Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 3, March 22, 2024
A.
General Requirements
These criteria for entry into programs of special education for
students with disabilities will be used by all members of the multidisciplinary
team, who may include school psychologists, speech-language therapists, and
other persons responsible for the identification and evaluation of students
with disabilities.
The federal definitions for all categories of disabilities have
been used, as included in the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA). All
examiners, however, must be appropriately credentialed or licensed and should
have completed training that is directly relevant to the assessment procedure
being conducted. Examiners may administer supplementary measures such as
curriculum-based assessments to gain additional information.
All evaluation procedures must ensure that the following
minimal requirements are met:
1. Tests
and other evaluation materials used to assess a student suspected of having a
disability are selected and administered so as not to be discriminatory on a
racial or cultural basis and are provided and administered in the student's
native language or other mode of communication unless it is clearly unfeasible
to use that language or any mode of communication.
2. Materials and procedures used to assess a
student with limited English proficiency are selected and administered to
ensure that they measure the extent to which the student has a disability and
needs special education, rather than measuring the student's English language
skills.
3. A variety of assessment
tools and strategies are used to gather relevant functional and developmental
information about the student, including information provided by the parent and
information related to enabling the student to be involved in and progress in
the general curriculum (or for a preschool child to participate in appropriate
activities) that may assist in detem1ining whether the student is one with a
disability and what the content of the student's IEP should be.
4. Any standardized tests that are given to a
student have been validated for the specific purpose for which they are used
and are administered by trained and knowledgeable personnel in accordance with
any instructions provided by the producer of the tests. If an assessment is not
conducted under standard conditions, a description of the extent to which it
varied from standard conditions, such as the qualifications of the person
administering the test or the method of test administration, must be included
in the evaluation report.
5. Tests
and other evaluation materials include those tailored to assess specific areas
of educational need and not merely those that are designed to provide a single
general intelligence quotient.
6.
Tests are selected and administered so as best to ensure that if a test is
administered to a student with impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills,
the test results accurately reflect the student's aptitude or achievement
level, or whatever other factors the test purports to measure, rather than
reflecting the student's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (unless
those skills are the factors that the test purports to measure).
7. No single procedure is used as the sole
criterion for determining whether a student has a disability and for
determining an appropriate educational program for the student.
8. The student is assessed in all areas
related to the suspected disability, including, if appropriate, his or her
health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general intelligence,
academic performance, communicative status, and motor abilities.
9. In the assessment of each student with a
disability, the methods of evaluation are sufficiently comprehensive to
identify all of the student's special education and related-services needs,
whether or not they are commonly linked to the category in which the student is
suspected of having a disability.
10. Each school district/agency uses
technically sound instruments that may assess the relative contribution of
cognitive and behavioral factors in addition to physical or developmental
factors.
11. Each school
district/agency uses assessment tools and strategies that provide relevant
information that directly assists persons in determining the educational needs
of the student.
B.
Autism
1. Definition
Autism is a developmental disability, generally evident before
age three, which adversely affects a student's educational performance and
significantly affects developmental rates and sequences, verbal and non-verbal
communication and social interaction and participation. Other characteristics
often associated with autism are unusual responses to sensory experiences,
engagement in repetitive activities and stereotypical movements and resistance
to environmental change or change in daily routines. Students with autism vary
widely in their abilities and behavior. The diagnosis of Autism does not apply
if a student's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because
the student has an emotional disorder. Autism may exist concurrently with other
areas of disability.
Autism, also referenced as autism spectrum disorder, for the
purpose of eligibility, may include Autistic Disorder, Pervasive Developmental
Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS), or Asperger's Syndrome provided the
student's educational performance is adversely affected and the student meets
the eligibility and placement requirements.
2. Eligibility Criteria
There is evidence that the child has any of the Pervasive
Developmental Disorders, such as Autistic Disorder, Asperger's Disorder,
PDD-NOS as indicated in the following diagnostic references:
a. Asperger's Disorder:
(1) There is evidence that the child
demonstrates impairments in social interaction, such as marked impairment in
the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial
expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction; failure
to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level; a lack of
spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other
people (i.e., by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of
interest); or lack of social or emotional reciprocity are noted; and
(2) Restricted repetitive and stereotyped
patterns of behavior, interests, and activities such as encompassing
preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest
that is abnormal either in intensity or focus, apparently inflexible adherence
to specific, nonfunctional routines or rituals, stereotyped and repetitive
motor mannerisms, persistent preoccupation with parts of objects.
