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“Understanding Early Intervention Evaluations With Ease” Presented By: Dawn L. Mastoridis, M.Ed., CAGS Executive Director, RCDS State Director, NY, The MENTOR Network Monday, May 5 th 2008

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Overview on the Early Intervention [EI]Multi-Disciplinary Evaluation (MDE) Process as well as key legislation regarding the assessment of EI eligibility of young children.

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Page 1: Understanding EIP Evals Ppt

“UnderstandingEarly Intervention Evaluations

With Ease”

Presented By:

Dawn L. Mastoridis, M.Ed., CAGS

Executive Director, RCDS

State Director, NY, The MENTOR Network

Monday, May 5th 2008

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Prelude

In order to effectively explain EarlyIntervention (EI) Evaluations, it isimportant that we first look at thelegislative background & guidelinesthat govern a state’s EarlyIntervention Program.

This is important because the Multi-Disciplinary Evaluation (MDE)serves as a critical tool in the EIprocess. It determines whether a childhas a significant developmentaldelay or established condition whichultimately determines a child’seligibility for future services.

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Background on IDEA

IDEA was introduced in 1997 as theIndividuals with DisabilitiesEducation Act. It is a United Statesfederal law that governs how statesand public agencies provide earlyintervention, special education, andrelated services to children withdisabilities. It addresses theeducational needs of children withdisabilities from birth to the age of21.

The IDEA was formerly known as theEducation for All HandicappedChildren Act but has grownconsiderably since. IDEA became afederal standard by an act ofCongressional adoption in 1975 buthas been amended many times since.The IDEA was most recentlyamended in 2004, which was asignificant update.

The attached & proceeding information wasadapted from:

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Overview to the Part C Program Under IDEA

Congress established Part C of IDEA;Infants & Toddlers with Disabilities, in1986 in recognition of "an urgent andsubstantial need" to:

enhance the development of infants andtoddlers with disabilities;

reduce educational costs by minimizingthe need for special education throughearly intervention;

minimize the likelihood ofinstitutionalization, and maximizeindependent living; and,

enhance the capacity of families to meettheir child's needs.

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Overview to the Part C Program Under IDEA

The Program for Infants and Toddlers withDisabilities (Part C of IDEA) is a federal grantprogram that assists states in operating acomprehensive statewide program of earlyintervention services for infants and toddlers withdisabilities, ages birth through age 2 years, andtheir families.

In order for a state to participate in the program itmust assure that early intervention will beavailable to every eligible child and its family.

Also, the Governor must designate a lead agencyto receive the grant and administer the program,and appoint an Interagency Coordinating Council(ICC), including parents of young children withdisabilities, to advise and assist the lead agency.

Currently, all states and eligible territories areparticipating in the Part C program. Annual fundingto each state is based upon census figures of thenumber of children, birth through 2, in the generalpopulation.

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Overview to the Part C Program Under IDEA

The current statute and regulations for Part C containmany requirements states have to meet, includingspecifying the minimum components of comprehensivestatewide early intervention system.

States have some discretion in setting the criteria forchild eligibility, including whether or not to serve atrisk children.

As a result, definitions of eligibility differ significantlyfrom state to state.

States also differ concerning which state agency hasbeen designated "lead agency" for the Part Cprogram. In fact, statewide early intervention systemsdiffer in many ways from state to state

On December 3, 2004, President Bush signed legislation reauthorizing IDEA.

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Determining Eligibility

Although the IDEA statute forPart C specifies thedevelopmental areas that areto be included in states’definitions of developmentaldelay (see Table 1), states mustidentify appropriate diagnosticinstruments, procedures(including the use of informedclinical opinion), and levels offunctioning or other criteriathat will be used to determineeligibility.

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Determining Eligibility

A review of state eligibility definitions under Part C reveals thatstates are expressing criteria for delay quantitatively — such as:

the difference between chronologicalage and actual performance levelexpressed as a percentage ofchronological age

delay expressed as performance at acertain number of months belowchronological age, or

delay as indicated by standarddeviation below the mean on a norm-referenced instrument — andqualitatively— such as delay indicatedby atypical development or observedatypical behaviors.

