Orthopedic impairment (OI) or Other health impaired (OHI) for IEP?

Question

My daughter's primary issues are: Cerebral palsy, optic nerve hypoplasia, cortical visual impairment, nystagmus, strabismus, ADHD - I, ataxia, sensory integration disorder, anxiety disorder of childhood, fine motor delay, gross motor delay and torticollis.

She is currently under the heading of Orthopedic Impairment but the doctors are wanting to change her Other Health Impaired.

Can someone give me direction or pros and cons? Thanks.

Answer 1

I would think OHI is a better classification for your daughter.  It would seem to me that Orthopedic Impairment is simply that -- needing assistance or special consideration because of motor skills.  But your daughter has far more complex issues that seem to need addressed.

My son falls into OHI, which is such a catch-all, but they had no other classification for him.  He is unmedicated ADHD due to severe heart abnormalities, global learning delayed, fine motor delayed, language delayed.  He gets speech, OT, and classroom assistance.  One-on-one tutoring for math and language arts.  He is "mainstreamed" for science and social sciences with curriculum adjustments.

I can only see OHI being beneficial since other deficiencies could be addressed with tutoring, therapies, and assistance that may be limited by an OI classification.

Answer 2

Doctors are wanting to change her category to OHI??

Doctors can't decide this, the IEP team has to. THe doctor can write a letter to the IEP team suggesting this, but it's ultimately up to the IEP team. And YOU are an equal member part of this team, but schools don't want you to know that.

I am not sure but I don't think OI is one of the 14 categories to qualify for an IEP, I could be wrong.

I don't really think it matters what category they qualify under, what's important is waht help the school provides to her.

And, the child is suppose to get help for ALL their problems no matter WHAT category the qualify under.

If a child qualifies under math disability, and has problems also with reading, they are to be helped with both.

Answer 3

As I am always telling my clients, the category under which a child is qualified does not matter. By law, the IDEA, once a child has an IEP, the district MUST provide services for ALL areas of disability. Many districts are not aware of this. This means that even if the child has something that is below grade level but would not have qualified the child for an IEP on it's own, that still must be serviced under the IEP.

Answer 4

there is also a

multiple disabilites/multiply handicapped category-

this would fit the best

often a student can fit into multiple categories-Often the Child Study team will choose the one that will allow the students to get an appropriate education

Your daughter is more than OI, but if she is getting appropriate services in this classification than it is fine.

Answer 5

OI or OHI

The category is determined by the evaluation results and the team. Usually it is chosen by the most severe impairment that impacts learning, and occasionally a secondary one is named. If I were to guess, based on what you have listed, I would have suggested OHI myself. However, we often rely heavily on the school psychologist.

To be honest one is neither better than the other. It does not impact services just what you must do at every comprehensive reevaluation. You will just need to provide the medical information, but you already have to do that for the CP.

The doctor has no say in what the school team decides as far as educational placement or services delivered.

Answer 6

In Texas the psychologist is not the one to make the decision on placement -- the diagnostician led team does that after an evaluation and report from the student's doctor. Most of the students don't have a need to even be seen by the school psychologist. We have a lot of students with multiple handicap codes --- LD, PT, OT, SH , ED, OHI, MR.  If an LD students is receiving services and needs speech, we would have to add the SH code in order to provide speech services.  My point is that your child can have more than one handicap code. However, it could be different in your state.