Recommendations for Diversity

Intellectually Disabled: Key Indicators

ID Delayed development in
cognitive, language, and motor skills
Poor social skills: Impulsivity,
low frustration tolerance, aggression,
and low self-esteem
Health Problems: Seizures,
visual auditory, and cardiovascular
problems
Diagnostic Tests
Intellectual disabilities are
diagnosed through the use of
standardized tests of intelligence (I.Q)
and adaptive behavior
The ability of a person to
function and perform everyday life
activities

Learning Disability: Key Indicators

LD Writing disorder: Excessive
misspellings, grammatical errors, and
poor organization of thought
Handwriting disorders may
include oddly crowded or spaced
lettering, letters varying sizes,
reversed letters.
Reading problems may include
slow pace, frequent omissions, loss of
place on page, skipping lines
Language-based disorders
may include poor listening
comprehension, poor memory of
sequential information, difficulty
separating words into phonetic
segments
Thinking disorders may include
impaired ability to make decisions and
choices, difficulty with abstract
reasoning, lack of focus and
motivation and poor test performance.
Diagnostic Tests
Screening: Used to tell if the
child is learning basic skills when they
should, or if they are problems doing
 so
Evaluation: In Depth
assessment of a childs skills
administered by a highly trained
professional

Emotional Disability: Key Indicators

ED Inability to learn that cannot by
intellectual, sensory, or health factors
Inability to build or maintain
satisfactory interpersonal relationships
with peers and teachers
Inappropriate types of behavior
or feelings under normal
circumstances (withdrawal,
aggression, defiance)
A general persuasive mood of
immaturity, negativity, unhappiness,
anxiousness, frustration, or
depression
Tendency to develop physical
symptoms or fears associated with
personal or school problems
Diagnostic Tests
Lab Tests: screening for
alcohol and drugs
Psychological evaluation: See
for symptoms, thoughts, feelings, and
behavior patterns

Hearing Impairment: Key Indicators

HI Misidentification of letters,
words, and phrases
Defective speech, minimal
expressive vocabulary, weak or loud
voice, and inadequate language skills
Inability to identify source of
sounds and environmental sounds
Slower processing of oral
presentations and questions, over
attentiveness to others lips, facial
expressions, and gestures
Possible need for help of
audiologist, speech pathologist, more
visual cues, hearing aid devices,
special seating
Diagnostic Tests
A tuning fork evaluation may reveal whether
 hearing loss is caused by
damage to the vibrating parts
of your middle ear (including your
eardrum)
damage to sensors or nerves
in your inner ear
or damage to both

Visual Impairment: Key Indicators

VI Pain such as headaches,
swollen or red-rimmed eyelids
Out of the ordinary reading
behavior (frowning, excessive
blinking, covering an eye, holding
body tense)
Delays and limitations in
motor, cognitive, social development
Dysfunction of eye muscles
(crossed eyes, rapid eye movement,
bulging eyes)
Need for special seating
arrangements, large print,
adjustments with lighting, Braille,
Zoom text software
Diagnostic Tests
An ophthalmologist,
optometrist, paediatrician or other
specialist may examine a child
between birth and 3 months, between
6 months to 1 year, around 3 years or
5 years of age.

Orthopedic Impairment: Key Indicators

OI Diseases such as cerebral
palsy, hemophilia, juvenile rheumatoid
arthritis, cystic fibrosis
Accidents resulting in limb
deficiency,or traumatic brain injury
Difficulty in walking, sitting,
standing using hands
Lack of coordination and
muscle strength
Possible need for braces,
special shoes, crutches, wheelchair
Autism Key Indicators
Marked impairment in
reciprocal social interaction
Resistance to change
Need for visual
representations instead of verbal
directions
Need for consistent and
specific behavior behavior intervention
plans
Giftedness (without specialized
instruction in certain areas- math, art,
music)

ADD/ADHD Key Indicators

Fails to finish tasks, does not
seem to listen, is easily distracted, has
difficulty concentrating, is
disorganized
Forgetfulness (loses or
misplaces objects often)
Acts before thinking, shifts
excessively from one activity to
another, needs a lot of supervision,
calls out in class
May require behavior
modification, medication, diet
restrictions, more structure, social
contracts
Diagnostic Tests
ADHD is diagnosed after a
person has shown some or all of the
symptoms of ADHD on a regular basis
for more than six months. In addition,
symptoms must be present in more
than one setting.