Alabama Administrative Code › Title 290 - ALABAMA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION › Chapter 290-8-9 - SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES › Section 290-8-9-.04 - Eligibility And Consent For Services

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
Public agencies must develop and implement procedures to ensure
				that children will be properly identified according to the definitions,
				criteria, and minimum evaluative components set forth in these rules. If a
				child has a disability but only needs a related service and not specially
				designed instruction, the child is not considered to be a child with a
				disability under the IDEA.
(1)
Procedures for Determining Eligibility
.
Upon completion of the administration of assessments and other evaluation
			 measures, a group of qualified professionals, including the parent of the
			 child, or the IEP Team, must determine if a child has a disability and the
			 educational needs of the child within 30 calendar days from the date the public
			 agency completes initial evaluation. When making the determination with respect
			 to each child, the group must:
(a) Be
			 composed of a team of qualified professionals including the parents
			 (Eligibility Committee) or the IEP Team;
(b) Draw upon information from a variety of
			 sources, including aptitude and achievement tests, parent input, teacher
			 recommendations, physical condition, social or cultural background, and
			 adaptive behavior;
(c) Consider all
			 evaluation information pertaining to the child, so that no single evaluation
			 procedure will be used as the sole criterion for determining
			 eligibility;
(d) Ensure that all
			 evaluation information from (b) above is documented and carefully considered;
			 and
(e) Ensure that a child is not
			 determined to be a child with a disability if the determinant factor is a lack
			 of appropriate instruction in reading [including the essential components of
			 reading instruction as defined in section 1208(3) of the
Elementary and
			 Secondary Education Act of 1965
(phonemic awareness, phonics,
			 vocabulary development, reading fluency including oral reading skills, and
			 reading comprehension strategies)], a lack of appropriate instruction in math;
			 the child has limited English proficiency; or the child does not otherwise meet
			 the eligibility criteria for a specific area of disability. Children from
			 various ethnic groups, including speakers of regional dialects, do not have a
			 disability solely because their manner of communicating does not conform to the
			 expectations of the standard English speaking community. In order for a limited
			 English proficient student to be deemed eligible, the eligibility team must
			 determine that the communication disorder exists in the child's native language
			 and is not the result of learning English as a second language. The teaching of
			 English as a second language or general American dialect is not the
			 responsibility of special education.
(f) Use standard scores when determining
			 eligibility for special education.
(g) Reconvene when the public agency or the
			 parents believe that the child's eligibility should be reviewed.
(h) Determine continued eligibility at least
			 once every three years.
(i) For
			 children suspected of having a specific learning disability, the Eligibility
			 Committee and/or IEP Team must also include:
1. The child's regular education teacher,
			 or
2. If the child does not have a
			 regular education teacher, a regular education teacher qualified to teach a
			 child of his or her age, or
3. For
			 a child of less than school age, an individual qualified by the SEA to teach a
			 child of his or her age, and
4. At
			 least one person qualified to conduct individual diagnostic examinations of
			 children, such as a school psychologist, speech-language pathologist, or
			 remedial reading teacher.