Category — 2.5 Children with Other Types of Disorders

“Disability” and “Disorder”

The term disability means a limitation in a functional activity or in a socially defined role.

The term disorder means an abnormality or disruption of a normal function, such as speech.

Children with Attention Deficit /Hyperactivity Disorders and/or with learning disabilities are considered to have a “high incidence” (see full Glossary) condition. It is generally apparent only after age 5 and during the school years and are present in 5-10% of elementary school children¹. Some people call them “invisible disabilities” because they are not obvious to others like physical and motor or genetic conditions.

In terms of the children’s daily needs and intervention “high incidence” conditions have a lower level of intensity (see full Glossary). They are ‘mild’ to ‘moderate’ in their impact (see full Glossary) to families and service providers.

1 References: Coleman et al., 2006; Hebbeler et al., 2007, Kierans et al.2000; The Advocacy Institute, 2006).