special education: A program designed to serve children with mental and physical disabilities. Such children are entitled to individualized educational programs that spell out the services needed to reach their educational goals, ranging from speech therapy to math tutoring. Traditionally, special education has taken place in separate classrooms. Increasingly, the services may also be offered in regular schools and classrooms. Under IDEA 97, students who are tested for special education can be grouped in the following categories: autism, deaf-blindness, deafness, hearing impairment, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, emotional disturbance, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, or visual impairment (including blindness).