(a) Child find. Consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.111, each school district or public agency shall adopt and implement policies and procedures to ensure that all children with disabilities who reside within the school district's or public agency's educational jurisdiction, including children with disabilities attending private schools or facilities such as residential treatment centers, day treatment centers, hospitals, mental health institutions, detention and correctional facilities, children who are highly mobile, and children who are advancing from grade to grade, regardless of the severity of their disability, and who are in need of special education and related services, are located, evaluated and identified in compliance with all applicable requirements of IDEA, including but not limited to 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.111, 300.131, 300.301 through 300.306 and these WDE rules and standards. - (1) School districts or public agencies must provide parents with public notice of its child find activities pursuant to 34 C.F.R. § 300.612(b).
- (ii) School districts or public agencies must implement procedures to ensure protection of the confidentiality of any personally identifiable information collected, used, or maintained in child find activities in accordance with the federal regulations, including but not limited to 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.32, 300.134 and 300.610 through 300.627.
- (iii) Consistent with 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.130 through 300.144, if a child is parentally enrolled in a private elementary or secondary school outside the boundaries of the school district or public agency in which the student is living, the school district or public agency where the private school is located is responsible for child find activities, evaluations, and provision of services.
- (iv) School districts and public agencies shall coordinate child find responsibilities for children ages birth through two (2) with early intervention providers or agencies.
(b) Initial evaluation. - (i) In accordance with 34 C.F.R. § 300.301, either a parent, school district, or public agency may initiate a request for a full and individual initial evaluation.
- (A) A school district or public agency shall establish procedures for requesting an initial evaluation.
- (B) If a Comprehensive initial evaluation is determined warranted, consent must be obtained consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.300, and the evaluation must be conducted consistent with 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.301 through 300.311.
- (C) A comprehensive evaluation shall include, as needed, evaluative services provided by a licensed physician to determine a child's medically related disability that results in the child's need for special education and related services. [See 34 C.F.R. § 300.34(c)(5) ]
- (D) If the school district or public agency does not suspect that the child has a disability and refuses a parent's request for an initial evaluation, the school district or public agency must provide written notice to the parent consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.503. The parent may challenge the refusal by utilizing the dispute resolution procedures in these rules.
(c) Eligibility under the IDEA. - (i) Consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.8, to be eligible for special education and related services under the IDEA a child must meet the criteria for one (1) or more of the disability categories (listed in :this section and the disability must adversely affect the student's educational performance such that the student needs special education, as defined in 34 C.F.R. § 300.39, and related services, as defined in 34 C.F.R. § 300.34.
- (ii) Limitation. Speech Language Impairment is the only disability category that would be considered either:
- (A) A special education service if eligibility criteria is met, or
- (B) A related service if the eligibility criteria for one (1) of the other disability categories is satisfied.
(d) Disability categories and eligibility criteria. - (i) Autism Spectrum Disorder. Autism Spectrum Disorder means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communications and social interaction, generally evident before age three (3) that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environrmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. Autism Spectrum Disorder does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an; Emotional Disability as defined in this section.
- (A) Autism Spectrum Disorder eligibility criteria; Eligibility is established through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with the requirements of these rules. The initial evaluation shall be conducted by qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall include recommendations for instruction from a qualified diagnostician, such as a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist or other qualified professional. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address all areas of need resulting from the suspected disability. In accordance with the requirements of these rules, a child is identified as a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder if four (4) out of five (5) following criteria are satisfied:
- (I) Impaired communication: The child is unable to use expressive and receptive language for social communication in a developmentally appropriate manner; lacks nonverbal communication skills or uses abnormal nonverbal communication; uses abnormal form or content when speaking; or is unable to initiate or sustain conversation with others;
- (II) Inappropriate relationships: The child exhibits deficits relating to people; marked lack of awareness of others' feelings; abnormal seeking of comfort at times of distress; absent or abnormal social play; or inability to make friends. The child does not relate to or use objects in an age appropriate manner;
- (III) Abnormal sensory processing: The child exhibits unusual, repetitive, or non-meaningful responses to auditory, visual, olfactory, taste, tactile or kinesthetic stimuli;
- (IV) Impaired cognitive development: The child has difficulty with concrete versus abstract thinking, awareness, judgment or the ability to generalize. The child may exhibit perseverative thinking or impaired ability to process symbolic information; or
- (V) Abnormal range of activities: The child demonstrates a restricted repertoire of activities, interests, and imaginative development evident through stereotyped body movements, persistent preoccupation with parts of objects, distress over trivial changes in the environment, unreasonable insistence on routines, restricted range of interests, or preoccupations with one (1) narrow interest.
