Programs and Services Guide, published 2002.

Cognitively Impaired (CI)

Development at a rate or below approximately 2 standard deviations below the mean (average) determined through intellectual assessment. The student must score within the lowest 6 percentiles on a standardized test in reading and arithmetic and impairment of adaptive behavior. Rule 5 - R 340.1705

Emotionally Impaired (EI)

Manifestation of behavioral problems primarily in the affective (emotional) domain over an extended period of time that adversely affects education to the extent that the student needs special education support. The manifested behaviors include one or more of the following characteristics:

• inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships in school
• inappropriate types of behavior or feelings
• general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression
• tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems

Emotional Impairment also includes students who exhibit behaviors related to schizophrenia or similar disorders. Rule 6 - R 340.1706

Hearing Impaired (HI)

Refers to students to varying degrees (from hard of hearing to deaf), whose development or educational performance are negatively affected. Rule 7 - R340.1707

Visually Impaired (VI)

A visual impairment which, even with correction, interferes with development or adversely affects educational performance, plus one or more of the following characteristics:

• a central visual acuity of 20/70 or less in the better eye after correction
• a peripheral field of vision restricted to no greater than 20 degrees
• a diagnosed progressively deteriorating eye condition
  Rule 8 - R 340.1708

Physically Impaired (PI)

Refers to students with severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects educational performance.
Rule 9 - R 340.1709

Other Health Impairment (OHI)

Refers to students who have limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including heightened alertness to environmental stimuli which is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, and epilepsy. Rule 9a - R 340.1709a

Speech and Language Impairment

Includes one or more of the following communication impairments which adversely affects educational performance such as language impairment, articulation impairment, fluency impairment, voice impairment.

• language impairment: interferes with student’s ability to understand and use language effectively
• articulation impairment: includes omissions, substitutions, or distortions of sound
• fluency impairment: rate of speech, interrupted speech, repetition of sounds/words/phrases
• voice impairment: pitch, loudness, voice quality
  Rule 10 - R 340.1710

Early Childhood Development Delay

Relates to a child through 7 years of age whose primary impairment cannot be determined through existing criteria and who shows impairment in one or more areas equal to or greater than ½ the expected level of development. Rule 11 - R 340.1711

Learning Disabled / Specific Learning Disability

A "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, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual impairments, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include children who have learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor impairment; of cognitive impairment, of emotional impairment; or of environment, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

The individualized educational planning committee may determine that a child has a special learning disability if the child does not achieve on an equal basis with her or his age and ability levels in one or more of the areas listed above, when provided with learning experiences appropriate for the child's age and ability levels, and if the multidisciplinary evaluation team finds that a child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in one or more of the following areas:

• oral expression
• listening comprehension
• written expression
• basic reading expression
• reading comprehension
• mathematics calculation
• mathematics reasoning
  Rule 13 - R340.1713

Severe Multiple Impairment (SMI)

Development at a rate of 2-3 standard deviations below the mean (or average) as determined by physical and/or health impairments. Development at a rate of 3 or more standard deviations below the mean as determined by evaluation of cognitive ability. Rule 14 - R340.1714
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