Educational Disabilities

According to the Parent Handbook on Special Education developed by the Macomb Intermediate School District the Michigan Special Education Rules define the following disabilities:

Autism – (AI)

Students with an autistic impairment have a lifelong developmental disability recognized by disturbances in thinking, socializing, body movements, as well as in speech and language development. These individuals may have difficulty relating to others. They insist on routine, are slow to develop communication patterns, have unusual responses to sensory stimuli and exhibit stereotyped play patterns and repetitive movements.

Educable Mental Impairment – (EMI)

Students with moderate mental impairments learn at a slower rate than other students. However, they are usually capable of learning academic skills, becoming vocationally trained, completing high school and obtaining gainful employment.

Emotional Impairment – (EI)

Students with emotional impairments demonstrate behavior problems over an extended period of time that negatively affect their ability to learn.

Hearing Impairment – (HI)

Students who suffer any degree of hearing loss which interferes with learning may have a hearing impairment. These persons may also be referred to as hard-of-hearing or deaf.

Learning Disability – (LD)

Students with a learning disability are those with a severe discrepancy between their intellectual ability and their oral language and/or academic achievement. At times, they have social and behavioral problems, but their major problems are with learning in school. They experience difficulty with oral language, reading, writing and/or mathematics.

Physically and Otherwise Health Impairment – (POHI)

Students with a physical or health impairment have physical challenges which affect their ability to learn and may require special materials or equipment.

Pre-Primary Impaired – (PPI)

Children who have a pre-primary impairment are three-through five-year-olds whose development is significantly delayed in one or more areas and who do not qualify under any other special education impairment classification.

Sever Mental Impairment – (SMI)

Students with sever intellectual impairments, who need training in basic self-help skills (e.g. feeding, toileting, daily living activities and related basic functional skills), are considered severely mentally impaired.

Severe Multiple Impairment – (SXI)

Students with multiple impairments have more than one handicap in both intellectual and functional abilities. They require an intensive staff/student ratio and unique educational activities.

Speech & Language Impairment – (SLI)

Students unable to understand or use language may have speech or language impairments. This type of handicap may interfere with learning or social adjustment in school. These students may be recognized by a number of symptoms (including poor listening skills, unclear speech, slow vocabulary development, immaturities in grammar, difficulties conversing with others, unusual loudness or quality of voice or stuttering)

Trainable Mental Impairment – (TMI)

Students with significant intellectual impairment, for whom success at academic tasks is limited, are considered trainable mentally impaired. Classroom activities usually focus on daily living skills, health and safety, communication and prevocational training.

Visual Impairment – (VI)

Students who have problems seeing, whether partially sighted or blind, are often referred to as having a visual impairment, which interferes with development or which may affect their learning. Among the characteristics are visual acuity of 20/70 or less in the better eye, after correction, or a peripheral field of vision restricted to not more than 20 degrees.