- (ii) Cognitive Disability. Cognitive Disability means significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
- (A) Cognitive Disability eligibility criteria: Eligibility is established through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with the requirements of these rules. The initial evaluation shall be conducted by qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address all areas of need resulting from the suspected disability. In accordance with these rules, a child is identified as a child with a Cognitive Disability if all of the following criteria are met:
- (I) Documentation on an individual test of intelligence that the child's intellectual functioning is two (2) or more standard deviations below the mean, taking into consideration the standard error of measurement. In the event that an individual test of intelligence is not able to be administered to the child, the evaluation team shall document how they determined that the child's profile of intellectual functioning indicates sub-average performance in a majority of areas;
- (II) Documentation on an individually administered test or assessment that the child's academic or pre-academic skills are coexistent with the child's deficits in intellectual functioning. : Behavior observations, criteribn-referenced tests, or documentation of classroom performance may be used when a child's level of functioning cannot appropriately be measured by standardized tests; and
- (III) Documentation on standardized adaptive behavior measurements, that includes information gathered from parents and school staff, that the child's deficits in adaptive behavior are coexistent with the child's deficits in intellectual functioning.
- (iii) Deaf-Blindness. Deaf-Blindness means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, 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 a child with deafness or a child with blindness.
- (A) Deaf-Blindness eligibility criteria: Eligibility is established through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with these rules. The initial evaluation process shall include a licensed audiologist, certified teacher of the visually impaired, and other qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address all areas of need resulting from the suspected disability. In accordance with the requirements of these rules, a child is identified as a child with Deaf-Blindness if all of the following criteria are met:
- (I) Eligibility criteria for Hearing Impairment, Including Deafness, are met;
- (II) Eligibility criteria for Visual impairment, Including Blindness, .are met; and
- (III) The child's current level of performance indicates significant problems with motor functioning, communication, self-help/adaptive skills, social skills, or pre-academic or academic skills.
- (iv) Developmental Delay. Developmental Delay means a child with a disability ages three (3) through nine" (9) Who is deterrriined through appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures to be experiencing developmental delays in the following areas: physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development, or adaptive development, that adversely affects -educational performance and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services. Developmental Delay is a category available to children ages three (3) through nine (9) who do not qualify in other categories under these rules, but meet the Developmental Delay criteria. School districts or public agencies are free to utilize Developmental Delay as a disability category if adopted by the local governing board and annual assurances are provided to WDE that the criteria is implemented consistent with theses rules.
- (A) Developmental Delay eligibility criteria: Eligibility is established through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with these rules. The initial evaluation shall be conducted by qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address all areas of need resulting from the suspected disability. In accordance with these rules, a child is identified as a child with a Developmental Delay if the following criteria are met:
- (I) The child's performance is significantly below the mean of expected performance, measured at 1.75 standard deviations below the expected performance for children of comparable chronological age in one (1) area (physical, cognitive, social/emotional, communication, or adaptive functioning); or
- (II) The child's performance is markedly below the mean of expected performance, measure at 1.5 standard deviations below the expected performance for children of comparable chronological age in two (2) or more areas (physical, cognitive, social/emotional, communication, or adaptive functioning); and
- (Ill) Results of hearing and vision screening that provide evidence that the child's performance is not the result of hearing or vision impairments.
