"Children with special needs" means children who exhibit one or more of the following characteristics, confirmed by clinical evaluation:
o Visual impairment: the child's visual impairment is such that development to full potential without special services cannot be achieved.
o Hearing impairment: the child's residual hearing is not sufficient to enable him or her to understand the spoken word and to develop language, thus causing extreme deprivation in learning and communication, or a hearing loss is exhibited that prevents full awareness of environmental sounds and spoken language, limiting normal language acquisition and learning.
o Physical or health impairment: the child exhibits a physical or health impairment that requires adaptation of the physical plant.
o Speech and/or language impairment: the child exhibits deviations of speech and/or language processes that are outside the range of acceptable variation within a given environment and prevent full social development.
o Learning disability: the child exhibits one or more deficits in the essential processes of perception, conceptualization, language, memory, attention, impulse control or motor function.
o Behavioral disability: the child exhibits an effective disability and/or maladaptive behavior that significantly interferes with learning and/or social functioning.
o Mental impairment: the child's intellectual development, mental capacity, and/or adaptive behavior are markedly delayed. Such mental impairment may be mild, moderate, severe or profound.
(R 406, 408)