Utah Special Education Terms and Definitions
IDEA and State Law
As an educator, you know the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is a federal law that requires states to provide all students with disabilities between the ages of 3 and 21 with a free appropriate public education if the states are to receive federal funding for the education of students with disabilities. The IDEA requires every state seeking federal funding to issue regulations that guide the implementation of the federal law within the state.
State regulations can't contradict the IDEA, and they can't provide less than the federal law requires. But they can offer more protections than the IDEA.
Age of Eligibility
The IDEA says educational services must be provided to students with disabilities age 3-21. In Alabama, a student who has not earned a regular high school diploma and not reached age 21 by August 1 is entitled to services up until her 21st birthday. A student who turns 21 on or after August 1 is entitled to begin and complete the school year. A few states, including Connecticut, Utah, and Texas, extend services to age 22. Texas uses a September 1 date, so if a student turns 22 on September 2, she can remain eligible that entire school year. Michigan makes students with disabilities eligible for special education services through age 25.
Age of Transition Services
The IDEA says local education agencies must start transition planning for after high school when the student with the disability is age 16. Several states, including Alabama and Missouri, follow that rule. Some states require transition planning to begin at age 14 or before. Kentucky requires that transition services be included in the IEP upon entering eighth grade, when turning 14, or earlier. Utah, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Connecticut, Mississippi, and Texas require transition planning at age 14. Florida requires that the IEP team begin the process of, and develop an IEP for, identifying the need for transition services during the student's seventh-grade year or when the student attains the age of 12, whichever occurs first. The plan must be operational and in place to begin implementation on the first day of the student's first year in high school.
Behavioral Interventions
Under the IDEA, the IEP must, in the case of a student whose behavior impedes the student's learning or that of others, consider the use of positive behavioral interventions and supports and other strategies to address that behavior. Connecticut and Alabama track the IDEA. Some states may impose additional requirements. For example, Utah law states that when making decisions on behavioral interventions, the IEP team must refer to the Utah State Board of Education's technical assistance manual that outlines the Least Restrictive Behavior Interventions for information on research-based intervention procedures. Mississippi regulations define and explain what a functional behavioral assessment is and what it must include.
Burden of Proof
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the burden of proof is upon the party that files for a due process hearing or a suit in court. Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Utah, and Florida follow this rule. Some states, such as New York, have passed laws that puts the burden of proof on the LEA to show that they have provided FAPE. In Connecticut, an LEA has the burden of proving the appropriateness of a student's program or placement, or of the program or placement the LEA proposed.
Consent
Some states set a timeline for seeking parent consent for evaluations. For example, Missouri requires an LEA to send a notice of intent to evaluate within 30 calendar days of a referral. In Connecticut, a parent's failure to respond to an LEA's request for consent to conduct an initial evaluation or reevaluation within 10 days from the date of the notice must be construed as parental refusal of consent.
Disability Categories
The IDEA has 13 categories of disability. It allows a state to have a disability category for students aged 3 through 9 experiencing developmental delay. For instance, Texas developed the "Non-Categorical Early Childhood" category for students 3-5 who are "evaluated as having an intellectual disability, an emotional disturbance, a specific learning disability or autism." Rather than looking for a developmental delay, the Texas student must be diagnosed as having one of these labels. Connecticut has a developmental delay category for students ages 3-5 with general delays in their physical, cognitive, communication, social, emotional, or adaptive development and who, because of these delays, need special education and related services. Connecticut also recognizes two sub-categories in addition to the 13 under the IDEA: SLD/dyslexia under specific learning disability and ADD/ADHD under other health impairment. Similarly, the Utah special education code also recognizes developmental delay as a disability category for students ages 3 - 7. In Utah, the definition of developmental delay is a significant delay in one or more of the following areas: physical/motor development, cognitive development, communication development, social/emotional development, or adaptive development. The delay must adversely affect the student's educational performance. Mississippi has determined that developmental delay applies to the age range birth through 9 years. A new eligibility determination must occur before the student's 10th birthday. Mississippi also allows LEAs to use a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement for determining whether a student has a specific learning disability.
Alabama has a developmental delay category for students ages 3-9 with delays that adversely affect daily and/or educational performance in one or more of five areas: adaptive, cognitive, communication, social or emotional, physical. Alabama also has a category for "emotional disability," which is equivalent to the IDEA's emotional disturbance classification.
