Code of Maine Rules
05 - DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
071 - EDUCATION - GENERAL
Chapter 101 - MAINE UNIFIED SPECIAL EDUCATION REGULATION BIRTH TO AGE TWENTY-TWO
Section 071-101-II - DEFINITIONS

Universal Citation: 05 ME Code Rules § 071-101-II

Current through 2025-13, March 26, 2025

1. Abbreviated school day - Abbreviated school day means any day that a child eligible under this chapter attends school or receives educational services for less time than age/grade peers without disabilities within the same school and/or school program.

2. Accommodations. Accommodations mean changes in the manner in which instruction and assessment is delivered that does not alter the curriculum level expectation being measured or taught.

3. Adverse effect/Adversely affects. The word "adverse" commonly means "harmful, impeding, obstructing, or detrimental." To "adversely affect" means to have a negative impact that is more than a minor or transient hindrance, evidenced by findings and observations based on data sources and objective assessments with replicable results. An adverse effect on educational performance does not include a developmentally appropriate characteristic of age/grade peers in the general population.

4. Assessment. For children B-2, assessment means the ongoing procedures used by appropriate qualified personnel throughout the period of a child's eligibility under Part C of IDEA to identify:

A. The child's unique strengths and needs and the services appropriate to meet those needs; and

B. The resources, priorities, and concerns of the family and the supports and services necessary to enhance the family's capacity to meet the developmental needs of their infant or toddler with a disability. [303.322(b)(2)]

For children 3 to twenty-two, assessment under Part B means the ongoing procedures used by appropriately qualified personnel to measure the educational and functional achievement of students as related to their IFSP or IEP goals and on State and district-wide tests, which are aligned with Maine's Learning Results.

5. Composite Score: Composite score means a standardized score which summarizes performance on 2 or more tests of cognitive ability. All scores used to compute a composite score must have been validated in scientific research to be measures of the general cognitive skills which the composite score purports to measure.

6. Consent. Consent means that:

A. The parent has been fully informed of all information relevant to the activity for which consent is sought, in the parent's native language or other mode of communication; and

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 the parent understands that the granting of consent is voluntary on the parent's part and may be revoked at any time. 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). If the parent revokes consent in writing for their child's receipt of special education and related services, the SAU is not required to amend the child's education records to remove any references to the receipt of special education and related services because of the revocation. [34 CFR 300.9]

7. Day; Business Day; School Day. Day means calendar day unless otherwise indicated as business day or school day. Business day means Monday through Friday, except for Federal and State holidays (unless holidays are specifically included in the designation of business day). 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. [34 CFR 300.11]

8. Diagnostic Impression. Diagnostic impression means an interpretive statement based upon previous and current evaluative data. A diagnostic impression may or may not make reference to DSM or ICD criteria.

9. Early Intervention Services. "Early intervention services" means developmental services that are provided under public supervision; are provided at no cost except where Federal or State law provides for a system of payments by families, including a schedule of sliding fees; are designed to meet the developmental needs of an infant or toddler with a disability, as identified by the individualized family service plan team in one or more of the following areas, physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development or adaptive development; meet the standards of the state in which the services are provided, including the requirements of Part C; including family training, counseling, and home visits; special instruction; speech-language pathology and audiology services, and sign language and cued speech services; occupational therapy; physical therapy; psychological services; service coordination services; medical services only for diagnostic or evaluation purposes; early identification, screening, and assessment services; health services necessary to enable the infant or toddler to benefit from other early intervention services; social work services; vision services; assistive technology devices and assistive technology services; and transportation and related costs that are necessary to enable an infant or toddler and the infant's or toddler's family to receive another service described in this paragraph; are provided by qualified personnel, including special educators, speech-language pathologists and audiologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, registered dieticians, family therapists, vision specialists, including ophthalmologists and optometrists, orientation and mobility specialists, and pediatricians and other physicians. S to the maximum extent appropriate, are provided in natural environments, including the home, and community settings in which children without disabilities participate; and are provided in conformity with an individualized family service plan. [20 USC 1432(4)]

10. Educational Performance. Educational performance means performance in those academic and functional areas (as defined in Section II(15) Functional Performance) including, but not limited to, those areas that are being assessed through the local SAU's own curriculum. Educational performance for a child age 3-5 means performance in age appropriate developmental activities across five domains of development (communication, physical, cognitive, self-help/adaptive, and social/emotional) in an educational setting. Section V(3) Additional Requirements for Evaluations and Reevaluations of this regulation articulates the requirement to review existing data.

