Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 11, August 30, 2024
These definitions are frequently used in the Alabama
Administrative Code.
(1)
Consent. Consent means that:
(a) The parent has been fully informed of all
information relevant to the activity for which consent is sought, in his or her
native language, or other mode of communication;
(b) The parent understands and agrees in
writing to the carrying out of the activity for which his or her consent is
sought, and the consent describes that activity and lists the records (if any)
that will be released and to whom; and
(c) The parent understands that the granting
of consent is voluntary on the part of the parent and may be revoked at
anytime. If a parent revokes consent, that revocation is not retroactive (i.e.,
it does not negate an action that has occurred after the consent was given and
before the consent was revoked).
(2)
Core Academic
Subjects. Core academic subjects means English, reading or
language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government,
economics, arts, history, and geography.
(3)
Day; Business Day;
School Day.
(a) Day means
calendar day unless otherwise indicated as business day or school
day.
(b) Business day means Monday
through Friday, except for Federal and State holidays (unless holidays are
specifically included in the designation of business day).
(c) School day means any day, including a
partial day that children are in attendance at school for instructional
purposes. School day has the same meaning for all children in school, including
children with and without disabilities.
(4)
Educational
Performance. Educational performance means academic,
social/emotional, and/or communication skills.
(5)
Elementary
School. Elementary school means a nonprofit institutional
day or residential school, including a public elementary charter school, that
provides elementary education, as determined under state law.
(6)
Evaluation. Evaluation means procedures
used to determine whether a child has a disability and the nature and extent of
the special education and related services that the child needs.
(7)
Free Appropriate Public
Education (FAPE). Free appropriate public education or FAPE
means special education and related services that:
(a) Are provided at public expense, under
public supervision and direction, and without charge;
(b) Meet the standards of the SEA, including
the requirements of this part;
(c)
Include an appropriate preschool, elementary school, or secondary school
education in the State; and
(d) Are
provided in conformity with an individualized education program (IEP) and its
requirements.
(8)
Homeless Children. Homeless children has
the meaning given the term homeless children and youths in section 725 (42
U.S.C. 11434a) of the McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Act, as amended,
42 U.S.C.
11431 et seq.
(9)
IDEA. IDEA means the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act, as amended.
(10)
Individualized
Education Program (IEP). Individualized education program
or IEP means a written statement for a child with a disability that is
developed, reviewed, and revised in accordance with these rules.
(11)
Individualized Family
Service Plan (IFSP). Individualized family service plan or
IFSP means a written plan developed jointly by the family, Early Intervention
(EI) service coordinator and providers for eligible children birth to three
years and their family.
(12)
Local Education Agency (LEA).
(a) Local educational agency or LEA means a
public board of education or other public authority legally constituted within
a State for either administrative control or direction of, or to perform a
service function for, public elementary or secondary schools in a city, county,
township, school district, or other political subdivision of a State, or for a
combination of school districts or counties as are recognized in a State as an
administrative agency for its public elementary schools or secondary
schools.
(b) Educational service
agencies and other public institutions or agencies. The term includes:
1. An educational service agency;
and
2. Any other public institution
or agency having administrative control and direction of a public elementary
school or secondary school, including a public nonprofit charter school that is
established as an LEA under State law.
(13)
Native
Language.
(a) Native
language, when used with respect to an individual who is limited English
proficient, means the following:
1. The
language normally used by that individual, or, in the case of a child, the
language normally used by the parents of the child, except as provided in
paragraph (a)2. of this section.
2.
In all direct contact with a child (including evaluation of the child), the
language normally used by the child in the home or learning
environment.
(b) For an
individual with deafness or blindness, or for an individual with no written
language, the mode of communication is that normally used by the individual
(such as sign language, Braille, or oral communication).
(14)
Parent.
