Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 38, September 20, 2024
a) Each facility shall develop and implement
procedures for creating public awareness of the facility's programs and for
advising the public of the rights of recipients.
1) All such procedures shall assure that
information regarding programs and the rights of recipients is made available
in the community in phrases which will be understandable to parents, regardless
of ethnic or cultural background or hearing or visual abilities.
2) Procedures developed by the facility to
create public awareness of programs, and for advising the public of the rights
of recipients shall include, but not be limited to:
A) Annual notification to all parents of
recipients regarding the special education programs and services available in
or through the facility and of their right to receive, on request, a copy of
this Part.
B) An annual
dissemination of information to the community served by the facility regarding
the program and services available in or through the facility and the rights of
recipients.
b) After admission, the multi-disciplinary
team shall perform the educational diagnosis and evaluation in accordance with
subsections (e) and (g) of this Section so that the educational component of
the individual treatment or habilitation plan can be developed in accordance
with the time frames in the definition of the individual treatment or
habilitation plan in Section
108.10. The
educational component shall be developed in accordance with subsection
(n).
c) Parents of the recipient
must be notified, in writing, when the facility proposes to initiate or change
the educational identification, evaluation or placement of a recipient.
1) The notice shall be:
A) Written in language understandable to the
general public, and
B) Written in
the native language of the parent or provided in another mode of communication
used by the parent, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so, such as when
the parents' native language is not a written language or is one in which the
dialect is not commonly known to an interpreter of that language.
C) If the language or other mode of
communication of the parent is not a written language, the facility shall
insure that the notice is translated orally or by other means to the parent in
his or her native language or other mode of communication; that the parent
understands the content of the notice, and that there is written evidence on
file that these requirements have been met.
2) The notice shall contain:
A) A full explanation of all the procedural
safeguards regarding education available to parents, including the
availability, on request, of a list of free or low cost legal and other
relevant services available locally to assist parents in initiating an
impartial due process hearing regarding educational issues.
B) A description of the educational action
proposed or refused by the facility, an explanation of why that facility
proposed or refused to take the action, and a description of any options that
the facility considered and the reasons why those options were
rejected.
C) A description of each
educational evaluation procedure, test, record, or report that the facility
used as a basis for the proposal or refusal.
D) A description of any other factors which
are relevant to that facility's proposal or refusal, and
E) Inclusion of parental consent for
evaluation and placement into a program.
d) When a recipient is given an evaluation,
the facility shall be responsible for determining the recipient's language and
cultural background.
1) Determination shall be
made by determining the language(s) spoken in the recipient's home and the
language(s) used most comfortably and frequently by the recipient.
2) Determination of the recipient's mode of
communication shall be made by assessing the extent to which the recipient uses
expressive language and the use he or she makes of other modes of communication
(e.g., gestures, signing, unstructured sounds) as a substitute for expressive
language.
3) The recipient's
language use pattern, proficiency in English, mode of communication and
cultural background shall be noted in the recipient's individual treatment or
habilitation plan.
e)
The recipient shall be given an educational evaluation.
1) For the recipient who requires temporary
hospitalization estimated to last 90 days or less, a respite services
evaluation shall be conducted, and an individual habilitation plan developed.
This evaluation shall include, but not be limited to:
A) Evaluation of the physical health
impairment by a physician, for diagnostic and evaluation purposes;
B) Estimation by the physician of the time
the recipient will require respite services; and
C) A review of the recipient's current
educational status and academic needs.
2) The individual education plan from the
recipient's former school becomes the working individual plan for the respite
admission.
3) A comprehensive
evaluation shall be conducted for all other recipients. This evaluation shall
include, but not be limited to:
A) An
interview with the recipient;
B)
Consultation with the recipient's parents;
C) A social developmental study, including an
assessment of the recipient's adaptive behavior and cultural
background;
D) A report regarding
the recipient's medical history and current health status;
E) A vision and hearing screening, completed
at the time of the evaluation or within the previous six months;
F) A review of the recipient's academic
history and current educational functioning;
G) An educational evaluation of the
recipient's learning processes and level of educational achievement;
and
H) A psychological
evaluation.
4) If a
psychologist has not provided the evaluation on which admission was based, the
recipient shall be evaluated by the psychologist as part of the comprehensive
evaluation.
A) The psychologist shall conduct
direct personal observation of the recipient and shall administer such tests as
the individual's situation requires; shall review the tests administered by
school district personnel and/or the results of recent externally administered
evaluations, and analysis of the learning environment and learning processes;
and shall participate in the multi-disciplinary conference and such other
procedures as deemed necessary.
B)
An appropriate medical examination by a physician shall be obtained for all
recipients and the expense borne by the Department. Nothing herein shall be
construed to require any recipient to undergo any physical examination or
medical treatment whose parents object thereto on the grounds that such
examination or treatment conflicts with his or her religious beliefs, pursuant
to the provisions of Sections 2-102 (b), 2-107, 2-110 and 2-111 of the
Code.