11. Evaluation. Evaluation means the procedures used by appropriate qualified personnel to determine a child's initial and continuing eligibility under this part, consistent with the definition of ``infants and toddlers with disabilities'' in Sec. 303.16, including determining the status of the child in each of the developmental areas. [34 CFR 303.322(b)(1)] Evaluation means procedures used in accordance with these rules to determine whether a child has a disability and the nature and extent of the special education and supportive services that the child needs. [34 CFR 300.15] The screening of a student by a teacher or specialist to determine appropriate instructional strategies for curriculum implementation shall not be considered to be an evaluation for eligibility for special education and related services. [34 CFR 300.302]

12. Formative Assessment. For purposes of general education interventions, the term formative assessment means using standardized administration procedures with direct, on-going, individualized, assessments that have been shown to have predictive validity and which generate reliable rate based data about a student's actual performance on academic and/or behavioral tasks.

13. Free Appropriate Public Education. Free appropriate public education means special education and related services that are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge; meet the standards of the Department and the requirements of this rule; include an appropriate preschool, elementary school or secondary school education in the state; and are provided in conformity with the individualized family service plan or individualized education program that meets the requirements of 300.320 through 300.324 [20 USC 1401(9) and 34 CFR 300.17]

14. Functional Behavioral Assessment. Functional behavioral assessment means a school-based process used by the Individualized Education Program (IEP) Team, which includes the parent and, as appropriate, the child, to determine why a child engages in challenging behaviors and how the behavior relates to the child's environment. The term includes direct assessments, indirect assessments and data analysis designed to assist the IEP Team to identify and define the problem behavior in concrete terms, identify the contextual factors (including affective and cognitive factors) that contribute to the behavior, and formulate a hypothesis regarding the general conditions under which a behavior usually occurs and the probable consequences that maintain the behavior. Formal documentation of the assessment by appropriately qualified individuals becomes part of the child's educational record and is provided to the IEP Team.

15. Functional Performance. Functional performance means how the child demonstrates his/her skills and behaviors in cognition, communication, motor, adaptive, social/emotional and sensory areas.

16. General Education Interventions. General education interventions are general education procedures involving regular benchmark assessment of all children, using Curriculum Based Measurements (CBM), to monitor child progress and identify those children who are at risk of failing. Children who are at risk receive responsive interventions in the general education program that attempt to resolve the presenting problems of concern. General educators are encouraged to confer with specialists and teaching professionals, but general education personnel are responsible for the implementation of the intervention.

17. Homeless child. Homeless child means a person who:

a) lacks a fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence;

b) is a child or a youth:
1) who is sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing or economic hardship or a similar reason; is living in a motel, hotel, trailer park or camping ground due to lack of alternative adequate accommodation; is living in an emergency or transitional shelter; is abandoned in a hospital; or is awaiting foster care placement;

2) who is living in a car, park, or public space or in an abandoned building, substandard housing, bus or train station or similar setting;

3) who has a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings; and

4) who is a migratory child, as defined in section 1309 of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, who qualifies as homeless for the purpose of this chapter because the child is living in circumstances described in this section.

The term homeless child does not include a person housed in a correctional facility, jail, or detention facility.

18. Independent Educational Evaluation. Independent educational evaluation means an evaluation conducted by a qualified examiner who is not employed by the SAU responsible for the education of the child in question. An independent educational evaluation at public expense means that the school either pays for the full cost of the evaluation or insures that the evaluation is otherwise provided at no cost to the parent. See Section V.6.of this rule.

19. Individualized Educational Program (IEP) Case Manager. The IEP service coordinator may oversee a child's (age 3 to 22) needs to assure that due process requirements under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act are met. The service coordinator communicates with SAU staff, parents, the child, and teachers to provide coordination and follow up for the IEP process.

20. Informed Clinical Opinion. Informed clinical opinion must be used by qualified early intervention personnel when conducting an evaluation and assessment of the child. Informed clinical opinion may be used as an independent basis to establish a child's eligibility under Part C even when other instruments do not establish eligibility, however in no event may informed clinical opinion be used to negate the results of evaluation instruments used to establish eligibility. Informed clinical opinion is the professional judgment of qualified early intervention personnel.

