Most significant cognitive disabilities
Last updated
Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities are a small group who need alternate achievement standards and extensive, direct support.
Topic: Disability categories and conditions
In plain terms
This is not an IDEA disability category; it is a description used for state testing. It refers to roughly 1% of students, across categories such as intellectual disability, multiple disabilities and autism, who need intensive, individualized instruction to learn grade-linked content and life skills. Each state publishes guidelines for deciding which students fit.
How it shows up in an IEP
These students usually take the alternate assessment and need benchmarks or short-term objectives in the IEP. Goals link to grade-level content at reduced complexity, along with communication, functional and transition skills.
Example
Using state guidelines, a team decides a 10-year-old with multiple disabilities fits the criteria. The IEP lists the alternate assessment and goals with quarterly objectives.
The rule
Federal reference: 34 CFR §300.160(c).
Rules vary by state. Check your state's regulations and your district's procedures.
Related terms
- Alternate assessmentAn alternate assessment is a state test, based on alternate achievement standards, for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
- Alternate academic achievement standardsAlternate achievement standards are less complex expectations, linked to grade-level content, for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.
- Intellectual disabilityUnder IDEA, intellectual disability is significantly below-average intellectual functioning plus adaptive behavior deficits, appearing during development.
- Multiple disabilitiesMultiple disabilities is an IDEA category for two or more impairments together that create needs no single-disability program can meet.
- Short-term objectiveA short-term objective is a smaller, measurable step toward an annual IEP goal, usually expected within a grading period or part of the year.
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