57.3—Definitions.
(a) Age of Majority.
The age when a person acquires the rights and responsibilities of being an adult. For purposes of this part, a child attains majority at age 18.
(b) Alternate Assessment.
A process that measures the performance of students with disabilities unable to participate, even with accommodations provided, in system-wide assessment.
(c) Alternative Educational Setting (AES).
A temporary setting other than the school (e.g., home, installation library) normally attended by the student. The interim AES shall:
(1)
Be selected so as to enable the child to continue to progress in the general curriculum, although in another setting, and to continue to receive those services and modifications, including those described in the child's current IEP, that shall enable the child to meet the goals set out in that IEP; and
(2)
Include services and modifications to address the behavior that resulted in the child being considered or placed in an AES.
(d) Assessment.
The ongoing procedures used by appropriately qualified personnel throughout the period of a child's eligibility determination to identify the child's unique needs; the family's strengths and needs related to development of the child; and the nature and extent of early intervention services that are needed by the child and the child's family to meet their unique needs.
(e) Assistive Technology Device.
Any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially or off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of children with disabilities.
(f) Assistive Technology Service.
Any service that directly assists an individual with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device. The term includes the following:
(1)
The evaluation of the needs of an individual with a disability, including a functional evaluation in the individual's customary environment.
(2)
Purchasing, leasing, or otherwise providing for the acquisition of assistive technology devices by individuals with disabilities.
(3)
Selecting, designing, fitting, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, repairing, or replacing assistive technology devices.
(4)
Coordinating and using other therapies, interventions, or services with assistive technology devices, such as those associated with existing educational and rehabilitative plans and programs.
(5)
Training or technical assistance for an individual with disabilities or the family of an individual with disabilities.
(6)
Training or technical assistance for professionals (including individuals providing educational rehabilitative services), employers, or other individuals who provide services to, employ, or are otherwise substantially involved in the major life functions of an individual with a disability.
(g) Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
As used in this part, encompasses attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and ADD without hyperactivity. The essential features of the disorder are developmentally inappropriate degrees of inattention, impulsiveness, and in some instances, hyperactivity.
(2)
ADD and ADHD are not specific disabling conditions under this part, although a child with either may be eligible for EIS and/or special education and related services as “other health impaired” by reason of the disability if the child's alertness or vitality is sufficiently compromised. The majority of children with ADD/ADHD generally do not meet the eligibility criteria as outlined in this part.
(2)
Determination of the range, nature, and degree of hearing loss, and communication functions including referral for medical or other professional attention for the habilitation of hearing.
(3)
Provision of habilitative activities, such as language habilitation, auditory training, speech-reading (lip-reading), hearing evaluation, and speech conservation.
(6)
Determination of a child's need for group and individual amplification, selecting and fitting an aid, and evaluating the effectiveness of amplification.
(i) Autism.
A developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3 years that adversely affects educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance as defined in paragraph (z) of this section.
(j) Case Study Committee (CSC).
A school-level team comprised of, among others, an administrator or designee who is qualified to supervise or provide special education, one or more of the child's regular education teachers, one or more special education teachers, parents, and related service providers (if appropriate) who do the following:
(k) Child-Find.
An outreach program used by the DoD school systems, the Military Departments, and the other DoD Components to seek and identify children from birth to age 21, inclusive, who may require EIS or special education and related services. Child-find includes all children who are eligible to attend a DoD school. Child-find activities include the dissemination of information to military members and DoD employees, the identification and screening of children, and the use of referral procedures.
(l) Children with Disabilities (Ages 3 through 21, Inclusive).
Children, before graduation from high school or completion of the General Education Degree, who have one or more impairments, as determined by a CSC and who need and qualify for special education and related services.
(m) Consent.
The permission obtained from the parent or legal guardian. This includes the following:
(1)
The parent is fully informed of all information about the activity for which consent is sought in the native language or in another mode of communication, if necessary.
(2)
The parent understands and agrees in writing to the implementation of the activity for which permission is sought. That consent describes the activity, lists the child's records (if any) to be released outside the Department of Defense, and specifies to whom the records shall be sent.
(i)
The parent understands that the granting of consent is voluntary on the part of the parent and may be revoked at anytime.
(ii)
If a parent revokes consent, that revocation is not retroactive (i.e., it does not negate an action that has occurred after the consent was given and before the cognizant authorities received the notice of revocation of the consent).
(n) Continuum of Alternative Placements.
