The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a United States law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. It was last reauthorized in 2004.
In order to fully meet the definition (and eligibility for special education and related services) as a "child with a disability," a child's educational performance must be adversely affected due to the disability. According to IDEA, states must make a free appropriate public education (FAPE) available to "any individual child with a disability who needs special education and related services, even if the child has not failed or been retained in a course or grade, and is advancing from grade to grade."
There are 14 specific primary terms included in IDEA under the lead definition of "child with a disability." These federal terms and definitions guide how states define disability and who is eligible for a free appropriate public education (FAPE) under special education law.
A hearing impairment so severe that a child is impaired in processing language through hearing, with or without amplification (aids) that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
(b) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers (other students) and teachers.
(d) A general pervasive (ongoing) mood of unhappiness or depression.
An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or changing, that adversely affects a child's educational performance, but is not included under the definition of "deafness."
An injury to the brain caused by an outside physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child's educational performance.