A student with speech and language difficulties may be eligible for special education services if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

1. Articulation Disorder: The student has difficulties with articulation that significantly reduce intelligibility and interfere with communication, attracting adverse attention. The student’s articulation skills must be below what is expected for their chronological age or developmental level and not merely an abnormal swallowing pattern.
2. Abnormal voice characterized by persistent defects in voice quality, pitch, or loudness.
3. Fluency Disorder: The flow of verbal expression, including rate and rhythm, adversely affects communication between the student and listener.
4. Language Disorder: The student has an expressive or receptive language disorder if they meet one of the following criteria:
   1. Scores at least 1.5 standard deviations below the mean, or below the seventh (7th) percentile, for their chronological or developmental level, on two or more standardized tests in areas such as morphology, syntax, semantics, or pragmatics; or
   1. Scores at least 1.5 standard deviations below the mean, or below the seventh (7th) percentile, on one or more standardized tests in the areas listed above and displays inappropriate or inadequate usage of expressive or receptive language as measured on a representative spontaneous or elicited language sample of at least fifty (50) utterances. The language sample must be recorded or transcribed, analyzed, and included in the assessment report. If a 50-utterance sample cannot be obtained, the language, speech, or hearing specialist must document why and describe the contexts in which attempts were made. 
5. Hearing Loss: Results in a language or speech disorder.^[1]

When standardized tests are deemed invalid for the student, the expected level of performance shall be determined by alternative means.^[2]

1. 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.8(c)(11); 5 C.C.R. Sec. 3030(b)(11).[↩]
2. 5 C.C.R. Sec. 3030(b)(10)(B)(2).[↩]