Instruction in regular classes, special classes, special schools, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals and institutions; includes provision for supplementary services (such as resource room or itinerant instruction) to be provided in conjunction with regular class placement.
(o) Counseling Service.
A service provided by a qualified social worker, psychologist, guidance counselor, or other qualified personnel.
(p) Deaf-Blindness.
Concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication, developmental, and educational problems that it cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or blindness.
(q) Deafness.
A hearing loss or deficit so severe that it impairs a child's ability to process linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, and affects the child's educational performance adversely.
(r) Developmental Delay.
A significant discrepancy in the actual functioning of an infant, toddler, or child, birth through age 5, when compared with the functioning of a non-disabled infant, toddler, or child of the same chronological age in any of the following areas: physical, cognitive, communication, social or emotional, and adaptive development as measured using standardized evaluation instruments and confirmed by clinical observation and judgment. A child classified with a developmental delay before the age of 5 may maintain that eligibility classification through the age 8.
(1) A Significant Discrepancy.
The child is experiencing a developmental delay as measured by diagnostic instruments and procedures of 2 standard deviations below the mean in at least one area, or by a 25 percent delay in at least one area on assessment instruments that yield scores in months, or a developmental delay of 1.5 standard deviations below the mean in two or more areas, or by a 20 percent delay on assessment instruments that yield scores in months in two or more of the following areas of development: cognitive, physical, communication, social or emotional, or adaptive.
(2) High Probability for Developmental Delay.
An infant or toddler, birth through age 2, with a diagnosed physical or mental condition, such as chromosomal disorders and genetic syndromes, that places the infant or toddler at substantial risk of evidencing a developmental delay without the benefit of EIS.
(s) DoD Dependents Schools (DoDDS).
The overseas schools (kindergarten through grade 12) established by 20 U.S.C. 921. The DoDDS are operated under DoD Directive 1342.6.
(t) DoD Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS).
The schools (pre-kindergarten through grade 12) established by 20 U.S.C. 921-932. The DoD DDESS are operated under DoD Directive 1342.21.
(v) Early Identification and Assessment.
The implementation of a formal plan for identifying a disability as early as possible in a child's life.
(3)
Evaluation, Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) development and revision, and Service coordination services are provided at no cost to the infant's or toddler's parents. Parents may be charged incidental fees (identified in Service guidance) that are normally charged to infants, toddlers, and children without disabilities or to their parents.
(4)
Are designed to meet the developmental needs of an infant or toddler with a disability in any one or more of the following areas:
(6)
Are provided by qualified personnel including early childhood special educators, speech and language pathologists and audiologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, psychologists, social workers, nurses, nutritionists, family therapists, orientation and mobility specialists, pediatricians and other physicians, and certified and supervised paraprofessional assistants, such as certified occupational therapy assistants.
(7)
Maximally, are provided in natural environments including the home and community settings where infants and toddlers without disabilities participate.
(9)
Developmental services include, but are not limited to, the following services: Family training, counseling, and home visits; special instruction; speech pathology and audiology; occupational therapy; physical therapy; psychological services; Service coordination services; medical services only for diagnostic or evaluation purposes; early identification, screening and assessment services; vision services; and social work services. Also included are assistive technology devices and assistive technology services; health services necessary to enable the infant or toddler to benefit from the above EIS; and transportation and related costs necessary to enable an infant or toddler and the family to receive EIS.
(x) Educational and Developmental Intervention Services (EDIS).
Programs operated by the Military Medical Departments to provide EIS and related services in accordance with this part.
(y) Eligible.
Children who meet the age, command sponsorship, and dependency requirements established by 10 U.S.C. 2164, DoD Directive 1342.6, DoD Directive 1342.13, and DoD Directive 5105.4.
(1)
In DoDDS, children without disabilities who meet these requirements, and are ages 5 to 21 years, inclusive, are entitled to receive educational instruction.
(2)
In DDESS, children without disabilities who meet these requirements, and are ages 4 to 21 years, inclusive, are entitled to receive educational instruction.
(3)
In both DoDDS and DDESS, children with disabilities, ages 3 through 21 years, inclusive, are authorized to receive educational instruction. Additionally, an eligible infant or toddler with disabilities is a child from birth through age 2 years who meets either the DoDDS or DDESS eligibility requirements except for the age requirement.
(z) Emotional Disturbance.
