Disabilities Information Pages

Research in genetics, embryology, fetal development, and the birthing process unveils what can happen before, during, and shortly after birth that may put children at risk for disabilities. Environmental factors such as poor nutrition, substance abuse, disease and infection, and physical trauma can have dire consequences for the development of the brain, micro skeletal systems, organs, and sensory systems. The developing child is also at risk when social-emotional environments are unhealthy and traumatic.

Multifaceted evaluation and reevaluation procedures may be necessary to determine the strengths and weaknesses of a child with disabilities. The single most important reason for assigning the label “disability” is to qualify individuals for needed services, entitlements, and legal protections. According to the regulations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA), parents or guardians must approve assessments that determine the existence of suspected disabilities.

Definitions of disability vary among agencies and states, although in all cases disabilities must be documented by appropriate personnel (e.g., psychologists, medical doctors). A child with a disability is specifically defined in IDEA as “a child with mental retardation, hearing impairments (including deafness), speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), serious emotional disturbance (referred to in IDEA as ‘emotional disturbance’), orthopedic impairments, autism, traumatic brain injury, other health impairments, or specific learning disabilities; and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services in their educational programs.”

After children are assigned disability labels, their uniqueness as individuals must remain the foremost consideration in all curricular and instructional decisions. It is with the deepest regard for the unique aspects of every child that we have made available pages that provide information about labels that have been used to identify the various categories of disability.

This site provides general information about organizations and agencies that offer a variety of services and support for persons with disabilities and information for 19 different disabilities and syndromes, all of which are listed either as separate categories or within categories of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (listed in the margin of this page). There is some overlap among categories (e.g., MR and Down), but for purposes here, separate pages are presented to provide information for labels that may be most familiar to teachers. There are active links throughout to help you reach other sites. Most all of the material is quoted directly from the original sites. Quotation marks are eliminated for ease of reading, although sources are always cited. Should you find materials that need to be revised or deleted, for whatever reason, please let me know. The site will undergo regular updating.

Many thanks to the Center for Music Learning, the faculty who have helped in the review of site materials and the following graduate students who were instrumental in the site's creation: Wesley Bender, Kristina Bishop, Nathan Fink, Renata Kwong, Katja Linder, Joel Moody, O’Neal Mundle, Travis Pollard, Lauren Smith, Ah-reum Yang.

We hope that this site will save you time in your search for materials and, most important, that you find useful information that will contribute to improving the lives of children with disabilities.

Best wishes,

Judith A. Jellison
Mary D. Bold Regents Professor in Music and Human Learning
University Distinguished Teaching Professor