- (B) Exceeding the age of eligibility: Consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.305(e)(1), the school district or public agency must evaluate the child before determining the child is no longer a child with a Developmental Delay.
- (v) Emotional Disability. Emotional Disability means a condition exhibiting one (1) or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child's educational performance: 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 or teachers; inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or 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 they have an Emotional Disability as defined in these rules.
- (A) Emotional Disability eligibility criteria: Eligibility is established through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with the requirements of these rules. The initial evaluation shall be conducted by qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall include recommendations for social, emotional, or behavioral instruction from a qualified diagnostician, such as a licensed psychologist, school psychologist, psychiatrist, or other qualified professional. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address all areas of need resulting from the suspected disability. In accordance with the requirements of these rules, a child is identified as a child with an Emotional Disability if the following criteria are met:
- (I) Documentation from regular education positive behavioral interventions evidences that the behavior adversely affects the child's educational performance.
- (II) The child continues to exhibit behavioral or emotional characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects the child's educational performance as evidence by one (1) or more of the following:
- (1.) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors;
- (2.) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers;
- (3.) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances;
- (4.) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or
- (5.) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
- (Ill) The term does not to apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an Emotional Disability consistent with the criteria above.
- (vi) Hearing Impairment, including Deafness. Hearing Impairment, Including Deafness means a hearing impairment including deafness that, with or without amplification, adversely affects educational performance, may, be permanent or fluctuating, and may be so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification.
- (A) Hearing Impairment, Including Deafness .eligibility criteria: Eligibility is established through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with these rules. The initial evaluation process shall include a licensed audiologist and other qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address all areas of need resulting from the suspected disability. In accordance with these rules, a child is identified as a child with a Hearing Impairment, Including Deafness, if the following criteria are met:
- (I) Documentation of the child's potential requirement for amplification and one (1) of the following hearing losses:
- (1.) Sensorineural hearing loss; or
- (2.) Conductive hearing loss.
- (II) Documentation that the hearing loss interferes with the student's ability to function in an educational program using traditional materials and techniques due to the child's difficulty in using or understanding spoken language.
- (vii) Multiple Disabilities. Multiple Disabilities means concomitant impairments (such as Cognitive Disability-Blindness; Traumatic Brain Injury-Orthopedic Impairment), the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one (1) of the impairments. The term does not include Deaf-Blindness unless eligibility criteria in an additional disability category are satisfied.
- (A) Multiple Disabilities eligibility criteria: Eligibility is established through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with the requirements of these rules. The initial evaluation shall be conducted by qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address ail areas of need resulting from the suspected disability.
- (viii) Orthopedic Impairment. Orthopedic Impairment means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by a congenital anomaly, impairments caused by disease {e.g., poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis), and impairments from other causes (e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations and fractures or burns that cause contractures).
- (ix) Other Health Impairment. 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 Syndrome, and adversely affects a child's educational performance.
- (A) Other Health Impairment eligibility criteria: Eligibility is established through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with the requirements of these rules. The initial evaluation shall be conducted by qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address all areas of need resulting from the suspected disability. In accordance with the requirements of these rules, a child is identified as a child with an Other Health Impairment if the criteria below are met:
- (I) Subject to the provision below regarding attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, documentation of an acute or chronic health problem from a licensed physician within the previous twelve (12) months for an initial
- (1.) In concert with the above provision, as determined appropriate by a school district or public agency, a licensed psychologist or certified psychologist, in lieu of a physician may document the child meets eligibility requirements for an Other Health Impairment with respect to attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for an initial evaluation; and
- (II) Documentation that educational performance is adversely affected due to acute or chronic limited strength, vitality, or alertness,
- (x) Specific Learning Disability (SLD). Specific Learning Disability means a disorder in one (1) or 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. A Specific Learning Disability does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, cognitive disability, emotional disability, or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage.
