Eligibility & Public Policy & I.D.E.A

Public Policy

Child Find: Identify and assess children aged 0-18 years for possible disabilities and eligibility for services.
Comprehensive, Multidisciplinary Evaluation: Determine the handicapping condition through a comprehensive evaluation.
IEP/IFSP Meetings:
- Committee includes parents/caregivers, teachers, special education representatives, advocates, administrators, and/or needed experts.
- Includes:
  - Current level of functioning.
  - Service delivery settings and dates.
  - Criteria for evaluation.
  - Goals of intervention.
  - Progress report schedule.
Re-evaluation: At least every 3 years or as decided by the IEP committee.
Due Process: Disagreements are resolved by mediators and hearing officers as allowed by law.

Eligibility is determined by an Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) committee.
Diagnoses are professional decisions.

Impairment (Disorder): Any loss or abnormality of psychological, physiological, or anatomical structure or function. What we diagnose.
Disability: Difficulty performing tasks due to an impairment.
Handicap: Social or occupational disadvantage due to a disability or impairment.
Impairment does not always lead to a disability.

Mandates that recipients of federal money cannot discriminate based on handicap.
Children with a handicap cannot be prevented from attending public schools.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Re-authorized in 2004.
Protects the rights of disabled children in education.
Guarantees F.A.P.E (Free Appropriate Public Education).
Guarantees L.R.E (Least Restrictive Environment).
F.A.P.E and L.R.E are implemented through I.E.P (Individualized Education Plan).

Covers children from birth to 3 years of age.
Public schools are not responsible; other state agencies are responsible.
In Texas, ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) is responsible.
F.A.P.E & L.R.E are implemented through I.F.S.P (Individualized Family Service Plan).

Parents are encouraged to bring concerns about a child's learning/behavior to the teacher or principal.
If concerns persist, the teacher/parent can refer to the campus Student Support Team.
The team consists of teachers and other school staff who meet regularly to address student's learning or behavior concerns.
The purpose of the team is to address concerns early on.
This is NOT a special education referral.
The team, along with the child’s teacher and parents, will develop an intervention plan to be carried out in the general education setting.
The main purpose of the interventions is to improve the child’s educational outcomes.
The team may meet more than once depending on the student’s needs.
The team will closely monitor and document the child’s progress.
The team keeps the parents informed of their child’s progress.

Educational decisions such as placement, intervention, curriculum, and instructional goals and strategies are based on child response data.
Tier 1: Core Instructional Interventions (for all students - preventative and proactive).
Tier 2: Targeted group interventions (some students at risk, high efficiency, rapid response).
Tier 3: Intensive individual interventions (individual students, assessment based, high intensity, of longer duration).
The main goal of the RTI process is to identify children who are at risk and intervene early on.
Children who do not respond to Tier 3 interventions in a reasonable amount of time may be referred to Special Education for an FIE (Full Individual Evaluation).
Before an FIE can be initiated, consent for the initial evaluation must be obtained.

Evaluation procedures are not limited to the use of standardized tests.
No single criteria may be used in making eligibility decisions.
"No single procedure is used as the sole criterion for determining whether a child is a child with a disability and for determining an appropriate educational program for the child." \$300.532(f)
"A variety of assessment tools and strategies are used to gather relevant functional and developmental information about the child….." \$300.304(b)
I.D.E.A does not require the use of standardized tests when evaluating for eligibility. However, if a standardized test is available, it should be ONE of the criteria used in establishing eligibility.
Lack of standardized tests does not absolve the SLP from assessing an area of concern. In those situations, an informal assessment must be completed.
We do not have standardized tests appropriate for many areas of speech and language,(conversational articulation or narrative/conversation in the area of pragmatics).
To interpret this portion of the law, 'single criteria' must be defined.
Single Criteria: ONE of a variety of assessment tools. Assessment tools include standardized tests, interviews, observation, informal assessment, check lists, etc.
- Therefore, one, two or three standardized tests still constitute 'a single criteria'.
The use of standardized tests and parent-provided data would be an example of an evaluation using two criteria.