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Determining Eligibility

• Common measurements of level ofdelay are 25% delay or 2.0 standarddeviations (SD) below the mean in oneor more developmental areas, or 20%delay or 1.5 SD in two or more areas.

• Traditional assessment instruments,yielding scores in standarddeviations or developmental age inmonths, may not adequately addresssome developmental domains, or maynot be comparable acrossdevelopmental domains or across agelevels (Benn, 1994; Brown & Brown,1993).

• There is wide variability in the type of quantitative criteria states use todescribe developmental delay, and there also is a wide range in the level ofdelay states require for eligibility.

• For this reason, some states have includedqualitative criteria for determiningdevelopmental delay. This type of criterion

includes findings of atypical behavior.

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Determining Eligibility• Because there is an insufficient number of reliableand valid instruments for the birth-through-2 agegroup and questionable predictive validity for availableinstruments, determining delay by traditionalassessment can be problematic (Benn, 1994; Shonkoff& Meisels, 1991).

• For that reason, the existing Part C regulationsrequire that Informed Clinical Opinion be included foreligibility determination (see 34 C.F.R. 303.322(c)(2)).

• Informed Clinical Opinion relies on qualitative andquantitative information to determine the need for earlyintervention services, and typically is derived from theconsensus of a multidisciplinary team that includesparents and information from multiple sources (Benn,1994; Harbin et al., 1991).

• Several states’ policies specify only informedclinical opinion as the criterion for eligibility withoutproviding quantitative criteria.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation ProceduresThis section is adapted from: http://www.health.state.ny.us/community/infants_children/early_intervention/memoranda/2005-02/multidisciplinary_procedures.htm

Purpose of the Multidisciplinary Evaluation

Under Federal and NY State law and regulations, children thought to beeligible (e.g., referred with a suspected or confirmed disability) for the EIP areentitled to a multidisciplinary evaluation. The multidisciplinary evaluation isnecessary to:

• determine whether a child is eligible for the Early Intervention Program;

• assess the status of the child's physical, cognitive, communication,social-emotional, and adaptive development;

• identify areas of developmental strengths and needs; and,

• learn and understand the parent's resources, priorities, and concernsrelated to their child's development.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

Purpose of the Multidisciplinary Evaluation

• Children who are found eligible on the basis of a

diagnosed condition with a high probability of resulting indevelopmental delay, such as Down syndrome, cerebralpalsy, extreme prematurity, etc., a primary purpose ofearly intervention is to mitigate the impact of the conditionon a child's developmental progress.

• These children do not have to be experiencingdevelopmental delays to receive specific servicesavailable under the EIP.

• In determining outcomes to be achieved for thesechildren and the services needed to achieve child andfamily outcomes, the Individualized Family Service Plan(IFSP) team should consider the potential impact of thecondition on child development and functioning as well asinformation on children's developmental status obtainedthrough the evaluation process.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

General Requirements for the Evaluation Process

• The Multidisciplinary Evaluation (MDE) must be completed within sufficient time todevelop an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) within forty-five (45) days ofreferral for those children found eligible for the EIP

• Under federal and NY State law and regulation, non-discriminatory evaluation andassessment procedures must be used in all aspects of the evaluation and assessmentprocess. Specifically, evaluation and assessment procedures must be responsive to thecultural and linguistic background of the family.

• No single procedure or instrument may be used as the sole criterion or indicatorof eligibility. In other words, when making a determination as to whether a child iseligible for the EIP, the multidisciplinary evaluation team must rely on information from avariety of appropriate sources, which should include standardized instruments andprocedures, when appropriate or possible; observations of the child; parentinterviews; informed clinical opinion; and, any other sources of information aboutthe child's developmental status available to the team conducting the child's

evaluation.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

General Requirements for the Evaluation Process

Federal and State regulations also requirethat evaluations must:

• be conducted by personnel trained toutilize appropriate methods andprocedures;

• be based on informed clinical opinion;and,

• include a review of pertinent recordsrelated to the child's current health statusand medical history.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

State regulations further specify that multidisciplinary evaluations must beconducted in a professional, objective fashion and must:

• consider the unique characteristicsof the child;

