Intellectual disability
Last updated
Under IDEA, intellectual disability is significantly below-average intellectual functioning plus adaptive behavior deficits, appearing during development.
Topic: Disability categories and conditions
In plain terms
Both parts matter: a low IQ score alone is not enough. Adaptive behavior covers the practical, social and conceptual skills used in daily life, such as communication, self-care and money. Students with intellectual disability can keep learning throughout school and adult life, and they learn best with clear, concrete teaching and plenty of practice in real settings.
How it shows up in an IEP
Goals often balance academics linked to grade-level standards with functional and transition skills. Task analysis, opportunity-based data and community-based instruction are common, and some students take the alternate assessment.
Example
A 15-year-old with an intellectual disability has goals to read and follow a 5-step recipe with picture support and to pay for items using the next-dollar strategy in a store.
The rule
Federal reference: 34 CFR §300.8(c)(6).
Related terms
- Most significant cognitive disabilitiesStudents with the most significant cognitive disabilities are a small group who need alternate achievement standards and extensive, direct support.
- Functional goalA functional goal targets the everyday skills a student needs at school, at home and in the community, outside academic subjects.
- Alternate assessmentAn alternate assessment is a state test, based on alternate achievement standards, for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
- Task analysisA task analysis breaks a complex skill into a sequence of smaller, teachable steps that can be taught and tracked one at a time.
- Community-based instructionCommunity-based instruction is teaching skills in the real places a student will use them, such as stores, banks, bus stops and workplaces.
On IEP Atlas
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