Health Impairments

Definition

A health impairments, other health impairments under IDEA, are a second diagnostic category under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Health impairments are defined as:

Other health impairment means "having limited strength, vitality or alertness, due to chronic or acute health problems such as a heart conditions, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophelia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, luekemia, or diabetes, that adversely effects a child's educational performance."

As with our earlier online unit on orthopedic impairments, the proportion of children with other health impairments is also relatively small.

Health impairments also comprise a very broad, quite diverse catetory of disability. In this unit, you will review information about several of the more prominent health impairments you may encounter in schools. Click on each descriptor below to learn more about these various health impairments. Because so much information is available on the web about each topic, I have searched for good sites for each area that will present basic yet comprehensive information about the disease or disorder. Be sure to visit each site and, in some instances, review the associated links (these are noted next to the hyperlink)

[Congenital Heart Defects] [Diabetes] [Asthma & Cystic Fibrosis] [Sickle Cell Anemia & Hemophelia]

Figure 8.2 Major Health Impairments

Go on to Characteristics of Children with Orthopedic and Health Impairments
or
Go back to Orthopedic and Health Impairments

E-mail Larry Gallagher at Larry.Gallagher@nau.edu

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