Planning with Families for Evaluation and Assessment:

Essential Content of Planning with Families

Page 13 of 13

It is imperative to ask parents for their consent to obtain copies of a child's medical/health records, because that information may help determine a child's eligibility for Part C early intervention services in one of two ways:

• A diagnosis already made may indicate that a child has a physical or mental condition which has a high probability of resulting in developmental delay

• An evaluation and assessment may have recently been completed indicating that a child has at least a 25% delay in one of five developmental areas (cognitive, physical including vision and hearing, communication, social/emotional; adaptive). Qualified personnel should use informed clinical opinion to decide whether a previous evaluation still accurately reflects a child's current developmental status.

In either instance, this information, when received in writing, can be used by qualified personnel to make the determination that a child is eligible for Part C early intervention services. Keep in mind that the legal requirement for a multidisciplinary evaluation (involvement of two or more disciplines) must still be met.

Previous assessments for Charlie, completed by a speech-language pathologist and a physical therapist in the hospital could qualify as a multidisciplinary evaluation for determining his eligibility for early intervention. If only an evaluation report from the speech-language pathologist was completed, and obtained, then a second discipline (preferably someone with expertise to answer family members’ questions about how to help Charlie get around safely around their home and neighborhood) from the local early intervention program should be scheduled to evaluate him.		Charlie's Story

If a child's diagnosis automatically qualifies him or her for early intervention supports/services, or a previous multidisciplinary evaluation has addressed a child's status in each of five developmental areas, then the early intervention team can address the state and federal requirements for assessment. This means beginning the process of identifying a child's unique strengths/needs in each of five developmental areas, as well as the services and supports appropriate to assisting a family to meet those needs.

Session 3, Comprehensive Evaluation and Assessment, continues this discussion.

Pages:  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13