There are 14 eligibility categories in Kentucky: Mild Mental Disability, or Functional Mental Disability, Multiple Disabilities, Hearing Impairment, Visual Impairment, Speech/Language Impairment, Emotional Behavioral Disability, Orthopedic Impairment, Autism, Traumatic Brain Injury, Other Health Impairment, Deaf-Blindness, Specific Learning Disability, or Developmental Delay (only for students aged 3 through 8).
Some states, such as Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee, also recognize intellectually gifted.
Evaluations
The IDEA mandates that LEAs complete evaluations within 60 days. Tennessee's timeline aligns with that of the IDEA. So do Alabama's, Mississippi's, Kentucky's, Florida's, and Missouri's. Other states have shorter timelines. For example, schools in Washington have 35 days in which to complete an evaluation after parent consent. In Utah, the evaluation must take place within 45 school days of receiving parent consent or if the evaluation was requested by the Division of Child and Family Services, within 30 calendar days. Connecticut also requires LEAs to complete evaluations in 45 days after parental consent.
Foster Parent
The IDEA defines a foster parent as one acting in the place of a natural or adoptive parent with whom the student lives, or an individual who is legally responsible for the student's welfare. States often add to that definition. Missouri considers a foster parent to be a "parent" for special education purposes if the foster parent is "generally authorized to make educational decisions for the child." Tennessee requires that the individual has an ongoing relationship with the student for more than one year in duration, is willing to make the educational decisions required of parents under the law and has no interest that would conflict with the interest of the student. Utah permits a foster parent to exercise IDEA rights as the student's parent if: 1) the biological or adoptive parent's authority to make educational decisions on the student's behalf is extinguished under state law; 2) the foster parent has an ongoing, long-term parental relationship with the student; 3) the foster parent if willing to make educational decisions; and 4) the foster parent has no interest that would conflict with the interests of the student.
IEP
Within 30 calendar days from eligibility determination the LEA must conduct a meeting to develop an IEP for the student. Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Mississippi, Kentucky, Utah, and Florida follow this same timeline. LEAs in Connecticut must implement an IEP within 45 school days from the date of referral, exclusive of the time required to obtain parental consent, so the entire process of eligibility determination and meeting to develop the IEP must take place within 45 school days.
IEP Goals
Under the IDEA, the IEP must include a statement of measurable annual goals that are designed to: 1) enable the student's participation and progress in the general education curriculum; and 2) meet all his disability-related educational needs. Alabama tracks this requirement. Connecticut adds that an IEP must also include a statement of short-term instructional objectives derived from the measurable annual goals. These objectives must include objective criteria, evaluation procedures, and schedules for determining, on a regular basis, whether the short-term instructional objectives are being achieved. Mississippi includes the additional requirement that the goals meet each of the student's other educational needs that result from the student's disability. Kentucky requires academic and functional goals, designed to meet the student's needs that result from the disability to enable the student's involvement and progression in the general curriculum, or for preschool students, as appropriate, to participate in appropriate activities; and meet the student's other educational needs that result from the disability. LEAs can determine benchmarks and short-term goals. Missouri's state education plan emphasizes that goals must be specific to a particular skill or behavior to be achieved, measurable/quantifiable, attainable, results oriented, time-bound, and able to be reasonably accomplished within the duration of the IEP.
IEP Meeting Notice
While the IDEA does not impose specific timelines in connection with the IEP meeting notice, some states do. Alabama, like the IDEA, merely requires written notification of the meeting early enough to ensure that the parents will have an opportunity to attend. Parents in Tennessee must receive written invitation at least 10 calendar days before the IEP team meeting. In Connecticut, parents must receive written notice five school days before the meeting. Kentucky requires notice to the parents at least seven days prior to the meeting. Missouri requires each LEA to have a record of at least two attempts to arrange a mutually agreed-upon time and place -- the second of which must be a direct contact -- before it can hold an IEP meeting in the parents' absence. Utah law also requires LEAs to have a record of their attempts to ensure the parents' involvement in the meeting. In Mississippi, notice for an IEP meeting must include the IDEA-required purpose, time, and location of the meeting and who will be in attendance. Additionally, those in attendance must be identified by name and position.
