Source: http://www.educationrightslaw.com/subb.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 17:06:55+00:00

Document:
SubB - Special Needs Law at Fabisch Law, L.L.C.
300.2 Applicability of this part to State, local, and private agencies.
(a) States. The federal regulations which these state regulations implement apply to Rhode Island because Rhode Island receives federal funds under Part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
(i) The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) also referred to as the State Educational Agency (SEA).
(ii) Local educational agencies (LEAs), educational collaboratives, education service agencies and public charter schools.
(iii) Other State agencies and schools.
(2) Are binding on each public agency in the State that provides special education and related services to children with disabilities, regardless of whether that agency is receiving funds under Part B of the IDEA or state funds.
(2) Placed in private schools by their parents under the provisions of these regulations.
Authority. These regulations are established pursuant to Title 16, Chapter 24 of the General Laws of Rhode Island and by the Federal IDEA, 2004 (20 U.S.C. Chapter 33, 1400 et. seq.).
Act means the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as amended.
rehabilitation services), employers, or other individuals who provide services to, employ, or are otherwise substantially involved in the major life functions of that child.
(a) General. (1) Child with a disability means a child, aged 3 to 21, evaluated in accordance with §§ 300.304 through 300.311 as having mental retardation, a hearing impairment (including deafness), a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment (including blindness), a serious emotional disturbance (referred to in this part as ―emotional disturbance‖), an orthopedic impairment, autism spectrum disorder, traumatic brain injury, an other health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities, and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services.
(2)(i) Subject to paragraph (a)(2)(ii) of this section, if it is determined, through an appropriate evaluation under §§ 300.304 through 300.311, that a child has one of the disabilities identified in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, but only needs a related service and not special education, the child is not a child with a disability under this part.
(ii) If, consistent with § 300.39(a)(2), the related service required by the child is considered special education rather than a related service under State standards, the child would be determined to be a child with a disability under paragraph (a)(1) of this section.
(3) A developmental delay or disability is defined as a twenty five per cent (25%) delay and/or score equal to or greater than two standard deviations below the mean in one of the following areas of development; or a score equal to or greater than 1.5 standard deviations below the mean in two (2) or more of the following areas: Physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development, or adaptive development.
(1) Autism Spectrum Disorder. (i) Autism Spectrum Disorder means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3 that adversely affects a child‘s educational performance. Included in the spectrum are: Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Rett‘s Disorder, Asperger‘s Disorder and Childhood Disintegrative Disorder. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child‘s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance as defined herein.
(ii) A child who manifests the characteristics of ―autism spectrum disorder‖ after age 3 could be diagnosed as having ―autism spectrum disorder‖ if the criteria of this section are satisfied.
(3) Deafness means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child‘s educational performance.
(5) Hearing impairment means an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child‘s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section.
(6) Mental retardation 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.
(7) Multiple disabilities means concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness or mental retardation-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. The term does not include deaf-blindness.
(8) Orthopedic impairment means a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child‘s educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by 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).
(ii) Adversely affects a child‘s educational performance.
(10) Specific learning disability (i) General. Specific learning disability means a disorder in one 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.
(11) 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.
(12) 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 child‘s educational performance. Traumatic brain injury 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. Traumatic brain injury does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or to brain injuries induced by birth trauma.
(13) Visual impairment including blindness means an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child‘s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness.
(3) If the parent revokes consent in writing for their child‘s receipt of special education services after the child is initially provided special education and related services, the public agency is not required to amend the child‘s education records to remove any references to the child‘s receipt of special education and related services because of the revocation of consent.
Core academic subjects mean English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and geography.
(b) Business day means Monday through Friday, except for Federal and State holidays (unless holidays are specifically included in the designation of business day, as in 300.148(d)(1)(ii)).
(c)(1) School day means any day, including a partial day that children are in attendance at school for instructional purposes.
(2) School day has the same meaning for all children in school, including children with and without disabilities, except for pre-school aged children with mild to moderate disabilities for whom a school day shall consist of a minimum of a two and one-half (2 ½) hours. A school day for pre-school aged children with severe or profound mental retardation or multiple disabilities shall consist of a minimum of five (5) hours.
(b) Includes any other public institution or agency having administrative control and direction over a public elementary or secondary school.
(c) Includes entities that meet the definition of intermediate educational unit in § 602(23) of the Act as in effect prior to June 4, 1997.
Elementary school means a nonprofit institutional day or residential school, including a public elementary charter school, that provides elementary education, as determined under state law.
(b) All other items necessary for the functioning of a particular facility as a facility for the provision of educational services, including items such as instructional equipment and necessary furniture; printed, published and audiovisual instructional materials; telecommunications, sensory, and other technological aids and devices; and books, periodicals, documents, and other related materials.
