Assignment 2 Directions: Diagnosis/Eligibility
General Assessment Considerations

The National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC) website is an excellent online resource that contains information regarding a national perspective on issues regarding young children (www.nectac.org). In their online publication nectac Notes no 27, Danaher, J. states “IDEA offers special provisions for states to identify children younger than school age who are eligible for special education and related services. In addition to the Part B disability categories used for school aged students, states may use Developmental Delay (DD) or a term of their choosing, for ages three through nine or a subset thereof according to their state criteria” (2011,January,no.27) Retrieved from: http://ectacenter.org/ ion. This online publication provides a summary table of Early Childhood Special Education Eligibility Criteria in the various states as well as the District of Columbia. The eligibility for the state of Ohio children for Preschool Disabilities services is to the age of 5 or enrollment into Kindergarten. In the state of Ohio and indicated in this publication the term of Developmental Delay (DD) is used for preschoolers with disabilities from the ages of three to five (2011, January, no.27 attachment 1). Retrieved from: http://ectacenter.org/ ion. The assessments my district administers to determine eligibility as a Preschooler with a Disability are the Brigance Child Inventory completed by the Early Childhood Intervention Specialist, PLS 4 completed by the Speech Language Pathologist, ASQ-SE completed by the Psychologist and if motor was indicated as an area of concern the Peabody is completed by the Occupational and/or Physical Therapist.

The online resource that provides the Ohio perspective on the diagnosis and eligibility practices that I found resourceful was www. Ohio.gov. This website gives school district guidelines and the administrative code in Ohio for eligibility of special education services. The website states “Each school district of residence must conduct a full and individual evaluation in accordance with rule 3301-51-06 of the Administrative Code before the initial provision of special education and related services to a preschool child with a disability residing in the district “retrieved from www. Ohio.gov Ohio Administrative Code.In the State of Ohio a Preschooler with Disabilities is defined as “A child who: Is at least three years of age and not six years of age ; and Meets the definition of a "child with a disability" in paragraph (B)(10) of 3301-51-01 of the Administrative Code or, at the discretion of the school district, is a child who: Is experiencing developmental delays, as defined in rule 3301-51-11 of the Administrative Code and as measured by appropriate diagnostic instruments and procedures, 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.”
(Retrieved from http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Special-Education/Federal-and-State-Requirements/Procedures-and-Guidance/Glossary). Only Preschoolers depending on the state can use the disability category of Developmental Delay. The website Education.com provides a textbook definition of the label Developmental Delay (DD). According to the webpage Education Com, “for many infants and preschoolers, it is often difficult to determine whether they have a true disability or have a temporary delay in maturation. In addition, it is sometimes difficult to determine the precise nature of a young children's disability. For these reasons, professionals are often reluctant to make a clinical diagnosis and, instead, refer to them as having a developmental delay”. This allows for early intervention and maturation of a learner and over identification of children who maybe misdiagnosed under the auspice of Preschool Disabilities. (Retrieved from http://www.education.com).

1. Provide an explanation of this type of assessment that would be appropriate for and relevant to teachers and other professional staff in your program. (You may re-write the textbook definition that you provided in #3.)
Whose IDEA is this (Procedural safe guards) defines “Assessment Methods or tools used for measuring: o Current academic performance and educational needs; o Eligibility for services; o Progress toward achieving goals; and o Category of disability. “Whose IDEA Is This? boils down language of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA) to main points that will help you be an effective partner in your child’s education. This guide has been prepared by the Ohio Department of Education’s Office for Exceptional Children (ODE/OEC) This guides describes the assessment process in regards to initial and reevaluation for children a birth to 22. This resource is applicable for all stakeholders in Special Educations including families and professionals.

2. Provide an explanation of this type of assessment that would be appropriate for and relevant to parents and families of children in your program. (You may re-write the textbook definition that you provided in #3.)