• use several sources and types ofinformation about the child. Examplesof other sources of information mightinclude, with parent consent, thechild's primary health care provider ormedical specialists, relatives or familymembers, family day care or child careprovider, etc.;

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation ProceduresState regulations also specify that multidisciplinary evaluations must beconducted in a professional, objective fashion and must:

• employ appropriate instruments and procedures.Instruments used as part of a multidisciplinaryevaluation must be reliable and valid, haveappropriate levels of sensitivity and specificity; and, besensitive to the child's and parent's culture anddominant language or other mode of communication;and,

• be conducted in a setting conducive to ensuringaccurate results, and the parent's input regarding thepreferred environment should be considered. Prior tothe evaluation, parent input about the setting in whichtheir child is likely to be most comfortable should beobtained. After the evaluation, the family should beasked whether they believe their child's response wasoptimal, and the family's response should be included

in the evaluation summary and report.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

Standardized Evaluation & Assessment Instruments

• Standardized evaluation, assessment and/ordiagnostic instruments should be used,whenever such instruments are available andappropriate for the child's age,culture/language, and developmentalconcern, as part of a child's multidisciplinaryevaluation to determine initial or ongoingeligibility for the EIP.

• Standardized evaluation and assessmentinstruments must be used by appropriatelytrained and qualified professionals. Sometest developers require professionals tocomplete additional training and/or certificationprior to using the instrument, and under thesecircumstances, only those professionals withthis training are qualified to use theinstrument.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation ProceduresStandardized Evaluation & Assessment Instruments

• In addition, evaluators are responsible for ensuring thatstandardized tests are used and scored as specified inthe test manual, in a manner that does not violate thepsychometric properties of the test or the purpose forwhich the test was designed.

• Sub scores returned on standardized tests must beused in a manner consistent with the test manual, and aregenerally not averaged unless the manual providesexplicit instructions for use of sub-scores in this manner.

• Standardized instruments selected should be norm-referenced to the population to be evaluated. Tests andother materials and procedures used must beadministered in the child's dominant language or othermode of communication unless it is clearly not feasible todo so.

• When evaluation and assessment instruments arerevised or re-normed and reissued by test developers,the most recent edition of the instrument should be usedas soon as practicable (that is, when the new edition isavailable to professionals) to assure valid results.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation ProceduresStandardized Evaluation and Assessment Instruments

• If a child is suspected of having a conditionwith a high probability of resulting indevelopmental delay, such as autism,standardized assessment instrumentsdesigned specifically to diagnose andassess the presence of the condition shouldbe used.

• The six Clinical Practice Guidelinesdeveloped by the NYS Department of Healthmake specific recommendations onstandardized assessment instruments andclinical procedures for evaluation of childrenwith Autism/Pervasive DevelopmentalDisorders, Communication Disorders,Down Syndrome, Motor Disorders, HearingLoss, and Vision Impairment.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation ProceduresStandardized Evaluation & Assessment Instruments

• Norm-referenced, standardized tests yieldstandard scores, standard deviations, andpercentile ranks that are derived in relationshipto a normal distribution, and therefore have aconsistent and predictable relationship to eachother and provide comparable information about achild's performance relative to a normativesample. Standard deviation scores, deviationquotients, and percentile ranks are all acceptableways of reporting test scores to documentchildren's eligibility, when norm-referenced,standardized instruments are used.

There are two types of standardized tests that are used to assess children's developmental status.The use of each of these two types of tests to determine eligibility for the EIP is briefly describedbelow.

• Some norm-referenced tests also yield a "developmental age" or "age equivalency" score.These scores represent the chronological age of the children in the sample for whom a specificraw score was the mean score (i.e., the scores represent a mathematically calculatedperformance rather than actual performance of children in the standardization sample[Andersson, 2004]).

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation ProceduresStandardized Evaluation & Assessment Instruments

• Assessment experts discourage the reporting ofage-equivalent/developmental age scoresbecause these scores do not provide comparativeinformation and do not indicate the presence of adisorder or delay.

• These scores do not indicate what a child'sperformance should be, nor do they indicatequalitative differences in a child's performance.In addition, a reduction in an age equivalent scoredoes not have the same consequence at all stagesof development or across all developmentaldomains.

