Arkansas Guide to Services for Children with Disabilities

What is a learning disability?
Simply stated, a learning disability is a problem with listening,
speaking, reading, writing, spelling, reasoning and/or doing
mathematics that is not caused by a visual or hearing problem,
mental retardation, or cultural or economic disadvantage.
Federal law defines it as “a disorder in one or more of the
basic psychological [mental] processes involved in
understanding or in using language, spoken or
written…including conditions such as perceptual disabilities
[related to awareness and understanding], brain injury, minimal
brain dysfunction [impairment], dyslexia [difficulty learning to
read and spell], and developmental aphasia” (See Dictionary
of More Words You May Need to Know) that is not related to
environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.*
Emotional disturbances:
A child with an emotional disturbance is an individual under
the age of 18 (or under the age of 21 if he or she started
receiving services before age 18) who has “inappropriate
[unsuitable] emotional, interpersonal, or behavioral problems
within the home, preschool program, school, or community
given his or her age, intellectual level, and cultural background.”
These behavioral problems are disruptive and often disabling,
and continue despite the efforts of family and friends.**
Emotional disturbances have a harmful effect on a child’s
performance at school when they continue over a long period
of time and have one or more of the following characteristics:
●
An inability to learn that cannot readily be explained;
* IDEA
** Arkansas Code 20-47-502
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