21. Intermediate Educational Unit (IEU). Intermediate educational unit means an entity that meets the definition of intermediate educational unit in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (I.D.E.A.), 20 U.S.C., § 1402, (23) as in effect prior to June 4, 1997, and that is a public authority, other than a local educational agency, under the general supervision of a State educational agency, that is established for the purpose of providing free public education on a regional basis and that provides special education and related services to children with disabilities within the State. [34 CFR 300.12(c)] Intermediate educational units and school administrative units are both considered local educational agencies (LEAs) under IDEA. The Child Development Services (CDS) State Intermediate Educational Unit (IEU) is organized as an IEU. For purposes of this chapter all references to SAUs in this rule include the State IEU, where appropriate.

22. Modifications. Modifications mean changes in the regular education curriculum and or assessment that lower the standards of the curriculum.

23. Multidisciplinary. means the involvement of two or more separate disciplines or professions and with respect to--(a) Evaluation of the child in §§303.113 and 303.321(a)(1)(i) and assessments of the child and family in §303.321(a)(1)(ii), may include one individual who is qualified in more than one discipline or profession; and (b) The IFSP Team in §303.340 must include the involvement of the parent and two or more individuals from separate disciplines or professions and one of these individuals must be the service coordinator (consistent with §303.343(a)(1)(iv)).

24. Native language, when used with respect to an individual who is limited English proficient or LEP (as that term is defined in section 602(18) of the Act), means--

(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 (2) of this section; and

(2) For evaluations and assessments conducted pursuant to §303.321(a)(5) and (a)(6), the language normally used by the child, if determined developmentally appropriate for the child by qualified personnel conducting the evaluation or assessment.

Native language, when used with respect to an individual who is deaf or hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired, or for an individual with no written language, means the mode of communication that is normally used by the individual (such as sign language, braille, or oral communication).

25. Parent. Parent means:

A. A biological or adoptive parent of a child;

B. A foster parent;

C. 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);

D. 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

E. A surrogate parent who has been appointed in accordance with Sec. 300.519 or section 639(a)(5) of the Act. Except as provided in the paragraph below, the biological or adoptive parent, when attempting to act as the parent under this part and when more than one party is qualified under paragraphs A-E 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 through D 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. [34 CFR 300.30]

26. Parentally Placed Private School Child. Parentally placed private school child means a child who has been placed in a private school approved for purposes of compulsory attendance pursuant to 20-A MRSA§5001-A(3)(A)(1)(a), or recognized by the Department as providing equivalent instruction pursuant to 20-A MRSA §5001-A(3)(A)(1)(b) by his/her parent and whose education is paid for with private funds. A child who attends a private school pursuant to a contract with a school administrative unit or at public expense in situations where a school administrative unit does not operate public schools, or contract for school privileges, is not a parentally placed private school student for purposes of this rule, even in cases where the parent is allowed to select the school the child attends. In addition, children who are unilaterally placed in private schools by their parents when FAPE is at issue are not parentally placed private school students for purposes of this rule, so long as the parent has provided notice pursuant to IV.G(3)(d) of this rule. In cases when parents unilaterally placed their child in a private school when FAPE is at issue, the district of residence remains responsible for offering an IEP for the child and the district where the private school is located is obligated to offer an individual service plan.

27. Positive Reinforcement Interventions and Supports. Positive reinforcement interventions and supports means the use of positive techniques designed to assist a child to acquire educationally and socially appropriate behaviors and to reduce patterns of dangerous, destructive, disruptive or defiant behaviors. Positive reinforcement strategies and interventions may be determined by the IEP Team and may be based upon the results of functional behavior assessments as defined in definition 12 above.

28. Post-Secondary Goals. Post-secondary goals mean statements of intention related to post-school training, education, employment, and, where appropriate, independent living skills based on the child's strengths, preferences, and interests and shaped by age appropriate transition assessments.

29. Probes. Probes mean brief assessments of student skills.

30. 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 subdivision of the State that are responsible for providing education to children with disabilities.

31. Qualified personnel. Qualified personnel means personnel who meet the specific state approved or recognized qualifications such as certificate, registration, license, or endorsement for the diagnostic impression, assessment, or type of service which the personnel is to provide.

32. Regional Special Education Program. Regional special education program means a program established through a cooperative agreement between two or more SAUs to provide regional special education services to children with disabilities.