A condition confirmed by clinical evaluation and diagnosis and that, over a long period of time and to a marked degree, adversely affects educational performance, and exhibits one or more of the following characteristics:
(2)
Inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.
(5)
A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression. Includes children who are schizophrenic, but does not include children who are socially maladjusted unless it is determined they are seriously emotionally disturbed.
(aa) Evaluation.
The synthesis of assessment information by a multidisciplinary team used to determine whether a particular child has a disability, the type and extent of the disability, and the child's eligibility to receive early intervention or special education and/or related services.
(bb) Family Training, Counseling, and Home Visits.
Services provided, as appropriate, by social workers, psychologists, and other qualified personnel to assist the family of a child eligible under this part in understanding the special needs of the child and enhancing the child's development.
(1)
Are provided at no cost to parents of a child with a disability, and are under the general supervision and direction of the DoDDS or DDESS, including children with disabilities who have been suspended or expelled from school.
(2)
Are provided in the least restrictive environment at a preschool, elementary, or secondary school.
(dd) Functional Behavioral Assessment.
A process for identifying the events that predict and maintain patterns of problem behavior.
(ee) Functional Vocational Evaluation.
A student-centered appraisal process for vocational development and career decision-making. It allows students, educators, and others to gather information about such development and decision-making. Functional vocational evaluation includes activities for transitional, vocational, and career planning; instructional goals; objectives; and implementation.
(ff) General Curriculum.
The curriculum adopted by the DoD school systems for all children from preschool through secondary school. To the extent applicable to an individual child with a disability, the general curriculum can be used in any educational environment along a continuum of alternative placements, described in paragraph (l) of this section.
(gg) Health Services.
Services necessary to enable an infant or toddler to benefit from the other EIS being received under this part. That term includes the following:
(1)
Services such as clean intermittent catheterization, tracheotomy care, tube feeding, changing of dressings or colostomy collection bags, and other health services.
(2)
Consultation by physicians with other service providers about the special healthcare needs of infants and toddlers with disabilities that need to be addressed in the course of providing other EIS.
(hh) Hearing Impairment.
An impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance, but is not included under the definition of deafness.
(ii) Illegal Drug.
Means a controlled substance as identified in the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 812(c)) but does not include a substance that is legally possessed or used under the supervision of a licensed healthcare professional or that is legally possessed or used under any other authority under that Act or under any other provision of Federal law.
(jj) Independent Evaluation.
An evaluation conducted by a qualified examiner who is not employed by either the DoD school or EDIS that conducted the initial evaluation.
(kk) Individualized Education Program (IEP).
A written document defining specially designed instruction for a student with a disability, ages 3 through 21 years, inclusive. That document is developed and implemented in accordance with appendix B of this part.
(ll) Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP).
A written document for an infant or toddler, age birth through 2 years, with a disability and the family of such infant or toddler that is developed, reviewed, and revised in accordance with appendix A of this part.
(mm) Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities.
Children, ages birth through 2 years, who need EIS because they:
(nn) Inter-Component.
Cooperation among DoD organizations and programs, ensuring coordination and integration of services to infants, toddlers, children with disabilities, and their families.
(oo) Medical Services.
Those evaluative, diagnostic, therapeutic, and supervisory services provided by a licensed and/or credentialed physician to assist CSCs and to implement IEPs. Medical services include diagnosis, evaluation, and medical supervision of related services that, by statute, regulation, or professional tradition, are the responsibility of a licensed and credentialed physician.
(pp) Meetings to Determine Eligibility or Placement of a Child.
All parties to such a meeting shall appear personally at the meeting site on issuance of written notice and establishment of a date convenient to the concerned parties. When a necessary participant is unable to attend, electronic communication suitable to the occasion may be used to involve the unavailable party. Parents generally shall be responsible for the cost of travel to personally attend meetings about the eligibility or placement of their child.
(qq) Mental Retardation.
Significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior. This disability is manifested during the developmental period and adversely affects a child's educational performance.
(rr) Multidisciplinary.
The involvement of two or more disciplines or professions in the integration and coordination of services, including evaluation and assessment activities, and development of an IFSP or an IEP.
(ss) Native Language.
When used with reference to an individual of limited English proficiency, the home language normally used by such individuals, or in the case of a child, the language normally used by the parents of the child.
(tt) Natural Environments.
Settings that are natural or normal (e.g., home or day care setting) for the infant, toddler, or child's same-age peers who have no disability.
(uu) Non-DoD Placement.
