2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE EIGHTEEN - Education (§§ 1 — 3510-3520) › PART III - Educational Activities Generally (§§ 861-866 — 1597b) › Chapter 87A - Integral Educational Services for Persons with Disabilities (§§ 1351 — 1359) › § 1356 - Office of Assistent Secretaray—Responsibilities of government agencies

The following responsibilities are hereby assigned to each agency, in addition to any others granted by enabling statutes or by any special state or federal laws. The Assistant Secretary shall coordinate each agency’s related services.
(b) Specific responsibilities. —
(1) Department of Health. —
(A) Assistant Office of the Secretary for Health Protection and Promotion. —
(i) Advise the citizenry in general through information campaigns on prevention to reduce the incidence of disabilities in children.
(ii) Conduct an initial screening of all infants during the first three (3) months of life that are born in any dependency of the Department of Health or that are born in private hospitals under the health reform, and of those that are referred to this Department.
Through an evaluation and diagnosis the children that present possible developmental retardation shall be identified as well as those that have an established diagnosis. With the consent of the parents, the infants shall be referred to the Early Intervention Program in order to establish their eligibility to the same. An Individualized Family Services Plan (PISF, Spanish acronym) shall be prepared for eligible infants.
(iii) Implement and offer early intervention services for eligible infants with disabilities from birth through two years of age inclusively or to 36 months.
(iv) Coordinate the establishment of periodic clinics to detect deficiencies or disabilities in children, youths or adults through 21 years of age.
(v) Conduct initial evaluations and differential diagnoses with an analysis of priorities, resources, needs and recommendations as part of the rendering of services to eligible infants and children through two years of age and their families.
(B) Mental Health and Addiction Services Administration. —
(i) Develop and implement specialized mental health and addiction services for persons with disabilities.
(ii) Develop therapeutic services for minors who, due to their mental, emotional or behavioral condition, cannot benefit from educational and mental health services on an outpatient basis.
(2) Department of Education. —
(A) The Secretary of Education, through the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Integral Educational Services for persons with disabilities shall be responsible for implementing the stated public policy which shall guide the programmatic task of the Office of the Secretary in matters of special education.
(B) Provide the education services in the public system adapted to persons with disabilities.
(C) Shall be responsible for the adequate operation of specialized educational programs established under the administration of the different agencies, departments and instrumentalities of the Government of Puerto Rico.
(D) Constitute the Consulting Committee created in § 1357 of this title and ensure that its functions are met.
(E) Maintain a professional training and continuing education program for the [sic] human resources.
(F) Establish the minimum special education academic requirements needed to obtain a regular teacher’s license.
(G) Ensure the availability and maintenance of the physical facilities needed to render educational and other related services to the school population with disabilities.
(H) Ensure that all Programs and Services under the Department of Education are available for persons with disabilities in equal conditions to those other students of the system, as deemed appropriate.
(I) Share with the Assistant Office of the Secretary the needed resources available in the other dependencies of the Department to prevent duplication.
(3) Department of the Family. —
(A) Families’ and Children’s Administration. —
(i) Offer support social services to persons with disabilities and their families when the need for said services has been determined, and in accordance to the regulations in effect.
(ii) Collaborate with the Department of Education and its Assistant Office of the Secretary for the rendering of services to minors with disabilities from 3 years of age and up to the compulsory age for enrollment in kindergarten, who may benefit from an education integrated with regular students, according to the established eligibility criteria.
(iii) Provide or coordinate with the Departments of Health and Education the rendering of the therapeutic services and all other support services related to the integral development of persons with disabilities.
(iv) Attend with priority the prevention and the complaints, or the cases of abuse and neglect of persons with disabilities.
(v) Select and assign a surrogate parent to guarantee the rights of children with disabilities when the parents thereof are disabled, cannot be located, or when the children are in custody of the state.
(B) Vocational Rehabilitation Administration. —
(i) Evaluate, through the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, the cases referred to determine their eligibility for the services, as established by state and federal guidelines.
(ii) Implement and render independent life and vocational rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities who are capable of performing some type of work, based on state and federal legislation.
(iii) Design an Individualized Written Rehabilitation Program (PIER, Spanish acronym) according to the needs of the person with disabilities and in accordance with the regulations in effect.
(iv) Collaborate and participate in the drafting and implementation of a plan for the transition to adult life provided it is appropriate.
