South Carolina Code of Regulations › Chapter 88 - DEPARTMENT OF DISABILITIES AND SPECIAL NEEDS › Article 5 - ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION › Section 88-515 - Diagnostic Criteria for Department Eligibility

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 6, June 28, 2024
A. Intellectual Developmental Disorder
Pursuant to the DSM-5, or most current edition, a diagnosis of
				Intellectual Developmental Disorder requires consideration of both clinical
				assessment and standardized testing of intellectual and adaptive functions.
				Individual cognitive profiles based on neuropsychological testing as well as
				cross-battery intellectual assessment using multiple IQ or cognitive tests to
				create a profile will also be considered when making a determination of
				eligibility. Specifically, an individual must meet the following three (3)
				criteria in order to receive a diagnosis:
(1) Criterion A requires deficits in mental
			 abilities, referring to intellectual functions that involve reasoning, problem
			 solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, learning from instruction and
			 experience, and practical understanding.
To meet this criterion, individuals must have a valid IQ score
				of approximately 70 or below, including a margin of measurement error of +/- 5,
				establishing a range of eligibility from 65-75. Instruments must be normed for
				the individual's sociocultural background and native language. When multiple
				tests have been conducted for an individual, a clinical assessment of the
				validity of the results and other related factors (i.e., statistically
				significant splits between scores) of each singular test will occur as to
				provide the appropriate clinical judgment of an individual's score.
(2) Criterion B requires
			 impairment in everyday adaptive functioning, in comparison to an individual's
			 age, gender, and socioculturally matched peers.
To meet this criterion, individuals must have one domain in
				adaptive functioning-conceptual, social, or practical-sufficiently impaired as
				to necessitate ongoing support in order to have the individual perform
				adequately at school, at work, at home, or in the community. For the purposes
				of this Criterion B, the conceptual (academic) domain involves competence in
				memory, language, reading, writing, math reasoning, acquisition of practical
				knowledge, problem solving, and judgment in novel situations, among others. The
				social domain involves awareness of others' thoughts, feelings, and
				experiences; empathy; interpersonal communication skills; friendship abilities;
				and social judgment, among others. The practical domain involves learning and
				self-management across life settings, including personal care, job
				responsibilities; money management, recreation, self-management of behavior,
				and school and work task organization, among others.
Adaptive functioning is evaluated by using both clinical
				evaluation and individualized, culturally appropriate, psychometrically sound
				measures. Standardized measures are used with knowledgeable informants (e.g.,
				parent or other family members; teacher; counselor; care provider) and the
				individual to the extent possible. Additional sources of information include
				educational, developmental, medical and mental health evaluations. In
				situations where standardized testing is difficult or impossible (e.g., sensory
				impairment, severe problem behavior), the individual may be diagnosed with
				unspecified intellectual development disorder. Intellectual capacity,
				education, motivation, socialization, personality features, vocational
				opportunity, cultural experience, and coexisting other medical conditions or
				mental disorders influence adaptive functioning.
(3) Criterion C requires onset to occur
			 during the developmental period, referring to recognition of intellectual and
			 adaptive deficits being present in childhood or adolescence.
To meet this criterion, a comprehensive evaluation is required.
				A comprehensive evaluation includes an assessment of intellectual capacity and
				adaptive functioning; identification of genetic and non-genetic etiologies;
				evaluation for associated medical conditions (e.g., cerebral palsy, seizure
				disorder); and evaluation for cooccurring mental, emotional, and behavioral
				disorders. Components of the evaluation may include basic pre-and perinatal
				medical history, three-generational family pedigree, physical examination,
				genetic evaluation, and metabolic screening and neuroimaging assessment.