5) Other
specialized evaluations appropriate to the nature of the recipients' problems
shall be provided for all recipients. When specialized evaluation procedures
not usually provided by the facility are required to provide a better
understanding of the recipient's educational or educationally-related problems,
the facility recommending such evaluation procedures shall be responsible for
locating and using appropriate local and/or state resources. Consideration
shall be given to resources of other state agencies or third party payers. The
recipient may not be prohibited from receiving a special education program or
service because the recipient is financially or otherwise unable to obtain
specialized evaluation procedures.
6) If the parent disagrees with an
educational evaluation completed by the facility, the facility shall inform the
parents of the opportunity to obtain an independent evaluation at public
expense.
A) In such cases, the facility may
initiate an impartial due process hearing prior to such independent evaluation
to demonstrate that the facility's evaluation is appropriate.
B) If the final decision is that the
facility's evaluation is appropriate, the parent shall have the right to an
independent evaluation, but not at public expense.
f) If all requirements for
educational evaluation cannot be fulfilled, due to lack of parental
involvement, religious convictions of the family, or the inability of the
recipient to participate in an evaluation procedure, the facility shall note
the missing component(s) in the recipient's individual treatment or
habilitation plan.
g) Each
educational evaluation shall be conducted so as to assure that it is
linguistically, culturally, racially, and sexually non-discriminatory.
1) The language(s) used to evaluate a
recipient shall be consistent with the recipient's language pattern. If the
language use pattern involves two or more languages, the recipient shall be
evaluated using each of the languages used by the recipient.
2) Psychological evaluation of a recipient
shall be performed by a clinical or certified school psychologist who has
demonstrated competencies in, and knowledge of, the language and culture of the
recipient. The facility, having exhausted all other alternatives and not
securing the services of a clinical or certified school psychologist who has
demonstrated competencies in, and knowledge of, the language and culture of the
recipient, the psychologist regularly employed by the facility shall conduct
assessment procedures which do not depend on language, or use the services of
an interpreter. Any educational programming resulting from such alternative
procedures shall be reviewed at least every 30 days until the recipient
acquires a predominately English language use pattern which will assure that a
psychological evaluation given by a clinical or certified school psychologist
will not be discriminatory.
3)
Tests given to a recipient whose primary language is other than English shall
be relevant, to the maximum extent possible, to his or her culture.
4) If the recipient's receptive and/or
expressive communication skills are impaired due to hearing and/or language
deficits, the examiners shall use instruments and procedures which do not
stress spoken language and one of the following:
A) Visual communication techniques in
addition to auditory techniques;
B)
An interpreter to assist the evaluating personnel with testing.
5) Each facility shall insure that
testing and evaluation material and procedures used for educational evaluation
be selected and administered so as not to be racially or culturally
discriminatory.
6) Each facility
shall insure that:
A) Tests and other
evaluation materials are provided and administered in the recipient's native
language or other mode of communication, unless it is clearly not feasible to
do so; have been validated for the specific purpose for which they are used,
and are administered by a clinical or certified school psychologist in
conformance with the instructions provided by their producer.
B) Tests and other educational evaluation
materials include those tailored to assess specific areas of educational need
and not merely those which are designed to provide a single general
intelligence quotient.
C) When
tests are administered to a recipient with impaired sensory, motor or
communication skills, tests shall be selected and administered to insure that
the results accurately reflect the recipient's aptitude or achievement level
rather than reflecting the recipient's impaired sensory, motor or communication
skills except when those skills are the factors which the test(s) purports to
measure.
D) No single procedure is
used as the sole criterion for determining an appropriate educational program
for a recipient.
E) The educational
evaluation is made by a multi-disciplinary team, including at least one teacher
or other specialist with knowledge in the area of the suspected
disability.
F) The recipient is
assessed in all areas related to the suspected disability, including, when
appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general
intelligence, academic performances, communicative status, and motor
abilities.
h)
In those instances in which a recipient has been evaluated by a clinical or
certified school psychologist outside the facility, that evaluation shall be
considered and may be used in determining educational programming.
i) Upon completion of a respite service
educational evaluation and program, the recipient will resume his or her
educational programming consistent with the recipient's regular placement. A
report regarding respite recommendations and all recommendations upon which
they were based shall be placed in the recipient's education record and shared,
with the sending agency or school district, with appropriate consents, in
accordance with the Act.
j) Upon
completion of a comprehensive educational evaluation, one or more conferences
shall be convened for the purpose of formulating educational program and
service options, and developing the educational component of the individual
treatment or habilitation plan. This may be the conference at which the
individual treatment or habilitation plan as required by Sections 3-209 and
4-309 of the Code is developed. If not, an additional meeting is to be held to
develop the educational component of the individual treatment or habilitation
plan.
