Moderate Global / Severe Cognitive Delay (Criteria C)

A student qualifies for services in Teacher Staffing Policy 10.1 (c) if comprehensive assessment shows that the student currently exhibits all of the characteristics described in 1,2, and 3 below:

1. Impairment in cognitive functioning as per the classifications given in the DSM IV (specifically, an IQ of 50 or below).

                        along with

          Severe impairment of adaptive functioning in four out of five of the following areas:

                        Self Help/ Daily Living

                        Communication

                        Gross/ Fine Motor

                        Social/ Emotional

                        Functional Academics

2. The student's total curriculum is alternate to the Prescribed Provincial Curriculum and represents programming in the domains identified in Using Our Strengths: Programming for Individual Needs (1992) i.e. academics, communication, decision making, functional skills, nonscheduled time usage, self concept/self esteem, sexuality and social skills.

3. The primary disability is not a sensory impairment or a physical disability.

With these Eligibility Criteria providing the framework, assessment of a student for the purposes of receiving Criteria C service must verify that the student falls into the categories/definition as elaborated. The expectation is that each child registered under Criteria C would have received an individual psycho-educational assessment of congnitive functioning and adaptive behaviour which would verify the existence of this level of delay in these areas. This assessment should be based on a variety of measures, both formal and informal, of intellectual ability and adaptive behaviour.

Previous Page

Table of Contents