IEP Team Members
Under the IDEA, the IEP team of a student with a disability includes: 1) the parents of the child; 2) at least one general education teacher of the child (if the student is or may be participating in general education); 3) at least one special education teacher of the child, or where appropriate, not less than one special education provider of the child; 4) an LEA representative; 5) an individual who can interpret instructional implications of the evaluation results; 6) the student, whenever appropriate; and 7) at the discretion of the LEA or parent, other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child, including related services personnel as appropriate. Missouri follows the federal rule, some states require IEP teams to include additional members. For example, Utah's special education rules state that the IEP team must include a representative of the Utah School for the Deaf and the Blind when the team is considering a placement at USDB or when the student receives 180 minutes or more of special education and/or related services from USDB. Florida and Connecticut require inclusion of at least one teacher of the gifted, if the team is developing an IEP for a student who is also identified as gifted. In New York, the IEP team must include an additional parent member of a student with a disability residing in the LEA or a neighboring LEA. Alabama rules require that the team include a representative of career/technical education as a member of the IEP team for those students who have been referred for, or are currently receiving, career/technical education. Connecticut also requires LEAs to allow parents to invite paraprofessionals to the IEP meeting. Mississippi requires that a special education teacher be a part of a team that determines whether a student suspected of having a specific learning disability is a student with a disability.
IEP Team
Some states have adopted a different name for IEP teams. In Kentucky, for example, the Admissions and Release Committee, or ARC, is the group of individuals that is responsible for developing, reviewing, or revising an IEP for a student with a disability. New York has CSE teams, which refers to the Committee on Special Education, while IEPs for Texas students are developed by the Admission, Review and Dismissal or ARD team.
Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance
An IEP must incorporate a statement of present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, including how the student's disability affects his involvement and progress in general education. Alabama tracks the IDEA's as does Connecticut. Some states mandate that the PLAAFP in the IEP of a blind student also include the results obtained from a braille-related or braille skills assessment. Utah is such a state. Florida law states that, for a student identified as gifted and who is also identified as a student with a disability, the statement of the student's PLAAFP must include the student's strengths, interests, and needs beyond the general curriculum that result from the student's giftedness. In Missouri, the statement of PLAAFPS for students who take alternate assessments aligned to alternate achievement standards must include all the elements required by the IDEA and a description of benchmarks or short-term objectives. Kentucky has the same requirement as the IDEA; however, the PLAAFP must also include how the student's disability affects the student's involvement and progress in the general curriculum.
Prior Written Notice
The IDEA provides that written notice must be sent a reasonable time before the public agency proposes or refuses to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, educational placement, or provision of FAPE. Utah, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, and Florida follow this rule. However, some states may have specific deadlines. In Tennessee, PWN must be given at least 10 school days prior to either proposing or refusing to initiate or change the identification, evaluation, or educational placement of the student or provision of FAPE to the student. In Connecticut, written notice may be provided to the parents at the meeting, or it must be provided to the parents no later than 10 days before the team proposes to, or refuses to, initiate or change the student's identification, evaluation, or educational placement or the provision of FAPE to the student. Mississippi requires that parents receive notice seven days prior to changing the identification, evaluation, or educational placement or the provision of FAPE to the student.
Reevaluations
Under the IDEA, an LEA must conduct a reevaluation not more than once a year unless the LEA and parent agree otherwise, and it must conduct a reevaluation once every three years unless the LEA and parent agree otherwise. Connecticut, Tennessee, and Kentucky track the IDEA. Utah law provides that if the parties agree that a reevaluation is not necessary at the three-year mark, the IEP team must document the data reviewed and used in an evaluation report and complete an eligibility determination. Missouri has adopted the same requirements as the IDEA but states that reevaluations requested by a parent or public agency must follow the same timelines set forth for initial evaluations.
Statute of Limitations for Due Process Complaints
The IDEA contains a two-year statute of limitations which bars claims brought more than two years after parents "knew or should have known" of an alleged IDEA violation. Some states, like Utah, Missouri, Florida, and Connecticut, have adopted this limitations period. Others, like Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Alabama, have adopted a one-year limitations period for IDEA due process complaints.
Transfer of Rights
The IDEA states that beginning not later than one year before the student reaches the age of majority under state law, the IEP must include a statement that the student has been informed of the student's rights under Part B of the IDEA, if any, that will transfer to the student on reaching the age of majority. Alabama law sets 19 as the age of majority in that state. Utah law tracks the IDEA but also states that the transfer of rights also occurs upon notification to the LEA that a student has married or become emancipated before age 18 (the age of majority in the state). Missouri's state special education plan provides for the transfer of the parent's rights to the student at age 18 and requires the IEP to include a statement notifying the student of this transfer at least one year before the student turns 18. Connecticut, Florida, and Kentucky also identify the age of majority as the age of 18. In Mississippi, the requirement is the same as the IDEA, but the age of majority is 21.
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