Who Can Get Special Education Services?

Upcoming Terms Alert

Individualized Education Program (IEP) — a legally binding document that explains what special education services your child will get and why.
IEP team — parents, regular, and special education teachers, school administrators, specialists (as needed) and anyone else you invite to support you and your child.
Educational Benefit — student progress over time on appropriate IEP goals.
Present levels of performance — your child’s current abilities based on assessments and monitoring of their progress.

Children ages 0-21 may qualify for special education services. The services depend on your child’s age and other factors explained below.

Infants and toddlers ages 0-2 — Services primarily to assist families to support their children with disabilities. If the Regional Center finds your child has a developmental disability an Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) is created. An IFSP is also created if the school district finds your child has a vision, hearing, or orthopedic impairment. Contact your local Regional Center or school District if you have concerns about your infant or toddler's development or think they may have a disability.

Children ages 3-21 — If an IEP team finds one of the following educational disabilities, your child may be eligible for special education services.

Autism	Deafness
Deaf-Blindness	Intellectual Disability
Hard of Hearing	Multiple Disabilities
Emotional Disturbance	Orthopedic Impairment
Other Health Impairment	Specific Learning Disability
Speech or Language Impairment	Visual Impairment
Traumatic Brain Injury

If the IEP team finds your child is eligible, it identifies the specialized services, accommodations, and/or supports your child will need to progress in school. The IEP team bases its eligibility decision on three factors:

If the child has an educational disability in one or more of the thirteen categories, and
The disability negatively affects their learning, and
The impact of the disability requires special education services for the child to meaningfully benefit from school.