(a) Parent means:
1. A biological or adoptive parent of a
child;
2. A foster parent, unless
State law, regulations, or contractual obligations with a State or local entity
prohibit a foster parent from acting as a parent;
3. A guardian generally authorized to act as
the child's parent, or authorized to make educational decisions for the child
(but not the State if the child is a ward of the State [in the "legal custody"
of a state agency]);
4. An
individual acting in the place of a biological or adoptive parent (including a
grandparent, stepparent, or other relative) with whom the child lives, or an
individual who is legally responsible for the child's welfare; or
5. A surrogate parent who has been appointed
in accordance with these rules.
(b) Except as provided in the last paragraph
of this section, the biological or adoptive parent, when attempting to act as
the parent under these rules and when more than one party is qualified under
paragraph (a) of this section to act as a parent, must be presumed to be the
parent for purposes of this section unless the biological or adoptive parent
does not have legal authority to make educational decisions for the child. If a
judicial decree or order identifies a specific person or persons under
paragraphs (a)1. through 4. of this section to act as the "parent" of a child
or to make educational decisions on behalf of a child, then such person or
persons shall be determined to be the "parent" for purposes of this
section.
(15)
Participating Agency. Participating
agency means any agency or institution that collects, maintains, or uses
personally identifiable information, or from which information is obtained,
under Part B of the IDEA.
(16)
Personally Identifiable. Personally
identifiable means information that contains the name of the child; the child's
parent, or other family member; the address of the child; a personal
identifier, such as the child's social security number or student number; or a
list of personal characteristics or other information that would make it
possible to identify the child with reasonable certainty.
(17)
Public
Agency. Public agency includes the SEA, LEAs, ESAs,
nonprofit public charter schools that are not otherwise included as LEAs or
ESAs and are not a school of an LEA or ESA, and any other political
subdivisions of the State that are responsible for providing education to
children with disabilities.
(18)
Related Services.
(a) General. Related services means
transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive
services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from
special education, and includes speech-language pathology and audiology
services, interpreting services, psychological services, physical and
occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic recreation, early
identification and assessment of disabilities in children, counseling services,
including rehabilitation counseling, orientation and mobility services, and
medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes. Related services also
include school health services and school nurse services, social work services
in schools, and parent counseling and training.
(b) Exception: services that apply to
children with surgically implanted devices, including cochlear implants.
1. Related services do not include a medical
device that is surgically implanted, the optimization of that device's
functioning (e.g., mapping), maintenance of that device, or the replacement of
that device.
2. Nothing in
paragraph (b)(1) of this section:
(i) Limits
the right of a child with a surgically implanted device (e.g., cochlear
implant) to receive related services (as listed in paragraph (a) of this
section) that are determined by the IEP Team to be necessary for the child to
receive FAPE.
(ii) Limits the
responsibility of a public agency to appropriately monitor and maintain medical
devices that are needed to maintain the health and safety of the child,
including breathing, nutrition, or operation of other bodily functions, while
the child is transported to and from school or is at school; or
(iii) Prevents the routine checking of an
external component of a surgically implanted device to make sure it is
functioning properly.
(c) Individual related services terms
defined. The terms used in this definition are defined as follows:
1. Audiology includes:
(i) Identification of children with hearing
loss;
(ii) Determination of the
range, nature, and degree of hearing loss, including referral for medical or
other professional attention for the habilitation of hearing;
(iii) Provision of habilitative activities,
such as language habilitation, auditory training, speech reading (lip-reading),
hearing evaluation, and speech conservation;
(iv) Creation and administration of programs
for prevention of hearing loss;
(v)
Counseling and guidance of children, parents, and teachers regarding hearing
loss; and
(vi) Determination of
children's needs for group and individual amplification, selecting and fitting
an appropriate aid, and evaluating the effectiveness of
amplification.
2.
Counseling services means services provided by qualified social workers,
psychologists, guidance counselors, or other qualified personnel.
3. Early identification and assessment of
disabilities in children means the implementation of a formal plan for
identifying a disability as early as possible in a child's life.
4. Interpreting services includes:
(i) The following, when used with respect to
children who are deaf or hard of hearing: Oral transliteration services, cued
language transliteration services, sign language transliteration and
interpreting services, and transcription services, such as communication access
real-time translation (CART), C-Print, and TypeWell; and
(ii) Special interpreting services for
children who are deaf-blind.
