California Education Code Section 56031 defines special education as:

Specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of individuals with exceptional needs, whose educational needs cannot be met with modification of the general instruction program; and Related Services that help individuals with special needs to benefit from specially designed instruction.

Special education is an integral part of the total public education system.  Other features of special education are:

a) It is provided in a way that promotes maximum interaction between students with and without disabilities in a manner which is appropriate to the needs of both;

b) Services are provided at no cost to parents:

c) It provides a full range of program options to meet the educational and service requirements of individuals with exceptional needs in the least restrictive environment (LRE).  The LRE is generally the setting that is most similar to those attended by general education students.

Not all children with special needs require special education services.  However, students are eligible to receive special education and related services when the IEP team determines that the student meets the state and federal eligibility criteria and, thus, requires special education services.  

There are fourteen categories of eligibility for special education:

Autism (AUT)

Deaf (D)
Deaf/Blindness

Emotional Disturbance (ED)

Established medical disability (Children 0-5 years)

Hard of Hearing (HH)

Intellectual Disabiities (ID) 

Multiple Disabilities (MD)

Orthopedic Impairment (OI)

Other Health Impaired (OHI)

Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD)

Speech and Language Disabilities

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Vision Impairment (VI)