(a) The purposes of this classification, “Other impairments,” are:

(1) To further coordination with LEAs and reduce problems of recordkeeping;

(2) To assist parents in making the transition from Head Start to other placements; and

(3) To assure that no child enrolled in Head Start is denied services which would be available to other preschool children who are considered to have disabilities in their State.

(b) If the State Education Agency eligibility criteria for preschool children include an additional category which is appropriate for a Head Start child, children meeting the criteria for that category must receive services as children with disabilities in Head Start programs. Examples are “preschool disabled,” “in need of special education,” “educationally handicapped,” and “non-categorically handicapped.”

(c) Children ages three to five, inclusive, who are experiencing developmental delays, as defined by their State and as measured by appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures, in one or more of the following areas: physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development, or adaptive development, and who by reason thereof need special education and related services may receive services as children with disabilities in Head Start programs.

(d) Children who are classified as deaf-blind, whose concomitant hearing and visual impairments cause such severe communication and other developmental problems that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for deaf or blind children are eligible for services under this category.

(e) Children classified as having multiple disabilities whose concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation and blindness), in combination, cause such severe educational problems that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments are eligible for services under this category. The term does not include deaf-blind children, for recordkeeping purposes.