(3) The adverse effects of the Asperger's
Disorder on the child's educational performance require specialized instruction
and/or related services.
b. Autistic Disorder
(1) In addition to the characteristics listed
in (a)(1) and (2) of this subsection, there also is evidence that the child
demonstrates impairments in communication, such as delay in, or total lack of,
the development of spoken language (not accompanied by an attempt to compensate
through alternative modes of communication such as gesture or mime). In
individuals with adequate speech, marked impairment in the ability to initiate
or sustain a conversation with others, stereotyped and repetitive use of
language or idiosyncratic language, or lack of varied, spontaneous make-believe
play or social imitative play appropriate to developmental level is
noted.
(2) The adverse effects of
the Autistic Disorder on the child's educational performance require
specialized instruction and/or related services.
c. PDD-NOS
(1) There is evidence that the child
demonstrates any of the characteristics listed in a or b of this subsection
without displaying all of the characteristics associated with either Asperger's
Disorder or Autistic Disorder.
(2)
The adverse effects of the PDD-NOS on the child's educational performance
require specialized instruction and/or related services.
C. Deaf-blindness
1. Definition
Deaf-blindness means concomitant hearing loss and visual
impairment, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other
developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special
education programs solely for children who are deaf or hard of hearing or
children who are blind or visually impaired.
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that the child meets the
criteria for both the Deaf/Hard of Hearing category and the Visual Impairment
category.
(1) a hearing loss that is 20 dB or
greater at anyone frequency, either unilaterally or bilaterally, or
(2) a fluctuating hearing loss, either
unilaterally or bilaterally, and
(3) The visual acuity with correction is
20/70 or worse in the better eye; or
(4) The visual acuity is better than 20/70
with correction in the better eye, and there is documentation of either of the
following conditions: a diagnosed progressive loss of vision or a visual field
of 40 degrees or less; or
(5) The
visual acuity is unable to be determined by a licensed optometrist or
ophthalmologist, and the existence of functional vision loss is supported by
functional vision assessment findings; or
(6) There is evidence of cortical visual
impairment.
b. The
adverse effects of the hearing and visual impairment on the child's educational
performance require specialized instruction and/or related services.
D. Deaf/Hard of Hearing
1. Definition
Deaf means a hearing loss that is so severe that the child is
impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without
amplification, that adversely affects a student's academic or functional
performance.Hard of Hearing means a hearing loss, whether permanent or
fluctuating, that adversely affects a student's academic or functional
performance with or without amplification, but that is not included under the
definition of deaf in this section.
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that the child has (l) a
hearing loss that is 20 dB or greater at anyone frequency, either unilaterally
or bilaterally, or (2) a fluctuating hearing loss, either unilaterally or
bilaterally.
b. The adverse
effects of the deafness or hard of hearing impairment on the child's
educational performance require specialized instruction and/or related
services.
E.
Developmental Delay
1. Definition
A child with developmental delay is a child age 3-9 who has
been identified before the age of 7 as experiencing significant developmental
delays in one or more of the following areas: physical development, cognitive
development, communication development, social or emotional development, or
adaptive development: and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and
related services.The term significant developmental delay refers to a delay in
a child's development in adaptive behavior, cognition, communication, motor
development or social development to the extent that, if not provided with
special intervention, it may adversely affect his/her educational performance
in age-appropriate activities. The term does not apply to children who are
experiencing a slight or temporary lag in one or more areas of development, or
a delay which is primarily due to environmental, cultural, or economic
disadvantage, lack of experience in age appropriate activities, lack of
appropriate instruction in reading, lack of appropriate instruction in math,
limited English proficiency or the child does not otherwise meet the
eligibility criteria as a child with a disability.
