Special Needs
Missouri's Special Populations

Individuals with disabilities

Individuals from economically

     disadvantaged families, including
     foster children

Individuals preparing for nontraditional

     training and employment

Single parents, including single
     pregnant women

Individuals with other barriers to

     educational achievement, including

     individuals with limited English
    proficiency

The term individual with a disability means an individual with any disability as defined in the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The term disability means with respect to an individual -

(A) a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of such individual;

(B) a record of such an impairment; or

(C) being regarded as having such an impairment.

Economically disadvantaged family or individual includes families or individuals who are determined to be low-income according to the latest available data from the Department of Commerce.  Other indicators include Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC); Food Stamps; Chapter 1, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (EDEA); free or reduced lunch, National School Lunch Act; Pell Grant; or Title II, Workforce Investment Act (WIA)

Foster children are children who receive, share or are afforded parental care and nurturing from an adult who is not a legal or blood relative.

Nontraditional men and women are persons entering a career education program or occupation nontraditional to their gender.  An enrollment of 75 percent of one gender is considered traditional.

A single parent is an individual who is unmarried or separated from their spouse and is pregnant or has sole or joint custody of a minor child or children.

The term displaced homemaker means an individual who -

(A)(1) has worked primarily without remuneration to care for a home and family, and for that reason has diminished marketable skills;

     (2) has been dependent on the income of another family member but is no longer supported by that income; or
     (3) is a parent whose youngest dependent child will become ineligible to receive assistance under social security; and
(B) is unemployed or under employed and is experiencing difficulty in obtaining or upgrading employment.

Individuals with other barriers to educational achievement may include students who under previous career education legislation were considered educationally disadvantaged.

Educationally disadvantaged means an individual who scores at or below the 25th percentile on a standardized achievement or aptitude test, whose secondary school grades are below 2.0 on a 4.0 scale (where the grade "A" equals 4.0), or who fails to attain minimal academic competencies.  This definition does not include individuals with learning disabilities.

The term individual with limited English proficiency means a secondary school student, an adult, or an out-of-school youth, who has limited ability in speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language and -

(A) whose native language is a language other than English; or

(B) who lives in a family or community environment in which a language other than English is the dominant language.