Characteristics of Students with Special Needs

Intellectual disability is not a characteristic of students with learning disabilities.

Students with emotional disturbance may exhibit difficulty controlling emotions, withdrawn behavior, and aggressive behavior.

Students with autism spectrum disorder may exhibit difficulty with social interaction, repetitive behaviors, and restricted interests.

Students with intellectual disability may exhibit significant limitations in intellectual functioning, difficulty with adaptive behavior, and need for ongoing support.

Students with physical disabilities may exhibit difficulty with mobility, difficulty with self-care, and need for assistive technology.

Students with visual impairments may exhibit difficulty seeing objects at a distance, difficulty seeing objects up close, and light sensitivity.

Students with hearing impairments may exhibit difficulty hearing sounds, difficulty understanding speech, and need for assistive listening devices.

Students with speech or language impairments may exhibit difficulty producing speech sounds, difficulty understanding language, and difficulty using language for communication.

Students with multiple disabilities may exhibit two or more disabilities, need for specialized instruction, and need for assistive technology.

Students with giftedness may exhibit high intellectual ability, creativity, and leadership.

Students with talent may exhibit exceptional ability in a specific area, creativity, and motivation.

Students with creativity may exhibit ability to generate new ideas, ability to think outside the box, and ability to see things from different perspectives.

Students with leadership may exhibit ability to motivate others, ability to inspire others, and ability to build relationships.

Students with motivation may exhibit desire to achieve, persistence, and resilience.

Students with resilience may exhibit ability to bounce back from setbacks, ability to cope with stress, and ability to learn from mistakes.