An assignment by the DoD school system of a child with a disability to a non-DoD school or facility. The term does not include a home schooling arrangement, except pursuant to an IEP.
(vv) Non-DoD School or Facility.
A public or private school or other institution not operated by the Department of Defense. That term includes DDESS special contractual arrangements.
(ww) Nutrition Services.
Those services to infants and toddlers that include, but are not limited to, the following:
(1)
Conducting individual assessments in nutritional history and dietary intake; anthropometric, biochemical, and clinical variables; feeding skills and feeding problems; and food habits and food preferences.
(2)
Developing and monitoring plans to address the nutritional needs of infants and toddlers eligible for EIS.
(xx) Occupational Therapy.
Services provided by a qualified occupational therapist or a certified occupational therapist assistant (under the supervision of a qualified occupational therapist). That term includes services to address the functional needs of children (birth through age 21, inclusive) related to adaptive development; adaptive behavior and play; and sensory, motor, and postural development. Those services are designed to improve the child's functional ability to perform tasks in home, school, and community settings, and include the following:
(2)
Adaptation of the environment and selection, design, and fabrication of assistive and orthotic devices to help development and promote the acquisition of functional skills.
(3)
Prevention or minimization of the impact of initial or future impairment, delay in development, or loss of functional ability.
(yy) Orthopedic Impairment.
A severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child's educational performance. That term includes congenital impairments such as club foot or absence of some member; impairments caused by disease, such as poliomyelitis and bone tuberculosis; and impairments from other causes such as cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns causing contractures.
(zz) Orientation and Mobility.
Services provided to blind or visually impaired students by qualified personnel to enable those students to attain systematic orientation to and safe movement within their environments in school, home and community; and includes teaching students the following, as appropriate:
(1)
To understand spatial and environmental concepts and use of information received by the senses (such as sound, temperature and vibrations) orientation and mobility to establish, maintain, or regain orientation and line of travel (e.g., using sound at a traffic light to cross the street);
(2)
To use the long cane to supplement visual travel skills or as a tool for safely negotiating the environment for students with no available travel vision;
(3)
To understand and use remaining vision and distance low vision aids; and other concepts, techniques, and tools.
(aaa) Other Health Impairment.
Limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems that adversely affect a child's educational performance. Such impairments may include ADD, heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, seizure disorder, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes.
(bbb) Parent.
The biological father or mother of a child; a person who, by order of a court of competent jurisdiction, has been declared the father or mother of a child by adoption; the legal guardian of a child; or a person in whose household a child resides, if such person stands in loco parentis to that child and contributes at least one-half of the child's support.
(ccc) Parent Counseling and Training.
A service that assists parents in understanding the special needs of their child's development and that provides them with information on child development and special education.
(ddd) Personally Identifiable Information.
Information that would make it possible to identify the infant, toddler, or child with reasonable certainty. Information includes:
(3)
A list of personal characteristics or other information that would make it possible to identify the child with reasonable certainty.
(eee) Physical Therapy.
Services provided by a qualified physical therapist or a certified physical therapist (under the supervision of a qualified physical therapist). That term includes services to children (birth through age 21, inclusive) to address the promotion of sensorimotor function through enhancement of musculoskeletal status, neurobehavioral organization, perceptual and motor development, cardiopulmonary status, and effective environmental adaptation. Those services include the following:
(2)
Obtaining, interpreting, and integrating information to appropriate program planning to prevent, alleviate, or compensate for movement dysfunction and related functional problems.
(3)
Providing individual and group services or treatment to prevent, alleviate, or compensate for movement dysfunction and related functional problems.
(fff) Primary Referral Source.
Parents and the DoD Components, including child development centers, pediatric clinics, and newborn nurseries, that suspect an infant or toddler has a disability and bring the child to the attention of the EDIS.
(3)
Obtaining, integrating, and interpreting information about a child's behavior and conditions relating to learning.
(4)
Consulting with other staff members, including service providers, to plan programs to meet the special needs of children, as indicated by psychological tests, interviews, and behavioral evaluations.
(5)
Planning and managing a program of psychological services, including psychological counseling for children and parents, family counseling, consultation on child development, parent training, and education programs.
(hhh) Public Awareness Program.
Activities or print materials focusing on early identification of infants and toddlers with disabilities. Materials may include information prepared and disseminated by a military medical department to all primary referral sources and information for parents on the availability of EIS. Procedures to determine the availability of information on EIS to parents are also included in that program.
