Skip to main content

DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY

 

 

DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY

Authorities:  34 CFR Part 300; 19 TAC Chapter 89
 
 
 
  FEDERAL AND STATE REQUIREMENTS

The child must be assessed in all areas of suspected disability.

Citations:

The local educational agency must comply with EVALUATION PROCEDURES.

In Texas, the group of qualified professionals that determines whether the child is a child with a disability and the educational needs of the child is the child's ADMISSION, REVIEW, AND DISMISSAL (ARD) COMMITTEE.

Citations:
 

EVALUATION PROCEDURES

The group of qualified professionals that collects or reviews evaluation data in connection with the determination of the child's eligibility based on developmental delay must include the applicable members for at least one of the following disability categories: AUTISM, DEAF-BLINDNESS, DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING, EMOTIONAL DISABILITY, INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY, MULTIPLE DISABILITIES, ORTHOPEDIC IMPAIRMENT, OTHER HEALTH IMPAIRMENT, SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITY, SPEECH OR LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT, TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY, or VISUAL IMPAIRMENT.

The evaluation data reviewed by the group of qualified professionals in connection with the determination of the child's disability based on developmental delay must comply with the applicable evaluation procedures of DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING and VISUAL IMPAIRMENT.

Developmental delay means the child:

Citations:
  • Is between the ages of three through nine;
Citations:
  • Whose evaluation data indicates a need for special education and related services and shows evidence of, but does not clearly confirm the presence of the suspected disability or disabilities due to the child’s young age.
Citations:

In these cases, an ARD committee may determine that data supports identification of developmental delay in one or more of the following areas:

Citations:
  • Physical development;
Citations:
  • Cognitive development;
Citations:
  • Communication development;
Citations:
  • Social or emotional development; or
Citations:
  • Adaptive development.
Citations:

To use this eligibility category, multiple sources of data must converge to indicate the child has a developmental delay as described by one of the following:

Citations:
  • Performance on appropriate norm-referenced measures, including developmental measures, indicating that the child is at least two standard deviations below the mean or at the 2nd percentile of performance, when taking into account the standard error of measurement (SEM), in one area of development as listed in this paragraph, along with additional convergent evidence such as interviews and observation data that supports the delay in that area;
Citations:
  • Performance on appropriate norm-referenced measures, including developmental measures, indicating that the child is at least 1.5 standard deviations below the mean or at the 7th percentile of performance, when taking into account the SEM, in at least two areas of development as listed in this paragraph, along with additional convergent evidence such as interviews and observation data that supports the delays in those areas; or
Citations:
  • A body of evidence from multiple direct and indirect sources, such as play-based assessments, information from the child’s parent, interviews, observations, work samples, checklists, and other informal and formal measures of development, that clearly document a history and pattern of atypical development that is significantly impeding the child’s performance and progress across settings when compared to age-appropriate expectations and developmental milestones in one or more areas of development as listed in this paragraph.
Citations:
  Last Updated : Tue, Mar 25, 2025