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DEAF-BLINDNESS

 

 

DEAF-BLINDNESS

Authorities:  34 CFR Part 300; Texas Education Code; 19 TAC Chapter 89
 
 
 
  FEDERAL AND STATE REQUIREMENTS
The child must be assessed in all areas of suspected disability. Citations:
The local education agency (LEA) 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 COMMITTEE. Citations:
For the child from birth through two years of age with a visual impairment or who is deaf or hard of hearing, an individualized family services plan meeting must be held in place of an admission, review, and dismissal committee meeting and the LEA must comply with AGES 0-5.
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EVALUATION PROCEDURES
The procedures and materials used for the assessment and placement of the child who is deaf or hard of hearing must be in the child's preferred mode of communication. Citations:
The evaluation data reviewed by the group of qualified professionals in connection with the determination of the child's disability based on deaf-blindness must comply with the evaluation procedures of DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING and VISUAL IMPAIRMENT. Citations:
 
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
A child with deaf-blindness is one who has been determined to meet the criteria for deaf-blindness. Citations:
Deaf-blindness means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness. Citations:
In meeting the criteria for deaf-blindness, the child with deaf-blindness is one who: Citations:
  • Meets the criteria for deaf or hard of hearing and visual impairment;
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  • Meets eligibility criteria for visual impairment and has a suspected hearing loss that cannot be demonstrated conclusively, but there is no speech at an age when speech would normally be expected, as determined by a speech/language therapist, a certified speech and language therapist, or a licensed speech language pathologist;
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  • Has documented hearing and visual losses that, if considered individually, may not meet the requirements for deaf or hard of hearing or visual impairment, but the combination of such losses adversely affects the child's educational performance; or
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  • Has a documented medical diagnosis of a progressive medical condition that will result in concomitant hearing and visual losses that, without the provision of special education services, will adversely affect educational performance.
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  Last Updated : Wed, Dec 11, 2024