Evaluation means procedures used in accordance with §§ 300.304 through 300.311 to determine whether a child has a disability and the nature and extent of the special education and related services that the child needs.
(d) Are provided in conformity with an individualized education program (IEP) that meets the requirements of §§ 300.320 through 300.324.
(2) Include the option for teachers to meet the requirements of § 9101 of the ESEA by meeting the requirements of paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section.
(iii) The teacher holds at least a bachelor‘s degree.
(ii) The State ensures, through its certification and licensure process, that the provisions in paragraph (b)(2)(i) of this section are met.
(3) Any public elementary school or secondary school special education teacher, who is not teaching a core academic subject, is highly qualified if the teacher meets the requirements in paragraph (b)(1) or the requirements in (b)(1)(iii) and (b)(2) of this section.
(2) Meet the requirements of paragraph (B) or (C) of § 9101(23) of the ESEA as applied to an elementary school teacher, or, in the case of instruction above the elementary level, meet the requirements of paragraph (B) or (C) of § 9101(23) of the ESEA as applied to an elementary school teacher and have subject matter knowledge appropriate to the level of instruction being provided and needed to effectively teach to those standards, as determined by the State.
(3) In the case of a new special education teacher who teaches multiple subjects and who is highly qualified in mathematics, language arts, or science, demonstrate, not later than two years after the date of employment, competence in the other core academic subjects in which the teacher teaches in the same manner as is required for an elementary, middle, or secondary school teacher under 34 CFR 200.56(c), which may include a single HOUSSE covering multiple subjects.
(2) The standards described in paragraph (e)(1) of this section may include single HOUSSE evaluations that cover multiple subjects.
(f) Rule of construction. Notwithstanding any other individual right of action that a parent or student may maintain under this part, nothing in this part shall be construed to create a right of action on behalf of an individual student or class of students for the failure of a particular SEA or LEA employee to be highly qualified, or to prevent a parent from filing a complaint under §§ 300.151 through 300.153 about staff qualifications with the SEA as provided for under this part.
(g) Applicability of definition to ESEA; and clarification of new special education teacher. (1) A teacher who is highly qualified under this section is considered highly qualified for purposes of the ESEA.
(2) For purposes of § 300.18(d)(3), a fully certified regular education teacher who subsequently becomes fully certified or licensed as a special education teacher is a new special education teacher when first hired as a special education teacher.
(h) Private school teachers not covered. The requirements in this section do not apply to teachers hired by private elementary schools and secondary schools including private school teachers hired or contracted by LEAs to provide equitable services to parentally-placed private school children with disabilities under § 300.138.
Homeless children has the meaning given the term homeless children and youths in § 725 (42 U.S.C. 11434a) of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 11431 et seq.
Include means that the items named are not all of the possible items that are covered, whether like or unlike the ones named.
(a) Indian means an individual who is a member of an Indian tribe.
(b) Indian tribe means any Federal or State Indian tribe, band, Rancheria, pueblo, colony, or community, or as further defined at 34 CFR part 300.21.
300.22 Individualized education program (IEP).
Individualized education program or IEP means a written statement for a child with a disability that is developed, reviewed, and revised in accordance with §§ 300.320 through 300.324.
Individualized education program team or IEP team means a group of individuals described in 300.321 that is responsible for developing, reviewing, or revising an IEP for a child with a disability.
300.24 Individualized family service plan (IFSP).
(ii) A written notification to parents of their rights and responsibilities in determining whether their child will continue to receive services under Part C of the Act or participate in preschool programs under § 619 of the Act.
(b) Also includes any community college receiving funds from the Secretary of the Interior under the Tribally Controlled Community College or University Assistance Act of 1978, 25 U.S.C. 1801, et seq.
Limited English proficient has the meaning given the term in § 9101(25) of the ESEA.
300.28 Local educational agency (LEA).
(a) General. Local educational agency means a public board of education or other public authority legally constituted within the State for either administrative control or direction of, or to perform a service function for, public elementary or secondary schools in a city, county, township, school district, or other political subdivision of the State, or for a combination of school districts or counties as are recognized in the State as an administrative agency for its public elementary or secondary schools.
(2) Any other public institution or agency having administrative control and direction of a public elementary or secondary school, including a public non-profit charter school that is established as an LEA under State law.
(1) The language normally used by that individual, or, in the case of a child, the language normally used by the parents of the child, except as provided in paragraph (a)(2) of this section.
(2) In all direct contact with a child (including evaluation of the child), the language normally used by the child in the home or learning environment.
(b) For an individual with deafness or blindness, or for an individual with no written language, the mode of communication is that normally used by the individual (such as sign language, Braille, or oral communication).
