To qualify for special education services in the category of autism, the child must have a developmental disability that significantly affects verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, is generally evident before age three and 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 response to sensory experiences.

In order to qualify for special education in the category of behavior disorder (Referred to in the 2004 Amendments to the IDEA as "Emotional Disturbance") the child must have 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 or, in the case of children below age five, development:

• An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, 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.

To qualify for special education services in the category of Deaf-Blindness, the child must have concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes: severe communication needs; and other developmental and educational needs.  The severity of these needs is such that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.

To qualify for special education services in the category of developmental delay, the child shall have a significant delay as measured by appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures in one or more of the following areas and, by reason thereof needs special education and related services: cognitive development, physical development, communication development, social or emotional development, adaptive behavior or skills development or a diagnosed physical or medical condition that has a high probability of resulting in a substantial delay in function in one or more of such areas.

To qualify for special education services in the category of hearing impairment, a child must have impairment in hearing which is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing with or without amplification, or is permanent or fluctuating, and adversely affects the child's development or educational performance.

To qualify for special education services in the category of mental handicap, the child must demonstrate: significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects a child's educational or in the case of a child below age five, a child's developmental performance.  This term parallels the federal definition of mental retardation in the regulations implementing IDEA 2004.

To qualify for special education services in the category of multiple impairments, the child must have concomitant impairments (such as mental handicap-visual impairment, mental handicap-orthopedic impairment), the combination of which causes such severe developmental or educational, or in the case of a child below age five, a child's developmental needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments.

To qualify for services in the category of orthopedic impairment, the child must have a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child's educational, or in the case of a child below age five, a child's developmental performance.

To qualify for special education services in the category of other health impairment, the child must have 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 which adversely affects the child's educational, or in the case of a child below age five, a child's developmental performance.

To qualify for special education services in the category of specific learning disability the child must have 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.  The category includes conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

To qualify for special education services in the category of speech-language impairment, the child must have a communication disorder, such as stuttering; impaired articulation; language impairment; or voice impairment.  This disorder must adversely affect the child's educational, or in the case of a child below age five, a child's developmental performance.

To qualify for special education services in the category of traumatic brain injury, the child must have 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, or in the case of a child below age five, a child's developmental performance.

To qualify for special education services in the category of visual impairment, including blindness, the child must have an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's education, or in the case of a child below age five, a child's developmental performance.  This category includes children who have partial sight or blindness.