Signficant Disabilities Defined

Significant disabilities are also identified as “low-incidence” disabilities by the U.S. Department of Education (USDE.) Low-incidence disabilities are defined by the USDE as a visual impairment or a hearing loss, or a simultaneous visual impairment and hearing loss, a significant cognitive impairment, or any impairment for which a small number of personnel with highly specialized skills and knowledge are needed in order for children with that disability to receive early intervention services or a free appropriate public education. Children with low incidence disabilities comprise less than one-half of one percent of the school-age population. (NCLID, 2006)

Medically Fragile Defined

The term “medically fragile” comes from a memorandum of understanding defining responsibilities for providing services to children who are medically fragile – October 27, 1994

Medically fragile describes a student who

• has a serious ongoing illness or a chronic condition that has lasted or is anticipated to last at least 12 or more months or has required at least one month of hospitalization, and
• that requires daily ongoing medical treatments and monitoring by appropriately trained personnel which may include parents or other family members, and
• requires the routine use of a medical device or the use of assistive technology to compensate for the loss of usefulness of a body function needed to participate in activities of daily living; and
• lives with ongoing threat to his or her continual well being.