ADHD is characterized by a pattern of behavior, present in multiple settings (e.g., school and home), that can result in performance issues in social, educational, or work settings. As in DSM-IV, symptoms will be divided into two categories of inattention and hyperactivity and impulsivity that include behaviors like failure to pay close attention to details, difficulty organizing tasks and activities, excessive talking, fidgeting, or an inability to remain seated in appropriate situations. Children must have at least six symptoms from either (or both) the inattention group of criteria and the hyperactivity and impulsivity criteria, while older adolescents and adults (over age 17 years) must present with five.

• Education.com
• www.webmd.com/add-adhd/childhood-adhd
• www.helpguide.org
• http://behavioradvisor.com/ParentIndex.html

People with ASD tend to have communication deficits, such as responding inappropriately in conversations, misreading nonverbal interactions, or having difficulty building friendships appropriate to their age. In addition, people with ASD may be overly dependent on routines, highly sensitive to changes in their environment, or intensely focused on inappropriate items. Again, the symptoms of people with ASD will fall on a continuum, with some individuals showing mild symptoms and others having much more severe symptoms. This spectrum will allow clinicians to account for the variations in symptoms and behaviors from person to person. Under the DSM-5 criteria, individuals with ASD must show symptoms from early childhood, even if those symptoms are not recognized until later. This criteria change encourages earlier diagnosis of ASD but also allows people whose symptoms may not be fully recognized until social demands exceed their capacity to receive the diagnosis. It is an important change from DSM-IV criteria, which was geared toward identifying school-aged children with autism-related disorders, but not as useful in diagnosing younger children.

• http://www2.ed.gov/parents/needs/speced/resources.html

Bipolar disorder is a brain disorder that causes severe or unusual shifts in mood, energy level, thinking, and behavior. People with bipolar disorder experience episodes of mania where their mood is overly happy or extremely irritable, they may also have increased energy or episodes of depression.

• http://www.aacap.org/
• http://www.dbsalliance.org/

https://sites.ed.gov/idea/files/policy_speced_guid_idea_discipline-q-a.pdf

A learning disability is a neurological condition that interferes with an individual's ability to store, process or produce information.  Learning disabilities can affect one's ability to read, write, speak, spell, compute math, reason, and also affect an individual's attention, memory, coordination, social skills, and emotional maturity.

• www.chadd.org
• www.ldonline.org
• http://ldaamerica.org/
• PBISworld.com.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is defined as a childhood disorder characterized by negative, defiant, disobedient and often hostile behavior toward adults and authority figures primarily. In order to be diagnosed, the behaviors must occur for at least a period of 6 months.

• http://www.aacap.org/
• www.empoweringparents.com

Tourette (too-RET) syndrome is a disorder that involves repetitive movements or unwanted sounds (tics) that can’t be easily controlled. For instance, you might repeatedly blink your eyes, shrug your shoulders or blurt out unusual sounds or offensive words. Tics typically show up between 2 and 15, with the average being around 6 years of age. Males are about three to four times more likely than females to develop Tourette syndrome.

• http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/tourette/families.html

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a nondegenerative, noncongenital insult to the brain from an external mechanical force, possibly leading to permanent or temporary impairment of cognitive, physical, and psychosocial functions, with an associated diminished or altered state of consciousness.

• Brainline.org