Special Education law (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) specifies 13 categories of disabilities, each which have their own specific criteria.  
The 13 categories are:

• Autism

• Deafblindness

• Developmental Delay (only for students ages 3-8)

• Emotional-Behavioral Disability

• Hard of Hearing/Deafness

• Intellectual Disability

• Multiple Disabilities

• Orthopedic Impairment

• Other Health Impairment

• Specific Learning Disabilities

• Speech/Language Impairment

• Traumatic Brain Injury

• Visual Impairment (Including Blindness)

If a student meets criteria for one of the 13 disabilities, then two more questions must be asked:

1. Does the student’s disability affect their educational performance?

2. Does the disability and/or its effects require specially designed instruction.

If the answers to the two questions is yes, then a student is deemed to qualify for special education and an Individualized Education Program will be written for the student.
In order to see if your student qualifies under IDEA for special education, a legal guardian should make a written request to the school for an educational evaluation to consider if they are a student requiring special education.

 

Under the Americans with Disabilities (ADA) a student can qualify for a 504 accommodation plan if they have a disability.
According to the ADA person with a disability is someone who:

• has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities,

• has a history or record of such an impairment (such as cancer that is in remission), or

• is perceived by others as having such an impairment (such as a person who has scars from a severe burn).

In order to see if your student qualifies for a 504 plan, send a written request to your school for a 504 accommodation plan to help your student with the disability they have.