NCCD categories of disability, with examples

The four NCCD categories at a glance

The categories are aligned with the definitions of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) and the Disability Standards for Education 2005, as set out in Appendix 3 of the NCCD Quick Guide. The last column is a practical guide, not a rule: the category is whichever area mainly drives the adjustments for this student.

Physical disability

The Quick Guide describes physical disability in the DDA's terms: the total or partial loss of a part of the body; a part of the body that malfunctions, is malformed or is disfigured; or the presence in the body of organisms that cause, or could cause, disease or illness. The definition is broad, so it takes in health conditions as well as conditions that affect movement.

Physical is often the category when the adjustments mainly address moving around the school, positioning, the hand skills needed for writing and tasks, personal care, or procedures in an individual healthcare plan. A health condition the student manages with no adjustment, such as asthma they self-manage, is not counted at all.

A worked example:

• The need: A Year 7 student with a condition affecting muscle strength tires quickly, cannot handwrite for more than a few minutes, and needs help getting between buildings.
• The adjustments: A laptop with speech-to-text for written work, a scribe in timed assessments, a lift pass and extra time between classes, and a PE program adjusted with the family and the student's physiotherapist.
• Why Physical: The adjustments mainly address movement and hand skills. How the student learns is not what drives them.

Cognitive disability

The Quick Guide describes cognitive disability in the DDA's terms: the total or partial loss of mental functions, or a disorder or malfunction that means the student learns differently from a student without it.

Cognitive is often the category when the adjustments mainly address how the student learns: understanding and remembering instructions, reading, writing and number, processing speed, attention to learning tasks, or planning and organising work. For a student with dyslexia, the adjustments usually address reading and writing, so Cognitive is the usual fit, though the adjustments still decide. See adjustments for dyslexia.

A worked example:

• The need: A Year 4 student loses track of instructions with more than one step, needs much longer than classmates to process new information, and cannot yet read the class texts independently, despite regular attendance and consistent teaching.
• The adjustments: Instructions given one step at a time with a visual checklist, class texts provided as audio, extra time and a reader in assessments, and a small-group literacy program three times a week.
• Why Cognitive: The adjustments mainly address how the student takes in, processes and remembers information for learning.

Sensory disability

The Quick Guide describes sensory disability in the DDA's terms: the total or partial loss of a bodily function, or a part of the body that malfunctions, is malformed or is disfigured. The category's name says where it applies: the senses, such as hearing and vision.

Sensory is often the category when the adjustments mainly address getting information the student cannot fully hear or see: amplification, captions, seating, enlarged or tactile materials, interpreters or specialist visiting teachers. Glasses that correct a mild vision impairment, with no further adjustment, do not make a student eligible.

A worked example:

• The need: A Year 9 student with a hearing impairment misses spoken instructions and class discussion, especially in noisy rooms and on excursions.
• The adjustments: A remote microphone worn by the teacher, captions on all video, seating near the teacher with a clear view of faces, written copies of instructions, and a visiting teacher of the deaf once a fortnight.
• Why Sensory: The adjustments mainly address access to spoken information the student cannot fully hear.

For more examples, see adjustments for hearing impairment.

Social/emotional disability

The Quick Guide describes social/emotional disability in the DDA's terms: a disorder, illness or disease that affects a person's thought processes, perception of reality, emotions or judgement, or that results in disturbed behaviour.

Social/emotional is often the category when the adjustments mainly address regulation, anxiety, behaviour, or taking part with other students and in the school day. A behaviour management plan on its own, with no disability, does not make a student eligible, and neither does a learning difficulty that comes from trauma and does not amount to a disability.

A worked example:

• The need: A Year 6 student becomes highly anxious at transitions and in unstructured time, leaves class several times a week, and struggles to rejoin group work.
• The adjustments: A daily check-in with a trusted adult, a visual timetable and a warning before changes, an agreed exit card and a calm space, a structured lunchtime program, and a regular review with the family and the school psychologist.
• Why Social/emotional: The adjustments mainly address regulation and participation, not how the student learns.

The category follows the adjustments, not the diagnosis

Start here, because it settles most category questions. The Quick Guide says the category is the area that is the main driver or focus of the adjustments being provided, and that it can change over time. The NCCD does not assign diagnoses to categories. There is no official list that puts autism, ADHD or anxiety in a fixed category, and two students with the same diagnosis can be in different categories.

It also means you do not need a diagnosis to choose a category. Disability can be diagnosed or imputed, and the category comes from the adjustments either way.

To choose the category:

1. List the adjustments the student actually receives, from the evidence rather than from memory.
2. Group them by what they address: learning; regulation and behaviour; movement, the body and health; hearing or vision.
3. Choose the group that is the main driver or focus of the support. That is the category.
4. If the student has more than one disability, choose the one needing the greatest adjustment.
5. Write one sentence on the record saying why, so the decision holds up in NCCD moderation.

Is ADHD cognitive or social/emotional?

It depends on what the adjustments mainly address. The NCCD does not assign ADHD, or any diagnosis, to a category. Two students with ADHD in the same class can be recorded differently, and both can be right.

The same reasoning applies to autism, anxiety or any other diagnosis. An autistic student whose adjustments mainly address learning may be recorded as Cognitive, and one whose adjustments mainly address anxiety, regulation or social participation as Social/emotional. For classroom adjustments, see adjustments for ADHD and adjustments for autism.

When a student has more than one disability

Each student is recorded in one category. When a student has more than one disability, choose the category of the disability that needs the greatest adjustment.

Take a student with a hearing impairment who also has an anxiety disorder. If most of the support is about access to spoken information, such as a remote microphone, captions and a visiting teacher of the deaf, choose Sensory. If the anxiety drives most of the support, such as daily check-ins, a modified timetable and a regulation plan, choose Social/emotional. Record why: moderation uses the year's evidence to make level and category decisions that are consistent, reliable and defensible.

Can the category change?

Yes. The Quick Guide says the category may change over time. A student's needs change, and so does the support: a young student whose early adjustments were mostly about regulation may, a few years on, need mostly learning adjustments.

Choose the category that reflects the adjustments in this year's collection, and review it each year alongside the level. The Quick Guide asks for levels to be reviewed every year rather than assumed to have stayed the same, and the same habit suits the category.

Categories of disability and levels of adjustment

The NCCD has no "categories of adjustment". It records two separate things for each student: a category of disability and a level of adjustment. Two students in the same category can sit at different levels.

For the levels, see NCCD levels of adjustment. For the kinds of adjustments schools make, see examples of NCCD adjustments.

What evidence supports the category

The record should make the category easy to see without anyone having to explain it. Need entries describe the functional impact, the adjustments show what the support mainly addresses, and monitoring shows whether it is working. A diagnostic report helps, but it is not required. See NCCD evidence requirements for what the whole record must show.

Sources, and where to go next

The category definitions paraphrase Appendix 3 of the NCCD Quick Guide (2026 edition, Education Services Australia), which aligns them with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005. Step 4 of the Quick Guide covers choosing the category and imputing disability. The NCCD Guidelines: Effective 2026 Onward take precedence over any summary, this one included.

Next, read imputed disability in the NCCD if a student has no diagnosis, or the whole NCCD process on one page.