(4) Sports and Recreation Department. —
(A) Develop a plan for orientation and training on the best use of the free time of the person with disabilities for: community leaders, physical education and adapted physical education program teachers; technicians of Olympic federations, trainers, parents and personnel that work with persons with disabilities.
(B) Ensure that the recreational and sports facilities meet the accessibility and availability norms for persons with disabilities through participation in the endorsement processes for the design, construction, reconstruction or improvements, and final acceptance of the facilities.
(C) Promote the incorporation of persons with disabilities to sports clinics, recreational activities and competitions along with other people, to develop and demonstrate their abilities, serve as an example and strengthen their self-esteem.
(D) Promote research on new methods, techniques and technologies in the fields of sports and recreation which [promote] their integral development.
(E) Guide and advise the Department of Education, the Families’ and Children’s Administration of the Department of the Family, the universities and other pertinent agencies on the technological advances within the field of recreation and sports to render services to this population.
(5) Department of Labor and Human Resources. —
(A) Promote and help to develop in an individualized manner, employment opportunities, with or without government subsidy, for persons with disabilities qualified to work.
(B) Participate in the elaboration and implementation of the plan for the transition to adult life of youths with disabilities, provided it is appropriate.
(C) Prepare employment plans for each youth over 16 years of age, through occupational counselors specialized in the needs and capacity of employment of this population, taking reasonable accommodation into consideration.
(D) Provide experience in natural work environments as part of the transition services to be offered to youths with disabilities, when deemed appropriate.
(E) Promote and ascertain that employers provide reasonable accommodation to persons with disabilities which will facilitate their transition to the working world.
(6) University of Puerto Rico. —
(A) Promote research and adapting of technology for the population of persons with disabilities.
(B) Train a reasonable number of professionals to render services to persons with disabilities according to the demand for such services as identified by the pertinent agencies.
(C) Provide updated continuing education services in coordination with the agencies.
(7) Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. —
(A) Identify the young transgressors, inmates and minors under 21 years of age with disabilities through the initial screening established in the Agency’s Classification Plan.
(B) Design an Individual Treatment Plan taking into consideration the condition or particular needs, and the resources and programs available at the agency.
(C) Provide education services adapted to persons with disabilities in coordination with the Department of Education without neglecting other aspects of the Classification Plan including those regarding personal and community safety.
(D) Facilitate access to the inmates and young transgressors with disabilities to the sports or recreational activities of the agency, taking into consideration their particular conditions or needs.
(E) Promote and facilitate access to the training, experience and job opportunities in institutions to inmates with disabilities in order to develop and train them in viable occupations or skills in the employment market.
(F) Effectively ensure access to the services and opportunities available at the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to the persons with disabilities, to the extent that their conditions allow.
(1) Responsibilities in common. — All agencies, entities or programs shall have the responsibility to locate, identify and refer the persons with disabilities to the corresponding agency for the petition for service.
(2) Establish regulations for the implementation of this chapter within a term not greater than 90 calendar days, with the exception of the Department of Education which shall be granted 90 working days.
(3) Enter into agreements with other agencies, the municipalities and the private sector that propitiate the rendering of indispensable services established in the PEI for the educational development of a person with a disability.
(4) Collaborate in the prevention and identification of the cases of abuse of persons with disabilities.
(5) Establish a quality control system that guarantees promptness, effectiveness and efficiency in the rendering of its services.
(6) Orient relatives on their rights, responsibilities and duties with regard to persons with disabilities.
(7) Maintain a confidential register of the participating persons and the services provided under this chapter.
(8) Consign in its annual budget petition the estimated cost of the services imposed in this chapter.
(9) Establish a simple system to handle complaints and investigate and resolve them, as established in §§ 2101 et seq. of Title 3, known as the “Uniform Administrative Procedures Act of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico”.
(10) Collaborate to establish a personnel training and development system which results in the availability of adequately trained resources.
(11) Guarantee the continuity of services through the development of coordination strategies which facilitate the transition of persons with disabilities throughout the stages.
(12) Inform the details of this chapter to the population in general as a means to reach potential participants.
(13) Facilitate the collaboration of parents and the community in the development of projects and services that will benefit persons with disabilities.
(14) Provide indispensable technological assistance services for the attainment of the objectives of the individualized plans for each person with disabilities.
(15) Participate in the drafting of a transition plan when appropriate.
History —June 7, 1996, No. 51, § 7.