ARSD 20:75:02:07. Definition of disability -- Learning disability

A disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of an individual; having a record of such an impairment; or being regarded as having such an impairment. Mental impairment includes any mental or psychological disorder, such as organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities. A learning disability is individual evidence of significant learning difficulties which substantially affect or limit one or more major life activities and which are not primarily due to cultural, emotional, or motivational factors. The term does not include learning problems which are primarily the result of a visual, hearing, or motor disability, intellectual disability; emotional disturbance; or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage. The individual must show evidence of significant impairment in one or more of the following areas of intellectual functioning and information processing: (1) Attention and concentration; (2) Efficiency and speed of information processing; (3) Reception (perception and verbal comprehension); (4) Memory (ability for new learning); (5) Cognition (thinking); or (6) Expression. Significant impairment is determined by a discrepancy of 1.5 standard deviations, or more, between the individual's intellectual functioning, as measured by one of the general cognitive ability tests listed in the List of Most Commonly Used Reliable Standardized Psychometric Tests in Appendix A at the end of this chapter and actual performance on reliable standardized measures of attention and concentration, memory, language reception and expression, cognition, and in the academic areas of reading, spelling, writing, and mathematics. If a measurement instrument is used which is not on this list, it may be considered if it is listed in the Mental Measurements Yearbook issued by Buros Institute of Mental Measurement, University of Nebraska, and is being used for the purpose for which it was developed.