- (A) Specific Learning Disability eligibility criteria: Eligibility is established through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with the requirements of these rules. The initial evaluation shall be conducted by a group of qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address all areas of need resulting from the suspected disability. In accordance with these rules, a child is identified as a child with a Specific Learning Disability if the criteria in this section are satisfied.
- (B) Consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.308, the determination of whether a child suspected of having a Specific Learning Disabiiity is a child with a disability as defined in 34 C.F.R. § 300.8, must be made by a group, which includes the child's parents and qualified professionals, including:
- (I) The child's regular teacher, of if the child does not have a regular teacher, a regular classroom teacher qualified to teach a child of his or her age; or
- (II) For a child of less than school age, an individual qualified by Wyoming to teach a child of his or her age; and
- (III) At least one (1) person qualified to conduct individual diagnostic examinations of children, such as a school psychologist, speech-language pathologist, or remedial reading teacher.
- (C) With respect to the evaluation described in paragraph (A) above, and consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.310, the school district or public agency must ensure that the child is observed in the child's learning environment including the regular classroom setting, to document the child's academic performance and behavior in the areas of difficulty. In the case of a child of less than school age or out of school, a group member must observe the child in an environment appropriate for a child of that age. The group, in determining whether a child has a Specific Learning Disability, must decide to:
- (I) Use information from an observation in a routine classroom instruction and monitoring of tine child's performance that was done before the child was referred for evaluation; or
- (II) Have at least one (1) member of the group conduct an observation of the child's academic performance in the regular classroom after the child has been referred for an evaluation and parental consent, consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.300(a), is obtained.
- (D) Consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.309(a), the group determines that a child has a Specific Learning Disability if:
- (I) The child does not achieve adequately for the child's age or meet Wyoming grade-level standards in one (1) or more of the following areas, when provided with learning experiences and instruction appropriate for the child's age or Wyoming grade-level standards:
- (2.) Listening comprehension;
- (4.) Basic reading skill;
- (5.) Reading fluency skills;
- (6.) Reading comprehension;
- (7.) Mathematics calculation;
- (8.) Mathematics problem solving; and
- (II) The child does not make sufficient progress to meet age or Wyoming grade-level standards in one (1) or more of the above areas when using a process based on the child's response to scientific, research-based intervention.
- (E) The group shall use either the Wyoming Severe Discrepancy Formula or a response to intervention process when determining whether a child is not making sufficient progress to meet age or Wyoming grade-level standards.
- (I) Wyoming Severe Discrepancy Formula: The group may determine that the child demonstrates a severe discrepancy between current achievement level and expected achievement level of at least 22 points upon an initial evaluation, utilizing Appendix A of these rules. Expected achievement is based on the correlation between tests of the child's composite intellectual standard score compared to the child's composite achievement score in one (1) or more core achievement areas.
- (1.) The Wyoming Severe Discrepancy Formula in Appendix A of these rules must be utilized when making an eligibility determination based on a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement.
- (2.) A severe discrepancy exists when application of the Wyoming Severe Discrepancy Formula results in a difference between expected. and actual achievement greater than or equal to 1.5 standard deviations (See Appendix A).
- (II) Response to intervention process: The group may determine that the child does not make sufficient progress to meet age or Wyoming grade-level standards in one (1) or more of the areas in paragraph (D)(1)) of this section when using a process based on the child's response to scientific, research-based intervention.
- (F) Consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.309, to ensure that underachievement in a child suspected of having a Specific Learning Disability is not due to lack of appropriate instruction in reading or math, as part of the evaluation the group must consider:
- (I) Data that demonstrate that prior to, or as a part of, the referral process, the child was provided appropriate instruction in regular education settings, delivered by qualified personnel; and
- (II) Data based documentation of repeated assessments of achievement at reasonable intervals, reflecting formal assessment of student progress during instruction, which was provided to the child's parents.
- (G) Consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.309, the group must determine that underachievement of a child suspected of having a Specific Learning Disability is not primarily the result of:
- (I) A visual, hearing, or motor disability;
- (II) Cognitive disability;
- (III) Emotional disability;
- (V) Environmental or economic disadvantage; or
- (VI) Limited English proficiency.