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that child is exhibiting
a significant developmental delay in one or more of the following areas:
(1) physical development
(2) cognitive development
(3) communication development
(4) social or emotional development
(5) adaptive behavior development.
b. There is evidence that the
delay is not due to:
Lack of appropriate instruction in reading, including the
essential components of reading instruction (defined in section 1208(3) of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act;
(1) Lack of appropriate instruction in
math;
(2) Limited English
proficiency; or
(3) The presence of
any other disability for children ages six through seven.
c. The adverse effects of the developmental
delay on the child's educational performance require specialized instruction
and/or related services.
F. Emotional Disability
1. Definition
Emotional Disability means an emotional disturbance defined as
a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long
period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects the student's
educational performance:
a. an
inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health
factors;
b. an inability to build
or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and
teachers;
c. inappropriate types of
behavior or feelings in normal circumstances;
d. a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or
depression;
e. a tendency to
develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to
children who are socially maladjusted unless it is determined that they have a
serious emotional disturbance.
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that the child exhibits
one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to
a marked degree: an inability to learn that cannot be explained by
intellectual, sensory, or health factors; an inability to build or maintain
satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; inappropriate
types of behavior or feelings in normal circumstances; general pervasive mood
of unhappiness or depression; or a tendency to develop physical symptoms or
fears associated with personal or school problems.
b. The adverse effects of the emotional
disability on the child's educational performance require specialized
instruction and/or related services.
G. Intellectual Disabilities
1. Definitions
Intellectual Disability means significantly subaverage general
intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive
behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects
a child's educational performance.
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that the child has:
(1) Significant limitations in intellectual
functioning must be evidenced by scores on both verbal and nonverbal scales
that are at least two standard deviations below the mean (+" /- the standard
error of measurement) on an individually administered intelligence
test.
(2) Significant deficits in
adaptive behavior must be evidenced by a score at least two standard deviations
below the mean (+" /- the standard error of measurement) in at least two
adaptive skill domains.
(3)
Significant deficits in educational performance (pre-academic, academic and/or
functional academic skills) must be evidenced by significant delays in
functioning when compared to the child's same aged peers.
b. The adverse effects of the intellectual
disability on the child's educational performance require specialized
instruction and/or related services.
H. Multiple Disabilities
1. Definition
Multiple Disabilities means concomitant impairments (such as
intellectual disabilities-blindness or intellectual disabilities-orthopedic
impairment), the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that
they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the
impairments. Multiple disabilities does not include deaf-blindness.
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that the child meets all
eligibility requirements for two or more disabilities. The term does not
include developmental delay, deaf-blindness, or speech/language
impairment.
b. The adverse effects
of the multiple disabilities on the child's educational performance cannot be
accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the disabilities
and require specialized instruction and/or related services.
I. Other Health
Impairment
1. Definition
Other Health Impairment means having limited strength, vitality
or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, that
results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that
is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit
disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a
heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic
fever, sickle cell anemia, and Tourette's syndrome and adversely affects a
student's educational performance.
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that the child has a
chronic or acute health problem.
b.
There is evidence that the diagnosed chronic or acute health problem results in
limited alertness to the educational environment due to limited strength,
limited vitality, limited or heightened alertness to the surrounding
environment.
c. The adverse effects
of the other health impairment on the child's educational performance require
specialized instruction and/or related services.
J. Orthopedic Impairment
1. Definition
Orthopedic impairment means a severe orthopedic impairment that
adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes
impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g., clubfoot, absence of some
member, etc.), impairments caused by disease (e.g., poliomyelitis, bone
tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy,
amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that the child has a
severe orthopedic impairment.
b.
The adverse effects of the orthopedic impairment on the child's educational
performance require specialized instruction and/or related services.
