General Information and Resources

Eligibility

The TEA’S Parent’s Guide to the Admission, Review, and Dismissal Process states: There is a two-part test for determining whether your child is eligible for special education services: (1) your child must have a disability; and (2) as a result of the disability, your child must need special education and related services to benefit from education. To meet the first pare of the two-test form eligibility, a child between the ages of 3-21, except as noted, must meet the criteria of one or more of the disability categories listed below:

auditory impairment (from birth)
autism
deaf-blindness (from birth)
emotional disturbance
intellectual disability
multiple disabilities
noncategorical early childhood (ages three- through five)
orthopedic impairment
other health impairment
specific learning disability
speech or language impairment
traumatic brain injury
visual impairment (including blindness from birth)

The ARD committee must make the eligibility determination after the completion of the initial evaluation report.