(iii) Qualified.
A person who meets the DoD-approved or recognized certification, licensing, or registration requirements or other comparable requirements in the area in which the person provides special education or related services or EIS to an infant, toddler, or child with a disability.
(kkk) Rehabilitation Counseling.
Services provided by qualified personnel in individual or group sessions that focus specifically on career development, employment preparation, achieving independence, and integration in the workplace and community of the student with a disability. The term also includes vocational rehabilitation services provided to a student with disabilities by vocational rehabilitation programs funded under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.
(lll) Related Services.
Transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services, as required, to assist a child, age 3 through 21 years, inclusive, with a disability to benefit from special education under the child's IEP. The term includes speech-language pathology and audiology, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation including therapeutic recreation, early identification and assessment of disabilities in children, counseling services including rehabilitation counseling, orientation and mobility services, and medical services for diagnostic or evaluative purposes. That term also includes school health services, social work services in schools, and parent counseling and training. The sources for those services are school, community, and medical treatment facilities.
(mmm) Related Services Assigned to the Military Medical Departments Overseas.
Services provided by EDIS to DoDDS students, under the development or implementation of an IEP, necessary for the student to benefit from special education. Those services may include medical services for diagnostic or evaluative purpose, social work, community health nursing, dietary, occupational therapy, physical therapy, audiology, ophthalmology, and psychological testing and therapy.
(nnn) School Health Services.
Services provided by a qualified school nurse or other qualified person.
(ooo) Separate Facility.
A school or a portion of a school, regardless of whether it is operated by the Department of Defense, attended exclusively by children with disabilities.
(ppp) Service Coordination.
Activities of a service coordinator to assist and enable an infant or toddler and the family to receive the rights, procedural safeguards, and services that are authorized to be provided under appendix B of this part. Those activities include the following:
(3)
Working with those problems in a child's home, school, or community that adversely affect adjustment in school.
(sss) Special Education.
Specially designed instruction, including physical education, which is provided at no cost to the parent or guardians to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings.
(1)
That term includes speech-language pathology or any other related service if the service consists of specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability.
(2)
That term also includes vocational education if it consists of specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability.
(3) At No Cost.
For a child eligible to attend a DoD school without paying tuition, specially designed instruction and related services are provided without charge. Incidental fees normally charged to non-disabled students or their parents as a part of the regular educational program may be imposed.
(iii)
Skills in aquatics, dance, and individual and group games and sports, including intramural and lifetime sports.
(iv)
A program that includes special physical education, adapted physical education, movement education, and motor development.
(ttt) Specially Designed Instruction.
That term means adapting content, methodology or delivery of instruction to:
(2)
Ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that she or he can meet the educational standards within the DoD school systems.
(uuu) Specific Learning Impairment.
A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using spoken or written language that may manifest itself as an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, remember, or do mathematical calculations. That term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term, commonly called, “specific learning disability,” does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities; mental retardation; emotional disturbance; or environmental, cultural, or economic differences.
(vvv) Speech and Language Impairments.
A communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, voice impairment, or a disorder in the receptive or expressive areas of language that adversely affects a child's educational performance.
(www) Speech-Language Pathology Services.
Services provided by a qualified speech/language therapist or a certified speech/language assistant (under the supervision of a qualified speech/language therapist), that include the following:
(3)
Referral for medical or other professional attention for the habilitation or prevention of speech and language impairments.
(4)
Provision of speech and language services for the habilitation or prevention of communicative impairments.
(xxx) Supplementary Aids and Services.
Include aids, services, and other supports that are provided in regular education classes or other educational-related settings to enable children with disabilities to be educated with non-disabled children to the maximum extent appropriate.
(yyy) Transition Services.
(1)
A coordinated set of activities for a student that may be required to promote movement from early intervention, preschool, and other educational programs into different educational settings or programs.
(2)
For students 14 years of age and older, transition services are designed in an outcome-oriented process that promotes movement from school to post-school activities; including, related services, post-secondary education, vocational training, integrated employment; and also including supported employment, continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation. The coordinated set of activities are based on the individual student's needs, considering the student's preferences and interests, and include instruction, community experiences, the development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives, and acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation.
(1)
Transportation and related costs for EIS includes the cost of travel (e.g., mileage or travel by taxi, common carrier, or other means) and other costs (e.g., tolls and parking expenses) that are necessary to enable an eligible child and the family to receive EIS.