The Parent Information Center on Special Education outlines eligibility and the assessment progress as “Once all the evaluations are completed, the diagnostic team develops a written summary of the test results into an (Evaluation Team Report/ETR). Next, the team, which includes the parents, meets to consider all available information to determine if your child has an educational disability. To be eligible for special education, your child must have an educational disability. If your child has an educational disability an Individual Education Plan is written and outlines all special education and related services.” Retrieved from: http://www.nhspecialed.org/eligibility.shtml. This online resource is excellent for families with special needs children. This site is easy to navigate and provides on information on Special Education to support to families who have a child with a disability and give them skills to empower themselves effectively as team members in the Special Education process for their child. The center is located in New Hampshire but the website is open to the public. In my school district each member of our diagnostic teams builds a rapport with the family at the screening so that the child is familiar with the team members prior to a full Multifactored evaluation.

3. Describe best practices with regard to this type of assessment.
The Council for Exceptional Children Ohio (CEC/Ohio) advocates for the rights of individuals with exceptionalities. All persons have unique needs and differing learning abilities. The CEC/Ohio is especially committed to an effective and comprehensive educational service delivery system based on best practice and research. All persons have common rights and therefore CEC/Ohio promotes a positive quality of life for all persons. JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

Program Assessment Measure After the screen, if a disability is suspected the diagnostic team will schedule the ETR/IEP meeting to complete the multi-factored evaluation. The assessments administered to determine eligibility are the Brigance completed by the Early Childhood Intervention Specialist, PLS 4 completed by the Speech Language Pathologist, ASQ-SE completed by the Psychologist and if motor was indicated as an area of concern the Peabody is completed by the Occupational and/or Physical Therapist.

Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of Early Development

Purpose: The Brigance is used to identify children who need further assessment to determine their eligibility for special programs, stimulation, or extra assistance. Type of Assessment: Criterion-Reference Strengths/advantages: User friendly test materials include a Developmental Record Book which facilitates record keeping for purposes of multiple testing because it is an ordered listing of all basic skills and behaviors and can be used more than once for the same learner. This allows for comparisons of progress from when the learner enters and exits the preschool program. The Brigance also includes a scoring software CD-ROM can be purchased that creates student lists with chronological age, cut-off scores, growth indicators, percentiles, and age equivalents.

Challenges/disadvantages: There is a Spanish version of the instrument but no other language.

Appropriate for use with young children with disabilities: The Brigance is appropriate for young children with disabilities. There is evidence of reliability and validity for children with Special Needs.
Appropriate for use with young who are English language learners (ELL): There is a Spanish version of the Brigance. No other language available.
Describe how each measure involves parents/families: Parents and Caregivers are involved in the interview process to obtain background information and complete the Adaptive Behavior portions of the Brigance.

Peabody Purpose: The Peabody is an early childhood motor development program that includes both in-depth assessment and training or remediation of gross and fine motor skills. The assessment is composed of six subtests that measure interrelated motor abilities that develop early in life. It is designed to assess the motor skills of children from birth through five years of age. Type of Assessment:
Strengths/advantages: Reliability and validity have been determined empirically.

Challenges/disadvantages: This tool does not include a family or parent interview portion and does not illicit collaboration with families

Appropriate for use with young children with disabilities: This tool is appropriate for special needs leaners

Appropriate for use with young who are English language learners (ELL): No version other than English. An interpreter is present for ELL families.

Describe how each measure involves parents/families: This tool does not include a family or parent interview portion and does not illicit collaboration with families.

PLS- 4 Purpose: Designed to assess expressive language and auditory comprehension for children from birth to age six. Type of Assessment: Standardized Norm-referenced Strengths/advantages: Examiner’s manual contains especially clear, concise, and thorough administration and scoring directions, supplemented with abundant examples and Standard scores, percentile ranks, and age equivalent scores for raw scores are provided in six-month age intervals for children aged one through four years and in twelve month intervals for five and six year olds. Challenges/disadvantages: Some test materials needed must be purchased separately for $59.00: a ball, soft cloth, five blocks, two cars, three cups, two rattles, a box with lid, three spoons, two bowls, a squeaky toy, two wind-up toys, and a teddy bear and Best used as a quick language assessment tool for children aged three through five years, but should not be used alone to obtain a thorough language evaluation.
Appropriate for use with young children with disabilities: This tool has been researched to be appropriate for the preschoolers with Special Needs. Appropriate for use with young who are English language learners (ELL): A Spanish version is available with normative data provided item by item, but not as a total score. Describe how each measure involves parents/families: This assessment as limited family involvement.

