• Exceptional Education & 504

    Welcome to Exceptional Education! We understand the importance of recognizing and addressing diverse needs of every learner. Here, we talk about how students might need extra help because of different challenges they face. We cover everything from learning and physical disabilities to emotional and behavioral struggles. Our goal is to make sure all students get the support they need to learn and grow. Services are provided for appropriately identified exceptional children and young people in accordance with the federal and state mandates.

    Areas of Eligibility

    There are 13 areas of eligibility in Alabama.

    1. Autism - a developmental disability that significantly affects verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three that adversely affects educational performance. 
    2. Deaf-Blindness - A combination of both hearing and visual impairments that causes severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that can not be accommodated in exceptional education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness. 
    3. Developmental Delay - A delay that adversely affects daily life and/or education performance in one or more of the following developmental areas: Adaptive, Cognitive, Communication, Social or Emotional and/or Physical.
    4. Emotional Disability - A condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversley affects a child's educational performance: (1) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors; (2) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; (3) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; (4) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; (5) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
    5. Hearing Impairment - An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes both deaf and hard of hearing.
    6. Intellectual Disability - Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with significant limitations in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects the child's educational performance.
    7. Multiple Disabilities - A combination of at least two other impairments that qualify the student for special education services. The combination of disabilities must cause such severe educational needs that cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. Multiple disabilities do not include deaf-blindness.
    8. Orthopedic Impairment - A severe orthopedic impairment must adversely affect the child's educational performance. If a medical diagnosis is presented, the medical diagnosis alone is not enough to justify being identified in the area of orthopedic impairment.
    9. Other Health Impairment - Limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment and is due to chronic or acute health problems. The impairment must adversely affect educational performance.
    10. Specific Learning Disability - A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write or to do mathematical calculations.
    11. Speech and Language Impairment - A communication disorder in the area of articulation, voice, fluency or language that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
    12. Traumatic Brain Injury - 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 educational performance.
    13. Visual Impairment - A visual impairment that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's educational performance.

    Contact

    For questions regarding Exceptional Education & 504 plans, please reach out to us by calling (256) 891-1183 or by emailing us!