Medical Diagnosis verses Educational Eligibility Determination

Many parents don't realize that separate eligibility criteria exist for special education services and that a medical diagnosis alone does not make a child eligible for special education services.  Although many of the disabling conditions that a child in special education may have are or can be diagnosed medically, the criteria for special education is derived from Federal law and State education code.  Criteria for special education are developed by a political process that is informed by experts in the field, whereas medical diagnostic criteria are developed by experts in a process within the field of medicine.  As such, the criteria and the categories themselves differ in special education than the corresponding disease criteria and categories in medicine.  For example, although the category of emotional disturbance exists as a disabling condition in special education, but no such medical diagnosis exists in the DSM-IV-TR (the diagnostic manual used in psychiatry and psychology).  The category of emotional disturbance, rather, is a catch all category for a variety of different mental disorders, behaviors, and social-emotional characteristics.  Criteria may be different as well, for example the State of Oregon places a greater emphasis on sensory issues within the eligibility criteria than does the DSM-IV-TR.