- (H) Consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.309(c), a school district or public agency must promptly request parental consent to evaluate the child to determine if the child needs special education and related services, and must adhere to the timeframes in 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.301 through 300.303, unless extended by mutual written agreement of the child's parents and the group of qualified professionals under the following circumstances:
- (I) If, prior to a referral, a child has not made adequate progress after an appropriate period of time when provided instruction described in (F) above, and
- (II) Whenever a child is referred for an evaluation.
- (1) Specific documentation required for the eligibility determination. Consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.311, for a child suspected of having a Specific Learning Disability, tine documentation of the determination of eligibility must contain a statement of each of the following:
- (I) Whether the child has a Specific Learning Disability;
- (II) The basis for making the determination, including an assurance that the determination has been made in accordance with 34 C.F.R. § 300.306(c)(1);'
- (III) The relevant behavior, if any, noted during the observation of the child and the relationship of that behavior to the child's academic functioning;
- (IV) The educationally relevant medical findings, if any;
- (V) Whether:
- (1.) The child does not achieve adequately for the child's age or to meet Wyoming grade-level standards consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.309(a)(1); and
- (2.) The child does not make sufficient progress to meet age or Wyoming grade-level standards consistent with 34 C.F.R. § 300.309(a)(2)(i).
- (VI) The determination of the group concerning the effects of a visual, hearing, or motor disability; cognitive disability; emotional disability cultural factors; environmental or economic disadvantage; or limited English proficiency on the child's achievement level.
- (VII) If the child has participated in a process that assesses a child's response to scientific, research-based intervention:
- (1.) The instructional strategies used and the student-centered data collected; and
- (2.) The documentation that the child's parents were notified about:
- a. Wyoming's policies regarding the amount and nature of student performance data that would be collected and the general education services that would be provided;
- b. Strategies for increasing the child's rate of learning; and
- c. The parents' right to request an evaluation.
- (VIII) Each group member must certify in writing whether the report reflects the member's conclusion. If it does not, the group member must submit a separate statement presenting the member's conclusions.
- (xi) Speech or Language Impairment. Speech or Language Impairment means a communication disorder, such as Stuttering, impaired Articulation, a Language Impairment or a Voice Impairment, that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
- (A) Speech or Language Impairment eligibility Griteria: Eligibility is establislied through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with the requirement? of these rules. The initial evaluation shall be conducted by a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) and other qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address al] areas of need resulting from the suspected disability. In accordance with the requirements of these rules, a child is identified as a child with a Speech, or Language Impairment in the qualifying area(s) of Articulation, Stuttering, Language Impairment, or Voice Impairment if the following specific criteria are met.
- (I) Articulation eligibility criteria. Articulation means speech sound production or phonological errors atypical of a child of comparable age and development.
- (1.) Eligibility criteria: One (1) of the following criteria must be met:
- a. Documentation that the child exhibits errors of speech sound production beyond the age at which 85% of typically developing children have achieved mastery (based on current developmental norms);
- b. Documentation that the child's performance on a standardized evaluation instrument is 1.5 standard deviations or greater below the mean for the child's chronological age based on a norm-referenced test of articulation or phonology;
- c. Documentation that one (1) or more phonological patterns of sound are significantly disordered and evidence that the child's conversational intelligibility is affected; or
- d. Documentation that the child's scores are at a moderate, severe, or profound rating on appropriate evaluation instruments.
- (II) Stuttering eligibility criteria. Stuttering means abnormal flow of speech evident in interruptions by hesitations, repetitious or prolongation of sounds, syllables, words or phrases or articulary positions or by avoidance and struggle behaviors.
- (1.) Eligibility criteria: Either criteria a. or b. must be met in addition to criteria c.