•Finally, these scores can be imprecise, becauseage-equivalent scores may not be available tomatch the full range of chronological ages.

• Age-equivalent or developmental age scores derived from standardized tests should notbe used for eligibility determinations unless the test manual explicitly indicates that the test hasbeen designed to calculate percentage of delay and the manual provides data to support the useof these scores as valid and reliable.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

Standardized Evaluation & Assessment Instruments

• Criterion-referenced tests are not designed tocompare one child's performance to other children.Criterion-referenced instruments are helpful inassessing children's functionality, measuring progress,and linking assessment to intervention; however,these tests generally do not provide sufficientinformation to determine the extent to which a child isexperiencing developmental delays.

• In addition, criterion-referenced tests can be helpfulin evaluating children for whom norm-referenced testsare not available or appropriate due to the child'sage, condition, language/culture, or other factorsthat influence test performance.

• Criterion-reference tests can be used in conjunction with other methods ofgathering information about a child's development (e.g., parent report, observation,etc.) and informed clinical opinion to establish a child's eligibility based on level ofdevelopmental delay.

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Standardized Evaluation & Assessment Instruments

• Norm-referenced test are known to have a higherdegree of reliability and validity than criterion-referenced tests, and are specifically designed for use incomparing the performance of an individual child to theperformance of a referent group (for example, children ofthe same age).

• Norm-referenced tests should be used, wheneverpossible and appropriate to the child's individualizedneeds, as part of the eligibility determination process.

• Norm-referenced tested can be particularly helpfulwhen evaluating children who are referred to the EIPbased only on a concern about development and whenno underlying condition with a high probability of resultingin developmental delay is suspected or confirmed.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

Informed Clinical Opinion• When using informed clinical opinion in the evaluationprocess, practitioners draw upon clinical training andexperience; standardized instruments, as availableand appropriate; recognized clinical assessmentprocedures (e.g., observation techniques; interviewingtechniques; use of objective measurement techniquesspecific to the developmental problem or circumstancesand concerns related to child and family, etc.); experiencewith children of different cultures and languages; and,their ability to gather and include family perceptionsabout children's development.

• Clinicians should also refer to recognized clinicalpractice guidelines and standards, including NYS DOH'sClinical Practice Guidelines. An article on informedclinical opinion is available through the Web site of theNational Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center(NECTAC) at http://www.nectac.org/.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

Parental Involvement• EIP regulations require that parents have the opportunity to participate

in the performance of screenings, evaluations, and assessments unless theparent's circumstances prevent the parent's presence.

• For children in the care and custody, or custody and guardianship, ofthe local social services commissioner, the commissioner or designee (i.e., thechild's case worker or other local department of social services staff designatedby the commissioner) may be present in lieu of a parent (or surrogate parent)who elects not to participate.

• Parents should always be present and participate in the child'sevaluation, unless there are exceptional circumstances as to why theparent’s) cannot be present.

• The presence and participation of a parent (or parents) is necessary for manyreasons. Parents have a responsibility to be informed about, understand,and consent to the evaluation procedures. In addition, parents can assist themultidisciplinary evaluation team with the evaluation process, can help elicitoptimal responses from their children and/or can help the team understand theextent to which children's responses are typical/optimal.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

Parental Involvement• The evaluation team is required to conduct a parent interview aboutthe family's resources, priorities, and concerns about the child'sdevelopment and developmental progress.

• With the parent's consent, the evaluation team may also interviewother family members or individuals who have pertinent knowledgeabout the child's development (e.g., child care providers).

• Children's parents have critical information about their children toshare and are integral to the evaluation process. Parental presence andparticipation in their child's multidisciplinary evaluation is important tofacilitating parents' understanding of evaluation results.

• The multidisciplinary evaluation team is responsible for fully sharingthe results of child evaluations with parents following thecompletion of evaluations and assessments. Parents must beafforded the opportunity to discuss the evaluation results withevaluators, including any concerns they have with the evaluationprocess

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

Intake & Screening Procedures• While parents always have the option to pursuea multidisciplinary evaluation for their child uponreferral to the EIP, there are some circumstanceswhen performance of a screening is appropriate.

