Eligibility Under Section 504

Section 504 is a federal law designed to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in programs and activities that receive Federal financial assistance from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Section 504 provides: "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance . . . ."

The Section 504 regulations require a school district to provide a "free appropriate public education" (FAPE) to each qualified student with a disability who is in the school district's jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the disability. Under Section 504, FAPE consists of the provision of regular or special education and related aids and services designed to meet the student's individual educational needs as adequately as the needs of nondisabled students are met. 

Special Education serves students with one of the following disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) between the ages of 3

Auditory Impairment
A student who qualifies for special education services as a student with an auditory impairment may meet the criteria for either deafness or for hearing impairment.  Deafness means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects the child’s educational performance.  Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness. 

Autism
Autism means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.  Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences.  Students who are diagnosed with a pervasive developmental delay (PDD) may meet the criteria for special education services under the eligibility of autism.  The term does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance. 

Deaf-Blindness
Deaf-blindness means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.

Emotional Disturbance
Emotional disturbance describes a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance:

• An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors

• An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers

• Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances

• A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression

• A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems

The term includes schizophrenia.  The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance. 

Intellectual Disability
Intellectual disability is a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem-solving) and in adaptive behavior, which covers a range of everyday social and practical skills. This disability originates before the age of 18.

Multiple Impairments
Multiple impairments means concomitant impairments, the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness.

In order to meet the definition of Multiple Impairment,

1. the student's disability is expected to continue indefinitely; and

2. the disabilities severely impair performance in two or more of the following areas:

   • psychomotor skills;

   • self-care skills;

   • communication;

   • social and emotional development; or

   • cognition.

Noncategorical Early Childhood
The disability category noncategorical early childhood (NCEC) may be used for children ages three through five who are suspected of meeting the criteria for autism, emotional disturbance, learning disability, or mental retardation.

Orthopedic Impairment
Orthopedic impairment means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.  The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g., clubfoot, absence of some member, etc), impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc), and impairments from other causes (e.g. cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).  

Other Health Impairment
Other health impairment means having limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that

• Is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, and sickle cell anemia; and

• Adversely affects a child’s educational performance

Specific Learning Disability
Specific learning disability is defined as follows:

• The term means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

• The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of the visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; mental retardation; emotional disturbance; or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Speech Impairment
Speech or language impairment means a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, language impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.  The term applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech.  The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

Visual Impairment
Visual impairment including blindness means impairment in vision that even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance.  The term includes both partial sight and blindness.

Channelview ISD offers a continuum of services based on the individual needs of the student. 

• Itinerant services for students who need assistance in special areas such as vision, hearing or speech.

• General education classroom support (direct and indirect), Co-Teaching or Inclusion support

• Resource services for students who need specialized instruction with a lower student to teacher ratio

• Various Self-contained classes for students who need specialized instruction 

• Infant program for students birth through age two with hearing and/or vision impairments who can benefit from special instruction through the home and/or center-based services.

• Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) for students ages three to five who require early intervention.

• Hospital/homebound program for students who are to be out of school for four or more weeks due to an accident, illness, or have a chronic illness that results in frequent absences.

• Regional Day School Program for the Deaf for students with hearing impairments who need specialized instructional and related services.

• Work training programs for students at the high school level supervised by a vocational adjustment coordinator (VAC).

• Transition planning to prepare students to exit the public school.

• Supported employment for students with significant disabilities who require assistance in order to be employed.

• Related services necessary to enable students to benefit from their special education programs. These include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Counseling

  • Special transportation

  • Occupational therapy

  • Physical therapy

  • Adaptive equipment

  • Orientation and mobility training