Program Assessment Process
Referrals are initiated from a parent, agency or Help Me Grow. The referral request is sent to clerical support in the Department of Early Childhood to process intake packet containing IFSP, transition date, info about child. The clerical support sends information referral packet containing Procedural Safeguard- Whose IDEA is this?, Welcome letter, student registration form, medical and dental form .and then assigns the child to a diagnostic team through the EMIS data collection system to track the referral. The diagnostic team is assigned in A and B order. Meaning that the once a referral is initiated the clerical support personnel assigns the referral to the next team in line via email. . Once the referral is assigned the team confirms receipt via email and sets transition date with parent, agency or HMG service coordinator. We have two types of diagnostic teams who only assess initial referrals. We have one team that process HMG, agency or parent referrals and the second type team, that assess children who are already receiving services in a Head Start setting
If the child is eligible, two LRE options are considered and determined as a team at the IEP meeting. A Preschool Disabilities Class or Itinerant Services which must be delivered within CPS boundaries. The PD Classroom can have up to four typically developing peers and up to eight children with special needs children. The classrooms a full time teacher and assistant. The class is a half day program (except CHIPP which is a hearing impaired unit for children with cochlear implants) and transportation is provided. Itinerant Services can be in your home, preschool, daycare, or community Head Start program. The services are typically written in the IEP for sixty minutes weekly or two hundred forty minutes monthly.
CPS supervisor assigns children to preschool disabilities classroom closest to the child’s home after the LRE has been denoted on the IEP. A parent can make requests but they are not guaranteed. The referral process for my district is outlined in detail in our District’s Interagency Agreement and referenced in the Local Education Agency (LEA) column and stated as,
LEA has the option to screen a child to determine a suspected disability before getting permission for an evaluation. The screening could include: Review of records of Observation of child the Using a screening instrument for Interview with parents 3. LEA will conduct a full and individual evaluation (ETR) before the initial provision of special education and related services. Sufficient information shall be obtained using a variety of information sources to confirm that a disability exists. No single source of information shall be used to determine if a preschool child is eligible or not eligible for special education and related services as a preschool child shall be determined on the basis of multiple sources of information, including, but not limited to: a. Information from Part C for children transitioning from early intervention services; b. Structured observations in more than one setting and multiple activities; c. Information provided by the parent or caregiver; and d. Criterion-Reference/ Curriculum-Based Assessment (Developmentally Based) and norm-referenced evaluations. If child is eligible for Early Childhood Special Education Services, an IEP is developed at a team meeting addressing goals and objectives, services and least restrictive environment with parent/guardian and others when invited by the parent. (IDEA 04 Part C Section 303.23, IDEA’ 04 Part B, OAC 3301-51-02, 3301-51-09, 3301-51-11 (F) (G) 45 CFR Head Start 1304.21(a) (l) (ii), 1308.6 (3) (4), 1308.19(k)). For children in non-English speaking homes the diagnostic team makes a formal request and completes a requisition needed to request the interpreter, the process is followed for the suspected disability screening, evaluation meeting and the ETR/IEP conferences.

References:
Danaher, J. (2011). Eligibility policies and practices for young children under Part B of IDEANECTAC Notes No. 27). Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina, FPG Child Development Institute, National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center.

Division for Early Childhood. (2014). DEC recommended practices in early intervention/early childhood special education. Retrieved from http://www.dec-sped.org/recommendedpractices

(Part C of IDEA), Chapel Hill, NC. Retrieved fromhttp://ectacenter.org/partc/part.casp#overview

Ferre, D. 1992. Parental Involvement in School Decision-Making. Unpublished Master’s Thesis: University of Saskatchewan. Head Start National Reporting System (2003). Description of the Direct Child Assessment Battery. Http://www.rivhsa.org/OverviewoftheHSNRS_omb.pdf Head Start Bureau (2003). The National Reporting System. Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Http: www.headstartinfo.org. Head Start Bureau (2003). Overview of the Head Start National Reporting System Full Implementation. Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Http: www.headstartinfo.org.
Young Children with Special Needs, by S.R. Hooper, W. Umansky, 2009 edition, p. 384