La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § CI-705 - Developmental Delay

A. Definition. Developmental Delay is a disability in which students/children, ages three through eight, are identified as experiencing developmental delays in one or more of the following areas: physical development, cognitive development, communication development, social or emotional development or adaptive development.

1. A student shall be classified categorically if it is determined through the evaluation process, that the student has the specific sensory impairment of blindness or deafness and needs special education and related services. A student who meets the criteria for other disabilities may be classified categorically. If delays in addition to speech or language are evident, the student should be classified as having Developmental Delay or one of the other categorical disabilities.

2. The use of the Developmental Delay category is optional to the local educational agencies. LEAs that choose not to use this category must classify categorically.

3. If a student has only two disabilities and those disabilities are deafness and blindness, the student must be classified as having deaf-blindness. Each LEA shall notify State Deaf-Blind Census of all students who have both hearing and visual impairments.

B. Criteria for Eligibility. The student/child must be between the ages of three through eight years, and functioning significantly below age expectancy (i.e., exhibiting a delay of 25 percent or more on criterion-based measures or achieving a standard score greater than or equal to 1.5 standard deviations below the mean on norm-based measures) in one or more of the following areas:

1. physical development, which includes:

a. gross motor skills;

b. fine motor skills;

c. sensory (visual or hearing) abilities; and

d. sensory-motor integration;

2. social, adaptive or emotional development, which includes:

a. play (solitary, parallel, cooperative);

b. peer interaction;

c. adult interaction;

d. environmental interaction; and

e. expression of emotions;

3. cognitive or communication development, which includes:

a language (receptive or expressive);

b. concrete or abstract reasoning skills;

c. perceptual discriminations;

d. categorization and sequencing;

e. task attention;

f. memory; and

g. essential developmental or academic skills, as appropriate.

C. Procedures for Evaluation. Conduct all procedures described under §513, Evaluation Components.

D. Additional procedures for evaluation:

1. an examination conducted by a physician not only when the student appears to have a severe medical condition but also when deemed necessary by the evaluation coordinator. When the medical report indicates the student has a health or physical impairment requiring health technology, management or treatments including a special diet or medication, or needs assistance with activities of daily living due to health concerns, the school nurse or other qualified personnel will conduct a health assessment;

2. the educational assessment for school aged students shall include the review and analysis of the student's response to scientifically research-based interventions documented by progress monitoring data;

3. a functional/developmental assessment for preschool-aged children conducted by an educational diagnostician or other qualified pupil appraisal staff member who has appropriate training in the evaluation of early childhood disorders and/or development to determine not only levels of performance but to also include an analysis of the student's participation in appropriate activities;

4. a speech/language assessment conducted by a speech/language pathologist when a speech or language impairment is suspected;

5. an assessment conducted by an occupational therapist when sensory-motor integration difficulties are suspected.

E. Procedures for Reevaluation

1. When a triennial reevaluation must be conducted during the time period a student is classified as having developmental delays, the waiver process may be used when no other disability category is suspected and the student continues to have a disability and is still in need of special education and related services.

2. The reevaluation of students classified with Developmental Delay shall be conducted prior to the student's ninth birthday to determine whether to declassify or to classify the student categorically. The reevaluation shall include all initial evaluation procedures for the suspected exceptionality.

Notes

La. Admin. Code tit. 28, § CI-705

Promulgated by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, LR 35:906 (May 2009), effective July 1, 2009.

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 17:1941 et seq.