33. Scientifically-based Interventions. Scientifically-based interventions means interventions that include teaching practices that have been tested in experimentally sound research studies and have been shown to significantly improve the academic or behavioral achievement of the children who present characteristics similar to the child involved in the general education intervention process. Scientifically based research has the same meaning given the term in Section 9101(37) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). [34 CFR 300.35] "The term scientifically based research' -

(A) means research that involves the application of rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to education activities and programs; and

(B) includes research that -
(i) employs systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation or experiment;

(ii) involves rigorous data analyses that are adequate to test the stated hypotheses and justify the general conclusions drawn;

(iii) relies on measurements or observational methods that provide reliable and valid data across evaluators and observers, across multiple measurements and observations, and across studies by the same or different investigators;

(iv) is evaluated using experimental or quasi-experimental designs in which individuals, entities, programs, or activities are assigned to different conditions and with appropriate controls to evaluate the effects of the condition of interest, with a preference for random-assignment experiments, or other designs to the extent that those designs contain within-condition or across-condition controls;

(v) ensures that experimental studies are presented in sufficient detail and clarity to allow for replication or, at a minimum, offer the opportunity to build systematically on their findings; and

(vi) has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel of independent experts through a comparably rigorous, objective, and scientific review."

34. School Year/Program Year. School year/program year means the total number of school days in a year as established by the school administrative unit or program year established by an IEU.

35. Screening. Screening means a brief procedure, done periodically, designed to identify children who should receive more intensive diagnosis or evaluation. It is a systematic process conducted by individuals appropriately trained in the screening procedure.

36. Service Coordinator. Service coordinator means the person that assists and enables a child eligible under Part C and the child's family to receive the rights, procedural safeguards, and services that are authorized to be provided under the State's early intervention program. Each child eligible under this part and the child's family must be provided with one service coordinator who is responsible for coordinating all services across agency lines; and serving as the single point of contact in helping parents to obtain the services and assistance they need. Service coordination is an active, ongoing process that involves: assisting parents of eligible children in gaining access to the early intervention services and other services identified in the individualized family service plan; coordinating the provision of early intervention services and other services (such as medical services for other than diagnostic and evaluation purposes) that the child needs or is being provided; facilitating the timely delivery of available services; and continuously seeking the appropriate services and situations necessary to benefit the development of each child being served for the duration of the child's eligibility. [34 CFR 303.23(a)(1) - (3)]

37. Special Education. Special education means specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings; and instruction in physical education. Special education includes each of the following if the services otherwise meet the requirements of the first paragraph: speech-language pathology services, travel training, and vocational education. [34 CFR 300.39(a)] Special education does not include general education procedures that are a part of formal general education intervention as elsewhere referenced in these rules.

38. Special Instruction. Special instruction for children B-2 means instruction that includes:

A. The design of learning environments and activities that promote the child's acquisition of skills in a variety of developmental areas, including cognitive processes and social interaction;

B. Curriculum planning, including the planned interaction of personnel, materials, and time and space, that leads to achieving the outcomes in the child's individualized family service plan;

C. Providing families with information, skills, and support related to enhancing the skill development of the child; and

D. Working with the child to enhance the child's development. [34 CFR 303.12(a)(13)]

39. Special Purpose Service. Special purpose service means a public or private program which is established specifically to serve children with disabilities and/or developmental delays.

40. State Agency Client. State agency client means a child of eligible school age who is:

A. In the care or custody, or both, of the Department of Health and Human Services;

B. Placed by a caseworker from the Department of Health and Human Services or an authorized agent of Children's Behavioral Health Services, Department of Health and Human Services, for reasons other than educational reasons, with a person who is not the child's parent, legal guardian or relative;

C. Attending a public or private school while still a resident of a state- operated institution; or

D. In the custody or under the supervision of the Department of Corrections, including, but not limited to, a juvenile on conditional release, an informally adjusted juvenile, a probationer or a juvenile on community reintegration status from the Long Creek Youth Development Center or the Mountain View Youth Development Center and who is placed, for reasons other than educational reasons, pursuant to a court order or with the agreement of an authorized agent of the Department of Corrections, outside the juvenile's home. [20-A MRSA §1(34-A)]

A state agency client is a child who has been identified as a child with a disability in accordance with this rule. State agency client also means a child who is under 6 years of age who meets one of the criteria in A-D above.

41. State Ward. State ward means a person under the age of 18, or an older person of eligible school age, for whom the State of Maine is legal guardian by court order. The term does not include residents of Maine's correctional facilities.

42. B-2 (Birth to under age three). Birth through two is the age of a child from birth to under age 3.

43. 3-5 (Three to under age six). Three through five is the age of a child from the child's third birthday to under age 6, until the first day of the receiving public school's program year.

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Maine may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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