Virginia Regulatory Town Hall View Comments

Department of Education

State Board of Education

Guidance Document Change: The VDOE Supplemental Guidance for Evaluation and Eligibility in Special Education was developed to assist Individualized Education Program (IEP) and Eligibility teams, including parents, as they engage in evaluation, eligibility determinations, and decisions regarding the need for related services. This guidance is an addendum to the Virginia Department of Education’s Guidance on Evaluation and Eligibility for Special Education and Related Services. This document was developed in response to Recommendations 1 and 2 from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) 2020 report on K-12 Special Education in Virginia. The Supplemental Guidance provides information about data sources that may be used to inform eligibility for special education services or a need for a related service, as well as information to assist in the local interpretation for terminology in Virginia special education regulations that are not clearly defined (e.g., determining “adverse educational impact” and determining “need for specially designed instruction”). The Sample Eligibility Forms and Disability Worksheets reflects a revision to the existing Guidance on Evaluation and Eligibility for Special Education Appendix (Sample Evaluation and Eligibility Forms). This revision was made in response to Recommendation 2 from the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) 2020 report on K-12 Special Education in Virginia. The sample forms and worksheets are provided to assist Local Educational Agencies (LEA) in documenting eligibility determinations in accordance with the criteria contained in the Regulations Governing Special Education Programs for Children with Disabilities in Virginia.

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9/14/21 5:45 pm

Commenter: LaVae Hoffman, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Support supplemental guidance for Evaluation and Eligibility in Special Education

It is absolutely essential that speech language pathologists accurately assess and account for linguistic diversity when making eligibility decisions in order to ensure that students' civil rights are not violated by mistakenly stating that a student has a handicapping condition because they come from a dialectal background. The Guidance Document proposed by the VDOE will support school-based speech language pathologists in making accurate clinical decisions that reduce the over-representation in Special Education services of students who come from linguistically diverse backgrounds. Students who have language differences, not disorders, are appropriately served through supplemental services that are delivered through general education rather than declaring that the student has a handicapping condition in order to receive special education services. The proposed document establishes critically necessary guidance for speech-language pathologists who serve students throughout the Commonwealth of Virgina

CommentID: 99953