General Information and Resources

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.