DOJ/DOE Joint Publication: Frequently Asked Questions on Effective Communication for Students with Hearing, Vision, or Speech Disabilities in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Communication Needs
Under Part B, evaluations of all children suspected of having a disability are subject to the IDEA evaluation and eligibility requirements.53 The purpose of the Part B evaluation is to determine whether the child has a disability and the nature and extent of the special education and related services that the child needs.54 The school district must provide the parents prior written notice describing any evaluation procedures the agency proposes to conduct.55 In conducting the evaluation, the school district must use a variety of assessment tools and strategies to gather relevant functional, developmental, and academic information about the child, including information provided by the parent that may assist in determining whether the child is a child with a disability and the child’s educational needs.56 No single measure or assessment may be used as the sole criterion for determining whether a child is a child with a disability and an appropriate educational program for the child.57 Assessments or other evaluation materials must be provided and administered in the child’s native language or other mode of communication and in the form most likely to yield accurate information on what the child knows and can do academically, developmentally, and functionally, unless it is clearly not feasible to do so.58 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).59
Once a child is determined eligible to receive special education and related services under the IDEA, a school must provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to the child with a disability through a properly developed individualized education program (IEP). An IEP is a written statement for a child with a disability that is developed, reviewed, and revised in accordance with Part B of the IDEA. Under the IDEA, the child’s IEP must be reasonably calculated to enable the child to receive meaningful educational benefit.
A child’s IEP must include a statement of the child’s present levels of academic achievement and functional performance, including how the child’s disability affects the child’s involvement and progress in the general education curriculum. The IEP also must include:
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a statement of measurable annual goals;
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a description of how the child’s progress toward meeting the annual goals will be measured; and
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a statement of the special education and related services and supplementary aids and services provided to the child and a statement of the program modifications or supports for school personnel that will enable the child to:
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advance toward attaining the annual goals,
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be involved in and make progress in the general education curriculum, and
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participate in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities.
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An IEP Team is a group of individuals responsible for developing, reviewing, or revising an IEP for a child with a disability. In general, the IEP Team must include the parent(s) and/or legal guardian(s) of the child; not less than one regular education teacher of the child; not less than one special education teacher or service provider of the child; a representative of the school district; an individual who can interpret the instructional implications of evaluation results; other individuals who have knowledge or special expertise regarding the child; and, whenever appropriate, the child.
The IEP must address the communication needs of each child with a disability. For a child who is deaf or hard of hearing, the IEP Team must consider: (1) the child's language and communication needs; (2) opportunities for direct communication with peers and professional personnel in the child's language and communication mode; (3) academic level; and (4) full range of needs, including opportunities for direct instruction in the child's language and communication mode.60 In the case of a child who is blind or has a visual impairment, the IDEA requires that Braille instruction be provided unless the IEP Team determines, based on an evaluation of the child’s current reading and writing skills and needs and appropriate writing and reading media, that such instruction or use is not appropriate.61 For all children with disabilities, including children with communication needs, the IEP Team also must consider whether the child needs assistive technology devices and services as part of the determination of special education, related services, and supplementary aids and services that are needed to enable the child to receive meaningful educational benefit.
Special education means specially designed instruction, i.e., adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible child, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction: (1) to address the unique needs of the child that result from the child’s disability; and (2) to ensure access of the child to the general curriculum. Special education may include instruction in the use and mastery of sign language or Braille.
The term “related services” means such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services as are required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education. They include services such as speech‐language pathology and audiology services, oral transliteration services, cued language transliteration services, sign language transliteration and interpreting services [interpreters], and transcription services, such as communication access real‐time translation (CART), C‐Print, and TypeWell for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, and mobility and orientation training for students with low vision or blindness.
Supplementary aids and services are aids, services, and other supports that are provided in regular education classes, other education‐related settings, and extracurricular and nonacademic settings, to enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate.62 Such aids and services may include large print materials or Braille materials.
Under the IDEA, an assistive technology device means any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.63 For a person with a speech‐related disability, a common example of an assistive technology device is a communication board. For a person with a vision disability, examples of assistive technology devices include refreshable Braille displays and accessible e‐book readers.
Likewise, an assistive technology service means any service that directly assists a child with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device. Assistive technology services include the evaluation of the needs of a child with disability, including a functional evaluation of the child in the child’s customary environment; purchasing, leasing, or otherwise providing for the acquisition of assistive technology devices; and selecting, designing, fitting, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, repairing, or replacing assistive technology devices. Assistive technology services also include coordinating and using other therapies, interventions, or services with assistive technology devices and training or technical assistance for the child, the child’s family, and any professionals, employers, or other individuals who provide services to or are otherwise involved in the major life functions of the child.64
If a child’s IEP Team determines related services or supplementary aids and services are required as part of FAPE, the school district also must determine whether the child needs assistive technology devices and services.
Public schools cannot charge students and parents for the special education, related services, and supplementary aids and services, including assistive technology devices and services, that are part of a student’s IEP and provided under the IDEA.
53 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.304, 300.305, 300.306.
54 34 C.F.R. § 300.15.
55 34 C.F.R. § 300.304(a).
56 34 C.F.R. § 300.304(b)(1).
57 34 C.F.R. § 300.304(b)(2).
58 34 C.F.R. § 300.304(c)(1)(ii). For additional information regarding a school district’s responsibilities regarding IDEA evaluation procedures, see “Questions and Answers on Individual Education Programs (IEPs), Evaluations and Reevaluations, September 2011.” http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/%2Croot%2Cdynamic%2CQaCorner%2C3%2C.
59 34 C.F.R. § 300.29(b).
60 34 C.F.R. § 300.324(a)(2)(iv).
61 Because the evaluation also must assess a child’s future needs for instruction in Braille or the use of Braille, a child’s current vision status should not necessarily determine whether it would be inappropriate for that child to receive Braille instruction while in school. This is particularly true for a child with a degenerative vision condition who may have a high degree of functional vision when the evaluation is conducted. The evaluation of such a child would need to assess whether, despite the child’s current vision status, the child still could benefit from Braille instruction while in school to increase the likelihood that the child will obtain productive employment and be able to participate more fully in family and community life. See Office of Special Education Programs Dear Colleague Letter on Braille, June 19, 2013 at http://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/memosdcltrs/index.html.
62 34 C.F.R. § 300.42.
63 34 C.F.R. § 300.5
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