- a. Documentation that the child demonstrates at least a moderate rating or its equivalent on a formal fluency rating scale; or
- b. Documentation that the child exhibits stuttering on 5% or more of words spoken in a representative language sample or demonstrates stuttering in varied speaking situations; and
- c. An observation documenting that the child's stuttering interferes with communication and calls attention to itself.
- (III) Language Impairment eligibility criteria. Language Impairment means a deficiency in language comprehension or production evident in tine content, form or use of oral communication or its equivalent.
- (1.) Eligibility criteria: Both of the following criteria must be met:
- a. The child demonstrates on standardized measures an understanding and use of morphologic, Syntactic, semantic, or pragmatic patterns at 1.5 standard deviations below the mean for the child's chronological age; and
- b. Documentation that receptive or expressive language interferes with the child's oral communication or primary mode of communication.
- (IV) Voice Impairment. Voice Impairment means a significant deviation in pitch, intensity or quality, which significantly interferes with communication for an extended period of time and is atypical for a child of comparable age and development.
- (1.) Voice Impairment eligibility criteria: Voice Impairment must be evidenced by:
- a. Documentation that the child exhibits significantly abnormal voice quality, pitch, resonance, loudness, or duration; and
- b. Documentation that the condition is present for an extended period of time.
- (B) The evaluation process must take Into account that the child does not exhibit any one (1) of the following exclusionary factors:
- (I) Mild, transitory, or developmentally appropriate speech or language difficulties that children experience at various times to various degrees;
- (II) Speech or language difficulties resulting from dialectical difference or from learning English as a second language, unless the child has a Language Impairment In his or her native language;
- (III) Difficulties with auditory processing without a concomitant impairment in speech sound production;
- (IV) A tongue thrust which exists in the absence of a concomitant impairment in speech sound production; or
- (V) Elective or selective mutism or school phobia without a documented oral Speech or Language impairment.
- (xii) Traumatic Brain Injury. Traumatic Brain Injury means 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 child's educational performance. Traumatic Brain Injury applies to open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one (1) 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, Traumatic Brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
- (A) Traumatic Brain Injury eligibility criteria: Eligibility is established through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with the requirements of these rules. The initial evaluation shall be conducted by qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address all areas of need resulting from the suspected disability. In accordance with these requirements, a child is identified as a child with a Traumatic Brain injury if the following criteria are satisfied:
- (I) Documentation from a physician, within the previous twelve (12) months, that the child has sustained a brain trauma (e.g., skull fracture, contusions, and/or bullet wound, etc.) resulting in the onset of an impairment; and
- (II) Documentation that the Traumatic Brain Injury adversely affects the child's educational performance in one (1) or more of the following areas: cognitive ability, social behavior, use of adaptive skills, physical ability, vision, hearing, or ability to communicate.
- (xiii) Visual Impairment, Including Blindness. Visual Impairment, Including Blindness means an impairment in vision, even with correction, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness:;:;
- (A) Visual Impairment eilgibility criteria: Eligibility is established through a comprehensive evaluation in accordance with these rules. The initial evaluation team shall consist of a certified teacher of the visually impaired and other qualified professionals as determined appropriate by the school district or public agency. The initial evaluation process shall be comprehensive and address all areas of need resulting from the suspected disability. In accordance with the requirements of these rules, a child is identified as a child with a Visual Impairment, Including Blindness if criteria in paragraph (I) is met in addition to one (1) additional criteria in paragraphs (II) through (V).
- (I) Documentation of loss of vision which adversely affects the child's educational performance and requires the use of specialized tests, techniques, materials, or assistive technology devices; and
- (II) Documentation of visual acuity in the better eye with the best possible correction of:
- (1.) 20/200 or less (blind); or
- (2.) 20/50 or less (partially sighted);
- (III) Documentation of reduced visual field to 20 degrees or less in the better eye;
- (IV) Documentation of a progressive loss of vision which may, in the future, affect the child's ability to learn; or
- (V) Visual acuity, which cannot be measured, but in which the child has a functional loss of vision as determined through a functional vision assessment.