[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 45, Volume 4]
[Revised as of October 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 45CFR1308.14]

[Page 167-168]
 
                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE
 
CHAPTER XIII--OFFICE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 
                           AND HUMAN SERVICES
 
PART 1308_HEAD START PROGRAM PERFORMANCE STANDARDS ON SERVICES FOR 
CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES--Table of Contents
 
             Subpart D_Health Services Performance Standards
 
Sec. 1308.14  Eligibility criteria: Learning disabilities.

    (a) A child is classified as having a learning disability who has a 
disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in 
understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may 
manifest itself in imperfect ability to listen, think, speak or, for 
preschool age children, acquire the precursor skills for reading, 
writing, spelling or doing mathematical calculations. The term includes 
such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, and aphasia.
    (b) An evaluation team may recommend that a child be classified as 
having a learning disability if:
    (1) The child does not achieve commensurate with his or her age and 
ability levels in one or more of the areas listed in (a) above when 
provided with appropriate learning experiences for the age and ability; 
or
    (2) The child has a severe discrepancy between achievement of 
developmental

[[Page 168]]

milestones and intellectual ability in one or more of these areas: oral 
expression, listening comprehension, pre-reading, pre-writing and pre-
mathematics; or
    (3) The child shows deficits in such abilities as memory, perceptual 
and perceptual-motor skills, thinking, language and non-verbal 
activities which are not due to visual, motor, hearing or emotional 
disabilities, mental retardation, cultural or language factors, or lack 
of experiences which would help develop these skills.
    (c) This definition for learning disabilities applies to four and 
five year old children in Head Start. It may be used at a program's 
discretion for children younger than four or when a three year old child 
is referred with a professional diagnosis of learning disability. But 
because of the difficulty of diagnosing learning disabilities for three 
year olds, when Head Start is responsible for the evaluation it is not a 
requirement to use this category for three year olds.