5. Medical services means services provided
by a licensed physician to determine a child's medically related disability
that results in the child's need for special education and related
services.
6. Occupational therapy
means services provided by a qualified occupational therapist; and includes:
(i) Improving, developing, or restoring
functions impaired or lost through illness, injury, or deprivation;
(ii) Improving ability to perform tasks for
independent functioning if functions are impaired or lost; and
(iii) Preventing, through early intervention,
initial or further impairment or loss of function.
7. Orientation and mobility services:
(i) Means services provided to blind or
visually impaired children by qualified personnel to enable those students to
attain systematic orientation to and safe movement within their environments in
school, home, and community; and
(ii) Includes teaching children the
following, as appropriate:
(I) Spatial and
environmental concepts and use of information received by the senses (such as
sound, temperature and vibrations) to establish, maintain, or regain
orientation and line of travel (e.g., using sound at a traffic light to cross
the street);
(II) To use the long
cane or a service animal to supplement visual travel skills or as a tool for
safely negotiating the environment for children with no available travel
vision;
(III) To understand and use
remaining vision and distance low vision aids; and
(IV) Other concepts, techniques, and
tools.
8.
Parent counseling and training means assisting parents in understanding the
special needs of their child; providing parents with information about child
development; and helping parents to acquire the necessary skills that will
allow them to support the implementation of their child's IEP or
IFSP.
9. Physical therapy means
services provided by a qualified physical therapist.
10. Psychological services includes:
(i) Administering psychological and
educational tests, and other assessment procedures;
(ii) Interpreting assessment
results;
(iii) Obtaining,
integrating, and interpreting information about child behavior and conditions
relating to learning;
(iv)
Consulting with other staff members in planning school programs to meet the
special educational needs of children as indicated by psychological tests,
interviews, direct observation, and behavioral evaluations;
(v) Planning and managing a program of
psychological services, including psychological counseling for children and
parents; and
(vi) Assisting in
developing positive behavioral intervention strategies.
11. Recreation includes:
(i) Assessment of leisure function;
(ii) Therapeutic recreation
services;
(iii) Recreation programs
in schools and community agencies; and
(iv) Leisure education.
12. Rehabilitation counseling services means
services provided by qualified personnel in individual or group sessions that
focus specifically on career development, employment preparation, achieving
independence, and integration in the workplace and community of a student with
a disability. The term also includes vocational rehabilitation services
provided to a student with a disability by vocational rehabilitation programs
funded under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended,
29 U.S.C.
701 et seq.
13. School health services and school nurse
services means health services that are designed to enable a child with a
disability to receive FAPE as described in the child's IEP. School nurse
services are services provided by a qualified school nurse. School health
services are services that may be provided by either a qualified school nurse
or other qualified person.
14.
Social work services in schools includes:
(i)
Preparing a social or developmental history on a child with a
disability;
(ii) Group and
individual counseling with the child and family;
(iii) Working in partnership with parents and
others on those problems in a child's living situation (home, school, and
community) that affect the child's adjustment in school;
(iv) Mobilizing school and community
resources to enable the child to learn as effectively as possible in his or her
educational program; and
(v)
Assisting in developing positive behavioral intervention strategies.
15. Speech-language pathology
services includes:
(i) Identification of
children with speech or language impairments;
(ii) Diagnosis and appraisal of specific
speech or language impairments;
(iii) Referral for medical or other
professional attention necessary for the habilitation of speech or language
impairments;
(iv) Provision of
speech and language services for the habilitation or prevention of
communicative impairments; and
(v)
Counseling and guidance of parents, children, and teachers regarding speech and
language impairments.
16. Transportation includes:
(i) Travel to and from school and between
schools;
(ii) Travel in and around
school buildings; and
(iii)
Specialized equipment (such as special or adapted buses, lifts, and ramps), if
required to provide special transportation for a child with a
disability.