• Screening tests are generally intended to bebrief, easy to administer, and lead to a yes/nodecision as to whether or not a developmentalproblem is likely and further in-depthassessment/evaluation is needed.

• The evaluator is responsible for determining whattype of screening should be conducted (forexample, whether a screening should address one ormore domains of development, or if the screeningshould address a specific concern, such as potentialhearing loss).

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Intake & Screening ProceduresCircumstances under which it may be appropriate for an evaluator toconduct a screening include when there are:

• concerns about only one area ofdevelopment (e.g., communicationdevelopment, physical development, etc.),

• or if there is a generalized concern aboutthe child's development, a screening may beconducted to determine whether the child istypically developing or whether there areindications of problems that require furtherevaluation and assessment; or,

• very specific concerns for whichprocedures exist to clearly "rule out" or identifya problem (e.g., hearing loss).

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Intake & Screening ProceduresScreenings may be helpful in the following ways:

• When a screening indicates that a child'sdevelopment is within normal range, and noproblems or delays are identified, parentalconcerns can be alleviated withoutnecessitating that the child and family undergoa full evaluation (unless the parent requests afull evaluation).

• Screenings can assist the evaluator indeciding upon the most effectivecomposition of the child's multidisciplinaryevaluation team. For example, if a screeningindicates that a child's communicationdevelopment is age appropriate, but motordevelopment is delayed, the multidisciplinaryevaluation team should include a professionalwho can assess the child's motor functioning.

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Intake & Screening Procedures• If the screening indicates cause for concern, amultidisciplinary evaluation must be completed to determinewhether the child is eligible for the EIP. It is important to notethat the multidisciplinary evaluation must include an in-depth assessment of all five areas of development,regardless of screening results.

• When a screening is completed as part of the evaluationprocess, the evaluator must use, whenever feasible andappropriate, standardized instruments with demonstratedreliability and validity, and appropriate sensitivity andspecificity.

• In addition, parents must consent to and be present forthe screening, unless the parent's circumstances prevent theparent's presence.

• Evaluators who perform a screening are responsible fordiscussing the results of the screening with the parent,facilitating the parent's understanding of the screening results,and addressing any concerns identified by the parent.

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Composition of the Evaluation Team

• At a minimum, the team must include twodifferently qualified professionals.

• In addition, NY State EIP regulations stipulate thatat least one member of the evaluation team mustbe a specialist in the area of the child'ssuspected delay or disability, if known.

• The team must be trained in appropriatemethods and procedures, and across themembers of the team, have sufficient expertise tofully assess all five developmental domains.

• At least one member of the team must also haveexpertise and be trained in appropriate methodsand procedures to conduct the family assessment(optional to the parents]). .

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Composition of the Evaluation TeamAn EI Evaluation MDE Team may include the following licensed and/or certified professionals:

• Special Education Teacher: Serves as the Generalist providing the DevelopmentalAssessment assessing all five domains of development, including the area of Cognition(Problem-Solving)

• Social Worker: May conduct the Parent Interview and/or Family Assessment (FamilyConcerns, Priorities & Resources)

• Speech-Language Pathologist: Assesses the areas of Communication Development(Expressive & Receptive Language Skills)

• Occupational Therapist: Assesses the area of Adaptive/Self-Help or Physical Development(Fine Motor Skills)

• Physical Therapist: Assesses the area of Physical Development (Gross Motor Skills)

• Clinical Psychologist: Assesses the area of Social-Emotional Development and/or provides adiagnosis such as Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

• Physician: Provides a Physical Health Assessment including Vision & Hearing

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Required Components of the MDE

The FIVE DOMAINS of Development:

See RCDS Handout:

Child Development & Related ServicesAdapted From “The Child Development Web” ©

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Required Components of the MDE

• Parent Interview about the family's resources, priorities,

and concerns related to the child's development anddevelopmental progress. Interviews with other family members orindividuals knowledgeable about the child, such as childcareproviders, may be conducted with parent consent.

• With parent consent, a review of pertinent records related tothe child's current health status and medical history.

• An evaluation of the child's level of functioning in each offive developmental domains: cognitive, physical (includingvision and hearing), communication, social or emotional, andadaptive development.

