Hawaii Administrative Rules
Title 11 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
Subtitle 1 - GENERAL DEPARTMENTAL PROVISIONS
Chapter 147 - HEALTH SERVICES TO EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN UNDER P.L. NO. 94-142
Section 11-147-2 - Definitions

As used in this chapter:

"Audiological services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes" means services provided by a licensed audiologist to test and measure a child's ability to hear, assess the type, severity and site of any hearing impairment, and identify any communication disorder which may affect the child's speech, language, auditory function, or auditory behavior. Such services may include audiometric testing, impedance testing, central auditory assessment, brain stem evoked response testing, vestibular testing, and hearing aid evaluations.

"Clinical evaluation of mental health status" means a clinical assessment conducted by the mental health division children's staff under the supervision and review of a department psychiatrist or clinical psychologist, or a licensed psychiatrist or clinical psychologist contracted by the department's mental health division, for the purpose of formulating a diagnostic and prognostic impression about a child to be used by the department of education multi-disciplinary evaluation team and school personnel, to determine whether a child is handicapped and therefore eligible to receive special education and related services pursuant to P.L. 94-142, or to contribute to the formulation of an appropriate educational program and placement for an eligible handicapped child.

"Department" means the department of health.

"Direct treatment services" (DTS) means those related services specifically designed to meet the unique needs of a particular handicapped child, which are provided to facilitate the child's achievement of the goals and objectives identified in the child's IEP. It includes individual and group activities, instruction, training, therapy, counseling, or treatment for the child. DTS are provided by personnel other than the child's teacher.

"District" means any of the seven specific geographic school divisions of the State as designated by the department of education.

"Evaluation" means those activities involved in gathering information about a specific child to determine whether a child is eligible for special education services and the nature and extent of the special education and related services the child needs. An evaluation is made up of separate assessments that cover all areas related to the suspected disability, including where appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence, academic performance, communicative status, and motor abilities. (The department shall prepare only those particular assessments more specifically defined and described in this chapter.) Testing and evaluation materials and procedures used for the purposes of evaluation and placement of handicapped children shall be selected and administered so as not to be racially or culturally discriminatory. Evaluation encompasses the following terms and activities:

(1) Children who have a speech impairment may not need a complete battery of assessments (such as those for psychological, physical, or adaptive behavior). However, qualified speech and language personnel would:

(A) Evaluate each speech impaired child using procedures that are appropriate for the diagnosis and appraisal of speech and language disorders, and

(B) Where necessary, make referrals for additional assessments needed to make an appropriate placement decision.

(2) Initial or pre-placement evaluation means the first comprehensive, full and individual evaluation that is conducted for any child suspected of being handicapped;

(3) Re-evaluation means a comprehensive evaluation of a handicapped child that is conducted every three years or more frequently if conditions warrant, or if the child's parent or teacher requests one;

(4) Supplemental assessment means an assessment that is deemed necessary in order to obtain additional information about a handicapped child which is conducted after a handicapped child is placed in a special education program; such assessments may be in areas such as mental health services, speech or occupational or physical therapy; and

(5) Independent educational evaluation means an evaluation conducted by a qualified examiner who is not employed by a public agency responsible for the education of the child in question; whenever an independent evaluation is at public expense, criteria for conducting the evaluation shall meet State standards.

Unless the term "child" or "student" is used to describe a person who is suspected of being a handicapped child, "exceptional child(ren), who is handicapped," "handicapped child(ren)," "handicapped student," "child" or "student" means a person residing in the State who will be at least three years of age on or before December 31 of the school year and under twenty years of age on the first instructional day of the school year, who has been found eligible for special education and related services by the department of education due to the presence of one or more of the following handicapping conditions: mental retardation, hearing impairment, speech impairment, visual impairment, serious emotional disturbance, orthopedic handicap or other health impairment, deaf-blindness, severe multiple handicaps, or specific learning disability. Any and all rights conferred upon parents by this chapter shall be transferred to any student who reaches eighteen years of age and has not been found incapacitated under section 560:5-101, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

"Individualized education program" (IEP) means a written statement, developed jointly by the handicapped child's parents, department and department of education personnel, which includes a statement of the child's present levels of educational performance, a statement of annual goals, including short-term objectives, a statement of specific special education and related services to be provided to the child and the extent to which the child will be able to participate in regular education programs, the projected dates for initiation of services and the anticipated duration of the services, and appropriate objective criteria and evaluation procedures and schedules for determining, on at least an annual basis, whether the short-term instructional objectives are being achieved.

"Medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes" means services provided by a licensed physician to identify any medically related handicapping condition(s) and the relationship(s), if any, between that condition(s) and the child's educational activities.

"Mental health division children's staff" means those persons employed or whose services are contracted by the department's mental health division to provide mental health services to children. These persons include the staff of the children's mental health services branch, the adolescent unit of the state hospital branch, the children's teams of children's services units of the various mental health centers, and the courts and corrections branch.

"Mental health services" means psychiatric or psychological services for the purposes of obtaining data to be used in determining whether a child is handicapped and therefore eligible to receive special education and related services pursuant to P.L. 94-142, and providing consultation and training to school personnel, and individualized counseling and therapy to an eligible handicapped child.

"Occupational therapy" means those services including evaluation, problem identification and treatment, provided by a certified, registered occupational therapist or a certified occupational therapy assistant to improve the handicapped child's ability to perform in the areas of self-maintenance, and sensory, motor, and perceptual skills required of a productive member in the community.

"Physical therapy" means those services, including evaluation, program planning, treatment, consultation, and instruction, provided or supervised by a licensed physical therapist, physical therapy assistant, or therapy aide to prevent or minimize the effects of a physical disability or dysfunction and to enhance the student's potential for independent functioning in areas including mobility, self help skills, gross motor development, and health maintenance of the musculo-skeletal system.

"Related services" means mental health services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, audiological and medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes, parent counseling and training, and school health services which are required to assist a handicapped child to benefit from special education.

"School health services" means first aid and individualized health care service, preventive health care, and health appraisals and follow-up care which are provided by school nurses, health aides, and other qualified persons, pursuant to title 11, chapter 146, Administrative Rules.

"School nurse" means the registered professional nurse assigned by the department to the school health complex of which a particular school is a part, who is responsible for providing and/or coordinating the delivery of school health services within that complex.

"Student oriented consultation" (SOC) means conferring with the teacher(s) of a particular handicapped student regarding physical therapy, occupational therapy, or mental health treatment services responsive to the unique needs of that student. Consultation is provided to assist the teacher(s) in the implementation and assessment of the services, and goals and objectives which have been or may appropriately be developed for that student.

"Teacher oriented consultation" (TOC) means conferring with teacher(s) of handicapped children to assist them in the development and maintenance of a therapeutic learning environment for handicapped children.