1) Participants in the conference who
formulate the educational component shall include:
A) Representatives of the recipient's local
district of residence as determined by the local district;
B) The facility director, special education
director, or unit educator who is qualified, in accordance with Section
108.40(j),
to provide or supervise the provision of educational programming;
C) All those personnel involved in the
educational evaluation of the recipient;
D) The parent;
E) Other persons, such as the recipient's
personal physician, a counselor seen by the recipient, social worker or
psychologist, having significant information regarding the recipient;
F) Those persons who may become responsible
for providing the educational program or service to the recipient;
and
G) The recipient, if mentally
able to participate, and other individuals at the discretion of the
parent.
2) The purpose
of the above conference shall be to:
A)
Establish a composite understanding of the recipient's learning
characteristics, sensory and motor skills, and behaviors;
B) Determine appropriate educational programs
and/or other services;
C) Determine
the recipient's unique educational needs and the extent to which these needs
can be met;
D) Determine the nature
and degree of educational intervention which is needed and recommend
corresponding facility programming and/or community placement which is
appropriate and is as unrestrictive of interaction with non-handicapped
recipients as possible.
k) Recommendations made at the
multi-disciplinary conference shall be determined by a consensus of facility
participants and the parent(s) and the recipient, if mentally able.
l) Recommendations for educational
programming shall be based on the following:
1) The recipient shall be placed in the
educational program which is appropriate to the recipient's needs and least
restrictive of interaction with non-handicapped or less handicapped
recipients.
2) The educational
programming must be based on the recipient's individual education plan,
consistent with the findings obtained from the comprehensive educational
evaluation.
3) Consideration must
be given to any potentially harmful effects on the recipient, on the quality of
services which the recipient needs, or that which impedes the education of
other recipients.
m) A
written report of the results and recommendations of the multi-disciplinary
conference shall be prepared and entered into the recipient's clinical record.
1) The conference report shall be dated and
list the names of all those in attendance.
2) The facility shall keep on file a copy of
the conference report, together with all documentation upon which it is based.
The parents shall be informed of their rights to access the report, pursuant to
Section 4 of the Act.
n)
If the initial multi-disciplinary conference was held only for the purpose of
formulating program and service options, an additional meeting must be held for
the purpose of developing the educational component of the individual treatment
of habilitation plan for the recipient. The meeting at which a recipient's
educational component is developed must be held within 60 days after the
admission of the recipient.
1) Parents of a
recipient must be notified of any meeting to develop, review, or revise the
educational component of a recipient's individual treatment or habilitation
plan. The facility must take steps to insure that a recipient's parents are
present at each meeting or are afforded the opportunity to participate,
including:
A) Notifying parents of the meeting
early enough to insure that they will have an opportunity to attend;
B) Scheduling the meeting at a mutually
agreed on time and place; and
C)
Indicating in the notice the purpose, time, and location of the meeting and who
will be in attendance.
2) The following participants must be invited
to the meeting to develop, review or revise the educational component of the
individual treatment or habilitation plan:
A)
A representative of the district of parental residence who is qualified to
provide or supervise the provision of special education (e.g., the
State-approved special education director or designee);
B) The recipient's teacher; and
C) One or both of the recipient's parents. If
neither can attend, the facility shall use other methods to insure parent
participation, including individual or conference telephone calls. A meeting
may be conducted without a parent in attendance if the facility is unable to
convince the parents that they should attend. In this case, the facility must
have a record of its attempts to arrange a mutually agreed on time such as
detailed records of telephone calls made or attempted and the results of those
calls, copies of correspondence sent to the parents and any response received,
and detailed records of visits made at the parent's home or place of employment
and the results of those visits.
D)
The recipient if mentally able to participate; and
E) Other individuals at the discretion of the
parent or facility.
3)
Employee organization representatives may not attend without parental and
facility consent.
4) The facility
shall insure that a member of the evaluation team participates in the meeting
or that some other person, who is knowledgeable about the procedures used with
the recipient and who is familiar with the results of the evaluation,
participates in the meeting, as well as an interpreter for the hearing
impaired, if necessary.
o) Special education placement shall be made
within four days after the recipient's educational component is developed in
accordance with subsection (n) of this Section.
p) In addition to initial meetings, the
educational status and continued special education placement of each recipient
shall be reviewed at least annually in a conference attended by those
professional persons working with the recipient, the parents, the recipient
when mentally able to participate, the special education director or designee
from the district of parental residence, who is a qualified professional, and
other individuals at the discretion of the parent.
q) Notification to parents regarding
continuation, change, re-evaluation, or termination of placement shall inform
the parents of their right to object and of the procedures to be followed to
make such an objection.
r) At least
10 days prior to any major change in the educational component of the
recipient's individual treatment or habilitation plan, including those stated
herein, the parents shall be given written notification of the proposed change,
including the reasons for the change and a description of the proposed program.
1) If the parents request an impartial due
process hearing regarding a proposed change in the educational placement of the
recipient, the facility shall not change the placement until the matter is
resolved.
2) If the parents agree
to the proposed placement, then a meeting shall be held for the revision of the
recipient's educational plan.
