Special Education

Traumatic Brain Injury Criteria MN Rule 3525.1348 Eligibility Criteria The team shall determine that a pupil is eligible and in need of special education and related services if the pupil meets the criterion in item A and the criteria in items B and C as documented by the information gathered according to item D: A. There is documentation by a physician of a medically verified traumatic brain injury. B. There is a functional impairment attributable to the traumatic brain injury that adversely affects educational performance in one or more of the following areas: intellectual-cognitive, academic, communication, motor, sensory, social-emotional-behavioral, and functional skills-adaptive behavior. Examples of functional impairments which may adversely affect educational performance are: (1) intellectual-cognitive, for example, impaired: (a) attention or concentration; (b) ability to initiate, organize, or complete tasks; (c) ability to sequence, generalize, or plan; (d) insight/consequential thinking; (e) flexibility in thinking, reasoning, or problem-solving; (f) abstract thinking; (g) judgment or perception; (h) long-term or short-term memory; (i) ability to acquire or retain new information; (j) ability to process information; (2) academic, for example: (a) marked decline in achievement from preinjury levels; (b) impaired ability to acquire basic skills (reading, written language, mathematics); (c) normal sequence of skill acquisition which has been interrupted by the trauma as related to chronological and developmental age; (3) communication, for example: (a) impaired ability to initiate, maintain, restructure, or terminate conversation; (b) impaired ability to respond to verbal communication in a timely, accurate or efficient manner; (c) impaired ability to communicate in distracting or stressful environments; (d) impaired ability to use language appropriately (requesting information, predicting, analyzing, or using humor); (e) impaired ability to use appropriate syntax; (f) impaired abstract or figurative language; (g) perseverative speech (repetition of words, phrases, or topics); (h) impaired ability to understand verbal information; (i) impaired ability to discriminate relevant from irrelevant information; (j) impaired voice production/articulation (intensity, pitch, quality, apraxia, or dysarthia); (4) motor, for example, impaired: (a) mobility (balance, strength, muscle tone, or equilibrium); (b) fine or gross motor skills; (c) speed of processing or motor response time; (d) sensory/perceptual motor skills; (5) sensory, for example, impaired: (a) vision (tracking, blind spots, visual field cuts, blurred vision, or double vision); (b) hearing (tinnitus, noise sensitivity, or hearing loss); (6) social-emotional-behavioral, for example: (a) impaired ability to initiate or sustain appropriate peer or adult relationships; (b) impaired ability to perceive, evaluate, or use social cues or context appropriately; (c) impaired ability to cope with over-stimulating environments, low frustration tolerance; (d) mood swings or emotional ability; (e) impaired ability to establish or maintain self-esteem; (f) denial of deficits affecting performance; (g) poor emotional adjustment to injury (depression, anger, withdrawal, or dependence); (h) impaired ability to demonstrate age-appropriate behavior; (i) impaired self-control (verbal or physical aggression, impulsivity, or disinhibition); (j) intensification of preexistent maladaptive behaviors or disabilities; (7) functional skills-adaptive behavior, for example, impaired: (a) ability to perform developmentally appropriate daily living skills in school, home, leisure, or community setting (hygiene, toileting, dressing, eating); (b) ability to transfer skills from one setting to another; (c) orientation (places, time, situations); (d) ability to find rooms, buildings, or locations in a familiar environment; (e) ability to respond to environmental cues (bells, signs); (f) ability to follow a routine; (g) ability to accept change in an established routine; (h) stamina that results in chronic fatigue. C. The functional impairments are not primarily the result of previously existing: (1) visual, hearing, or motor impairments; (2) emotional and behavioral disorders; (3) mental retardation; (4) language or specific learning disabilities; (5) environmental or economic disadvantage; (6) cultural differences. D. Information/data to document a functional impairment in one or more of the areas in item B must, at a minimum, include one source from Group One and one source from Group Two: (1) GROUP ONE: (a) checklists; (b) classroom or work samples; (c) educational/medical history; (d) documented, systematic behavioral observations; (e) interviews with parents, student, and other knowledgeable individuals; (2) GROUP TWO: (a) criterion-referenced measures; (b) personality or projective measures; (c) sociometric measures; (d) standardized assessment measures; (academic, cognitive, communication, neuropsychological, or motor). Contact: Nancy Scott (651) 293-8923 ext.103 Nancy.scott@spps.org