2023 New Hampshire Revised Statutes › Title XV - Education › Chapter 186-C - Special Education › Section 186-C:2 - Definitions.

186-C:2 Definitions. –
In this chapter:
I. "Child with a disability" means any person between the ages of 3 and 21, inclusive, who has been identified and evaluated by a school district according to rules adopted by the state board of education and determined to have an intellectual disability, a hearing impairment including deafness, a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment including blindness, an emotional disturbance, an orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, acquired brain injury, another health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, multiple disabilities, or a child at least 3 years of age but less than 10 years of age, experiencing developmental delays, who because of such impairment, needs special education or special education and related services. "Child with a disability" shall include a person between the ages of 18 and 21 inclusive, who was identified as a child with a disability and received services in accordance with an individualized education program but who left school prior to his or her incarceration, or was identified as a child with a disability but did not have an individualized education program in his or her last educational institution.
I-a. "Developmentally delayed child" means a child at least 3 years of age or older, but less than 10 years of age, who, because of impairments in development, needs special education or special education and related services, and may be identified as being developmentally delayed provided that such a child meets the criteria established by the state board of education.
I-b. "Division" means the division of learner support, department of education.
II. "Approved program" means a program of special education that has been approved by the state board of education and that is maintained by a school district, regional special education center, private organization, or state facility for the benefit of children with disabilities, and may include home instruction provided by the school district.
III. "Individualized education program" means a written plan for the education of a child with a disability that has been developed by a school district in accordance with rules adopted by the state board of education and that provides necessary special education or special education and related services within an approved program.
IV. "Special education" means instruction specifically designed to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability.
V. (a) "Related services" means:
(1) Suitable transportation to all children with disabilities whose individualized education program requires such transportation. The school district may board a child as close to the place where instruction is to be furnished as possible, and shall provide transportation, if required by the child's individualized education program, from the place where the child is boarded to the place of instruction; and
(2) Such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are specifically required by an individualized education program to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education; and
(3) Services necessary for a child with a disability to benefit from special education and when placement in a residential facility has been made by the legally responsible school district in order to comply with RSA 186-C:9, or when placement has been ordered by a hearings officer or by a court of competent jurisdiction on appeal, pursuant to rules adopted by the state board of education under RSA 186-C:16, IV.
(b) "Related services" shall not include medical services unless such services are necessary for purposes of diagnosis and evaluation.
VI. "Functionally blind" means a pupil who has:
(a) Visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of the best correction for any refractive error, or a limited field of vision in which the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle no greater than 20 degrees.
(b) A medically indicated expectation of visual deterioration.
(c) A functional limitation resulting from a medically diagnosed visual impairment which restricts the child's ability to read and write standard print at levels expected of other children of comparable ability and grade level.
VII. "Parent" means:
(a) A natural or adoptive parent of a child who has legal custody of the child;
(b) A guardian of a child, but not the state when the state has legal guardianship of the child;
(c) A person acting in the place of a custodial parent or guardian of a child, if no other custodial parent or guardian is available, who is designated in writing to make educational decisions on the child's behalf by such parent or guardian;
(d) A surrogate parent who has been appointed in accordance with RSA 186-C:14; or
(e) A foster parent of a child who has been appointed in accordance with RSA 186-C:14-a.
Source.
1981, 352:2. 1990, 140:2, X. 1991, 80:1. 1993, 108:1. 1994, 379:12. 1997, 89:1; 114:1. 1998, 177:2. 1999, 107:1. 2002, 205:1. 2003, 215:1. 2008, 52:20, eff. July 11, 2008; 274:29 to 31, 33, eff. July 1, 2008; 302:35 eff. Jan. 1, 2009. 2018, 315:6, eff. Aug. 24, 2018. 2022, 230:1, eff. June 17, 2022; 264:1, eff. June 24, 2022.