Okla. Stat. tit. 70, § 70-18-109.5

A. As used in Section 18-201.1 of this title:

1. "Visual impairment" means an impairment in vision that, even

with correction, adversely affects a child's educational

performance. This includes both partial sight and blindness;

2. "Specific learning disability" means a disorder in one or

more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding

or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in

the imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or

to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as

perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction,

dyslexia and developmental aphasia. The term does not include

learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing

or motor disabilities, of intellectual disability, of emotional

disturbance or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage;

3. "Deafness" means a hearing impairment that is so severe that

the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through

hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a

child's educational performance;

4. "Economically disadvantaged" means all children who qualify

for free or reduced lunches;

5. "Intellectual disability" means significantly subaverage

general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with

deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the development

period, that adversely affects a child's educational performance;

6. "Emotional disturbance" means a condition exhibiting one or

more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and

to a marked degree that adversely affects a child's educational

performance:

a. an inability to learn which cannot be explained by

intellectual, sensory or health factors,

b. an inability to build or maintain satisfactory

interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers,

c. inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under

normal circumstances,

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 70. Schools Page 819

d. a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression,

or

e. a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears

associated with personal or school problems.

The term includes children who are schizophrenic. The term does not

include children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is

determined that they are seriously emotionally disturbed;

7. "Gifted" means identified students as outlined in Section

1210.301 of this title;

8. "Hearing impairment" means an impairment in hearing, whether

permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's

educational performance but that is not included under the

definition of "deafness";

9. "Multiple disabilities" means concomitant impairments, such

as intellectual disability – blindness or intellectual disability –

orthopedic impairment, the combination of which causes such severe

educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special

education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term does

not include deaf-blindness;

10. "Orthopedic impairment" means a severe orthopedic

impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance.

The term includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly,

impairments caused by disease such as poliomyelitis and bone

tuberculosis, and impairments from other causes such as cerebral

palsy, amputations and fractures or burns that cause contractures;

11. "Other health impairment" means having limited strength,

vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to

environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with

respect to the educational environment that adversely affects a

child's educational performance and is due to chronic or acute

health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a

heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis,

rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia and Tourette syndrome;
d alertness with

respect to the educational environment that adversely affects a

child's educational performance and is due to chronic or acute

health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or

attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a

heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis,

rheumatic fever, sickle cell anemia and Tourette syndrome;

12. "Speech or language impairment" means a communication

disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language

impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a child's

educational performance;

13. "Deaf-blindness" means concomitant hearing and visual

impairments, the combination of which causes such severe

communication and other developmental and educational problems that

they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for

children with deafness or children with blindness;

14. "Autism" means a developmental disability significantly

affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction,

generally evident before age three (3), that adversely affects a

child's educational performance. Other characteristics often

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associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and

stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change

in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences.

Autism does not apply if a child's educational performance is

adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional

disturbance, as defined in this subsection;

15. "Traumatic brain injury" means 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 a child's educational performance. Traumatic

brain injury applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in

impairments in one or more areas such as cognition; language;

memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-

solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial

behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech.

Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are

congenital or degenerative or to brain injuries induced by birth

trauma;

16. "Bilingual" means those students who have limited English

speaking abilities or who come from homes where English is not the

dominant language as reported on the current year application for

accreditation;

17. "Special Education Summer Program" means those summer

school programs which school districts may provide for children who

are severely or profoundly multiple-handicapped if their

individualized education program states the need for a continuing

educational experience to prevent loss of educational achievement or

basic life skills. Any school district receiving funds for such

special education summer programs shall provide services as provided

in Section 13-101 of this title; and

18. "Optional Extended School Year Program" means the program

defined in Section 1-109.1 of this title.

B. The State Board of Education is hereby authorized to modify

and redefine by rule the definitions set out in this section

whenever such modification is required to receive federal assistance

therefor.