Disabilities

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. Those with this disorder may be affected to varying degrees. However, students with ASD can have:

• Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction

• Restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities

• Significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.

"Students with moderate to [severe] intellectual handicaps are students whose cognitive functions (evaluated by a multidisciplinary team which must include a psychologist or, if needed, a guidance counsellor, using standardized tests) show a level of general functioning that is clearly below average, as well as impaired adaptive behaviour appearing from the beginning of the development period" (page 80, QPAT Referential: Special Needs Guide).

"Students with psychopathological disorders are students whose overall functioning, through an evaluation carried out by a team of multidisciplinary specialists, which must include a psychiatrist, using systematic observation techniques and standardized tests, leads to a diagnosis of a psychiatric disability that appears through a distortion in several areas of development, particularly in the area of cognitive development. " (page 82, QPAT Referential: Special Needs Guide).

Possible diagnoses:

• Tourette's Syndrome

• Anxiety Disorders

• Mood Disorders