(5) A surrogate parent who has been appointed in accordance with § 300.519 or § 639(a)(5) of the Act.
(b) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (b)(2) of this section, the biological or adoptive parent, when attempting to act as the parent under this part and when more than one party is qualified under paragraph (a) of this section to act as a parent, must be presumed to be the parent for purposes of this section unless the biological or adoptive parent does not have legal authority to make educational decisions for the child.
(2) If a judicial decree or order identifies a specific person or persons under paragraphs (a)(1) through (4) of this section to act as the "parent" of a child or to make educational decisions on behalf of a child, then such person or persons shall be determined to be the "parent" for purposes of this section.
Parent training and information center means a center assisted under §§ 671 or 672 of the Act.
(d) A list of personal characteristics or other information that would make it possible to identify the child with reasonable certainty.
providing education to children with disabilities.
(a) General. Related services means transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, and includes speech-language pathology and audiology services, interpreting services, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation, including therapeutic recreation, early identification and assessment of disabilities in children, counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling, orientation and mobility services, and medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes. Related services also includes school health services and school nurse services, social work services in schools, and parent counseling and training.
(1) Related services do not include a medical device that is surgically implanted, the optimization of that device‘s functioning (e.g., mapping), maintenance of that device, or the replacement of that device.
(iii) Prevents the routine checking of an external component of a surgically implanted device to make sure it is functioning properly, as required in § 300.113(b).
(vi) Determination of children‘s needs for group and individual amplification, selecting and fitting an appropriate aid, and evaluating the effectiveness of amplification.
(3) Early identification and assessment of disabilities in children means the implementation of a formal plan for identifying a disability as early as possible in a child‘s life.
(5) Medical services means 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.
(iii) Helping parents to acquire the necessary skills that will allow them to support the implementation of their child‘s IEP or IFSP.
(9) Physical therapy means services provided by a qualified physical therapist or by a qualified physical therapy assistant under the supervision of a qualified physical therapist.
(12) Rehabilitation counseling services means services provided by qualified personnel in individual or group sessions that focus specifically on career development, employment preparation, achieving independence, and integration in the workplace and community of a student with a disability. The term also includes vocational rehabilitation services provided to a student with a disability by vocational rehabilitation programs funded under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et. seq.
(13) School health services and school nurse services means health services that are designed to enable a child with a disability to receive FAPE as described in the child‘s IEP. School nurse services are services provided by a qualified school nurse. School health services are services that may be provided by either a qualified school nurse or other qualified person.
(iv) Those requirements in § 300.902 of these regulations.
Scientifically based research has the meaning given the term in § 9101(37) of the ESEA.
Secondary school means a nonprofit institutional day or residential school that provides secondary education, as determined under State law, except that it does not include any education beyond grade 12.
Services plan means a written statement that describes the special education and related services the LEA will provide to a parentally-placed child in a private school who has been designated to receive services, including the location of the services and any transportation necessary, consistent with § 300.132, and is developed and implemented in accordance with §§ 300.137 through 300.139.
Secretary means the Secretary of Education.
State educational agency or SEA means the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (RIDE) which is responsible for the general supervision of all education programs for children with disabilities in Rhode Island including all such programs administered by any other state or local agency.
Supplementary aids and services means, aids, services, and other supports that are provided in regular education classes, other education-related settings, and in extra-curricular and nonacademic settings, to enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate in accordance with §§ 300.114 though 300.116.
(v) If appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and provision of functional vocational evaluation.
(b) Transition services for children with disabilities may be special education, if provided as specially designed instruction, or related services, if required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education.
Universal design has the meaning given the term in § 3 of the Assistive Technology Act of 1998, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 3002.
(3) In the custody of a public child welfare agency.
(b) Exception. Ward of the State does not include a foster child who has a foster parent who meets the definition of a parent in § 300.30.
Vocational evaluation is a strength-based, student-centered process, by which information is obtained to assist students in designing individualized education and vocational services to reach their career goals. This includes the use of formal and informal methods to collect information, including: Interest inventories, student interviews, parent interviews, skill and aptitude tests, on-campus and off-campus situational assessments, work samples, vocational evaluations, performance in career related courses and other methods. Vocational evaluation is an ongoing process, not a single test or procedure. The results of Vocational evaluation are shared at IEP meetings, and the information obtained through the Vocational evaluation should be infused into designing the student‘s educational services and in developing appropriate, measurable post secondary goals.
(a) The teacher responsible for content instruction and determining student grades.

References: § 300
 § 602
 § 9101
 § 9101
 § 9101
 § 300
 § 300
 § 725
 § 619
 § 9101
 § 300
 § 639
 § 300
 § 701
 § 300
 § 9101
 § 300
 § 3
 § 300