Page 5 - Biidaaban Parent's Guide

Special Education Services are defined in the Education Act as the facilities and resources,
including support personnel and equipment, necessary for developing and implementing a
special education program.

CATEGORIES AND DEFINITIONS OF EXCEPTIONALITIES

Students are identified according to the categories and definitions of exceptionalities
provided by the Ministry of Education.

Category Ministry of Education Definition
Behaviour
Behaviour A learning disorder characterized by specific behaviour problems
over such a period of time, and to such a marked degree, and of
such a nature, as to adversely affect educational performance, and
that may be accompanied by one or more of the following:
a) an inability to build or to maintain interpersonal
relationships;
b) excessive fears or anxieties;
c) a tendency to compulsive reaction;
d) an inability to learn that cannot be traced to intellectual,
sensory, or other health factors, or any combination thereof.
Communication
Autism A severe learning disorder that is characterized by:
a) disturbances in:
– rate of educational development;
– ability to relate to the environment;
– mobility;
– perception, speech, and language;
b) lack of the representational symbolic behaviour that precedes
language
Deaf and Hard-of An impairment characterized by deficits in language and speech
Hearing development because of a diminished or non-existent auditory
response to sound.
Language Impairment A learning disorder characterized by an impairment in
comprehension and/or the use of verbal communication or the
written or other symbol system of communication, which may be
associated with neurological, psychological, physical, or sensory
factors, and which may:
a) involve one or more of the form, content, and function of
language in communication; and
b) include one or more of:
– language delay;
– dysfluency;

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