K. Specific Learning
Disabilities
1. Definition
Specific Learning disability means a disorder in one of more of
the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using
language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability
to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical
calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain
injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that the child does not
achieve adequately for his/her age or to meet state-approved grade level
standards in one or more of the following areas: Basic reading skills, Reading
fluency, Reading comprehension, Mathematics calculation, Mathematics
problem-solving, Written expression, Oral expression, or Listening
comprehension; and either
(1) does not make
sufficient progress to meet age or state-approved grade-level standards when
using a process based on the child's response to scientific, research-based
intervention, or
(2) exhibits a
pattern of strengths and weaknesses in performance, achievement, or both,
relative to age, state-approved grade-level standards, or intellectual
development, that is determined by the group to be relevant to the
identification of a specific learning disability, using appropriate
assessments.
b. The
child's underachievement is not due to: visual, hearing, or motor disability;
intellectual disability; emotional disability; cultural factors; environmental
or economic disadvantage; limited English proficiency; or lack of appropriate
instruction in reading or math.
c.
The adverse effects of the learning disability on the child's educational
performance require specialized instruction and/or related services.
L. Speech-Language
Impairment
1. Definition
Speech-Language Impairment means a communication disorder, such
as stuttering, impaired articulation, language impairment, or a voice
impairment, that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that the child has one
or more of the following impairments:
(1)
fluency - interruption in the flow of speech characterized by an atypical rate,
or rhythm in sounds, syllables, words, and phrases that significantly reduces
the child's ability to participate within the learning environment with or
without his or her awareness of the dysfluencies or stuttering
(2) articulation - atypical production of
phonemes characterized by substitutions, omissions, additions or distortions
that impairs intelligibility in conversational speech and adversely affects
academic achievement and/or functional performance in the educational
setting
(3) language - impaired
comprehension and/or use of spoken language which adversely affects written
and/or other symbol systems and the child's ability to participate in the
classroom environment
(4) voice -
interruption in one or more processes of pitch, quality, intensity, resonance,
or a disruption in vocal cord function that significantly reduces the child's
ability to communicate effectively
b. The adverse effects of the speech-language
impairment on the child's educational performance require specialized
instruction and/or related services
M. Traumatic Brain Injury
1. Definition
Traumatic Brain Injury means an acquired injury to the brain
caused by an external physical force, resulting in total or partial functional
disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a
student's educational performance. The term applies to open or closed head
injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, such as cognition;
language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment;
problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial
behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does
not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain
injuries induced by birth trauma.
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that the child had a
traumatic brain injury.
b. The
adverse effects of the traumatic brain injury on the child's educational
performance require specialized instruction and/or related services.
N. Visual Impairment
1. Definition
Visual impairment, including blindness, means impairment in
vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a student's educational
performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.
2. Eligibility Criteria
a. There is evidence that (l) The visual
acuity with correction is 20/70 or worse in the better eye; or (2) The visual
acuity is better than 20/70 with correction in the better eye, and there is
documentation of either of the following conditions: a diagnosed progressive
loss of vision or a visual field of 40 degrees or less; (3) The visual acuity
is unable to be determined by a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist, and
the existence of functional vision loss is supported by functional vision
assessment findings; or (4) There is evidence of cortical visual impairment.
b. The student's visual impairment
adversely affects his or her educational and functional performance. The
adverse effects of the visual impairment on the child's educational performance
require specialized instruction and related services.
O. Reevaluation
Reevaluations for all categories of disability must be
conducted at least once every three years and must be conducted more frequently
if conditions warrant, if the parents or school personnel request such
reevaluations, or if the student's dismissal from special education is being
considered.
1. This reevaluation must
be planned and conducted by an IEP team and other qualified professionals as
appropriate.
2. The IEP team must
review existing evaluation data on the student, including evaluations and
information provided by his or her parents, current classroom-based
assessments, and observations of teachers and related service
providers.
3. On the basis of that
review and input from the student's parents, the IEP team must identify what
additional data, if any, are needed to determine the following:
a. whether the student continues to have a
disability;
b. what the present
levels of performance and the educational needs of the student are;
c. whether the student continues to need
special education and related services; and
d. whether any additions or modifications to
the special education and related services are needed to enable the student to
meet the measurable annual goals set forth in his or her IEP and to
participate, as appropriate, in the general curriculum.
4. Appropriate, qualified professionals must
administer such tests and/or collect other evaluation information to produce
the data identified by the IEP team.
5. If the IEP team and other qualified
professionals, as appropriate, determine that no additional data are needed,
the team must document the justification for this determination.