(19)
Secondary
School. Secondary school means a nonprofit institutional
day or residential school, including a public secondary charter school that
provides secondary education, as determined under state law, except that it
does not include any education beyond Grade 12.
(20)
Services
Plan. Services plan means a written statement that
describes the special education and related services the LEA will provide to a
parentally-placed child with a disability enrolled in a private school who has
been designated to receive services, including the location of the services and
any transportation necessary, and is developed and implemented in accordance
with these rules.
(21)
Special Education.
(a) General.
1. Special education means specially designed
instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child
with a disability, including:
(i) Instruction
conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in
other settings; and
(ii)
Instruction in physical education.
2. Special education includes each of the
following, if the services otherwise meet the requirements of paragraph (a)1.
of this section:
(i) Speech-language
pathology services;
(ii) Travel
training; and
(iii) Vocational
education.
(b) Individual special education terms
defined. The terms in this definition are defined as follows:
1. At no cost means that all
specially-designed instruction is provided without charge, but does not
preclude incidental fees that are normally charged to nondisabled students or
their parents as a part of the regular education program.
2. Physical education means:
(i) The development of:
(I) Physical and motor fitness;
(II) Fundamental motor skills and patterns;
and
(III) Skills in aquatics,
dance, and individual and group games and sports (including intramural and
lifetime sports); and
(ii) Includes special physical education,
adapted physical education, movement education, and motor
development.
3.
Specially designed instruction means adapting, as appropriate, to the needs of
an eligible child under these rules, the content, methodology, or delivery of
instruction:
(i) To address the unique needs
of the child that result from the child's disability; and
(ii) To ensure access of the child to the
general curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational standards within
the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children.
4. Travel training means providing
instruction, as appropriate, to children with significant cognitive
disabilities, and any other children with disabilities who require this
instruction, to enable them to:
(i) Develop
an awareness of the environment in which they live; and
(ii) Learn the skills necessary to move
effectively and safely from place to place within that environment (e.g., in
school, in the home, at work, and in the community).
5. Vocational education means organized
educational programs that are directly related to the preparation of
individuals for paid or unpaid employment, or for additional preparation for a
career not requiring a baccalaureate or advanced degree.
(22)
State
Educational Agency (SEA). State educational agency or SEA
means the State Board of Education or other agency or officer primarily
responsible for the State supervision of public elementary schools and
secondary schools, or, if there is no such officer or agency, an officer or
agency designated by the Governor or by State law.
(23)
Supplementary Aids and
Services. Supplementary aids and services means aids,
services, and other supports that are provided in regular education classes,
other education-related settings, and in extracurricular and nonacademic
settings, to enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled
children to the maximum extent appropriate in accordance with these
rules.
(24)
Transition Services.
(a) Transition services means a coordinated
set of activities for a child with a disability that:
1. Is designed to be within a
results-oriented process, that is focused on improving the academic and
functional achievement of the child with a disability to facilitate the child's
movement from school to post-school activities, including postsecondary
education, vocational education, integrated employment (including supported
employment), continuing and adult education, adult services, independent
living, or community participation;
2. Is based on the individual child's needs,
taking into account the child's strengths, preferences, and interests; and
includes:
(i) Instruction;
(ii) Related services;
(iii) Community experiences;
(iv) The development of employment and other
post-school adult living objectives; and
(v) If appropriate, acquisition of daily
living skills and provision of a functional vocational evaluation.
(b) Transition services
for children with disabilities may be special education, if provided as
specially designed instruction, or a related service, if required to assist a
child with a disability to benefit from special education.
(25)
Ward of the
State.
(a) General. Ward
of the State means a child who, as determined by the State where the child
resides, is:
1. A foster child;
2. A ward of the State (in the "legal
custody" of a state agency); or
3.
In the custody of a public child welfare agency.
(b) Exception. Ward of the State does not
include a foster child who has a foster parent who meets the definition of a
parent in accordance with these rules.
Author: Joseph B. Morton
Statutory Authority:
Code of Ala.
1975, Title 16, Chapter 39;
20 U.S.C.
1400 et seq.; 34 CFR §300.
