A determination of Intellectual Disabilities
must meet all of the following three criteria:

1. A licensed psychologist, certified school psychologist, psychiatrist, or licensed physician who practices psychiatry certifies that the individual has significantly sub-average intellectual functioning which is documented by either:
   1. performance which is more than two standard deviations below the mean of a standardized general intelligence test; or
   2. performance which is slightly above two standard deviations below the mean of a standardized general intelligence test during a period when the person manifests serious impairments of adaptive behavior. In such situations, the burden is on the examiner to avoid misdiagnosis and to rule out such factors as emotional disorder, social conditions, sensory impairment or other variables which might account more readily for observed deficits in adaptive behavior.
   
    
2. A qualified Intellectual Difficulties professional (QIDP) who meets criteria established in 42 CRF 483.430 certifies that the individual has impairments in adaptive behavior based on the results of a standardized assessment of adaptive functioning which shows that the individual has either:
   1. significant limitation in meeting the standards of maturation, learning, personal independence, and/or social responsibility of his or her age and cultural group; or
   2. substantial functional limitation in three or more of the following areas of major life activity:
      1. self-care
      2. receptive and expressive language
      3. learning
      4. mobility
      5. self-direction
      6. capacity for living
      7. economic self-sufficiency
   
    
3. Documentation substantiates that the individual has had these conditions of intellectual and adaptive functioning manifested during the developmental period which is from birth to the individual’s 22nd birthday.

The results of both the standardized general intelligence test and the standardized assessment of adaptive functioning shall consist of:

1. the clinical data and an overall score;
2. a statement by the certifying practitioner that the results are considered valid and consistent with the person’s degree of functional restriction; and
3. a statement by the certifying practitioner as to whether the results indicate that the individual has intellectual disabilities.

For additional information, contact the Department of Human Services Information and Referral Unit at (610) 782-3200 between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.