• The evaluation of the child's physical development mustinclude a health assessment. The health assessment is comprisedof a physical examination, routine vision and hearingscreening, and where appropriate, a neurological assessment

Under the EIP regulations, the following components must be included in performance ofmultidisciplinary evaluations:

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Required Components of the MDE

• With parent consent, findings from currentexaminations, evaluations or assessments, in additionto health assessments for the child, other assessmentsmay be used to augment and not replace themultidisciplinary evaluation to determine eligibility, as longas these assessments have been performed in a mannerconsistent with the requirements for multidisciplinaryevaluations, and no clinical indicators are present tosuggest the need to repeat procedures.

• An assessment of the unique needs of the child ineach developmental domain, including identification ofservices appropriate to meet those needs. It isappropriate for evaluators to identify the types ofinterventions and services that are indicated for thechild, and family based on the results of the evaluation.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

Voluntary Family Assessment

• EIP regulations require that all parentsbe given the opportunity to participate in afamily-directed assessment to determinethe resources, priorities, and concernsof the family related to enhancement ofthe child's development, conducted byappropriately qualified personnel on themultidisciplinary evaluation team.

• Family assessments are voluntary onthe part of the family; however, evaluatorsapproved under the EIP must have thepersonnel resources to offer a familyassessment to all families and to conductthese assessments for parents who wish toparticipate in a family assessment

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Parent Interview vs. Family Assessment

• It is important to differentiate between theparent interview that must be conductedas part of the child's multidisciplinaryevaluation and the family assessmentprocess, which is voluntary on the part ofthe family.

• The purpose of the parent interview isto obtain information from theperspective of the child's parents, andwith parent consent, from other individualsfamiliar with the child's developmentregarding concerns about the child'sdevelopmental status and progress.

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Parent Interview vs. Family Assessment

• The parent interview assists themultidisciplinary evaluation team inassessing the unique needs of thechild in each developmental domain,and the family's resources, priorities, andconcerns related to the child'sdevelopment.

• The subject of the parent interview,in other words, is the child'sdevelopment. The parent interview(and/or interviews with other individuals,with the parent's consent) is a requiredpart of the child's evaluation, focusedon the child's developmental status.

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Multidisciplinary Evaluation Procedures

Parent Interview vs. Family Assessment

• The purpose of the voluntary family assessmentis to assist the family in determining theresources, priorities, and concerns of the familyrelated to enhancing their child's development.

• The multidisciplinary evaluation team isrequired to offer families the opportunity toparticipate in a family assessment; however,participation in this assessment process isvoluntary for the family.

• The family assessment process is defined inEIP regulations as "the process of informationgathering and identification of family priorities,resources and concerns, which the familydecides are relevant to their ability to enhancetheir child's development."

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Parent Interview vs. Family Assessment

• be conducted by qualified personneltrained to utilize appropriate methods andprocedures;

• be based on information provided by thefamily through a personal interview;

• incorporate the family's description of itsresources, priorities, and concerns related toenhancing the child's development; and,be completed within a sufficient time frameto enable convening of the IFSP meetingwithin 45 days of the date of the child's referralto the EIP.

When carried out, family assessments must:

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Use of Findings From Other Examinations

• Evaluators may use findings from othercurrent examinations, evaluations,assessments, or health assessmentsperformed for the child, with parentalconsent, including those conducted priorto the initiation of the multidisciplinaryevaluation.

• This can facilitate the timeliness of theevaluation process by reducing theamount of time needed to complete theevaluation, and by reducing the number ofprofessionals involved and/or evaluationsthat must be completed.

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Use of Findings From Other ExaminationsUse of such findings will also ensure that children do not have to undergoduplicative or unnecessary evaluation procedures. Under these circumstances,the evaluator must ensure that:

• the procedures were performed in amanner consistent with EIPrequirements;

• the findings are used to augment andnot replace the multidisciplinaryevaluation to determine eligibility; and,

• there are no indications presentwhich suggest the need to repeat suchprocedures (e.g., the strengths/needs ofthe child have changed sufficiently towarrant re-examination).

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Use of Findings From Other Examinations• If a child has been evaluated using a specificstandardized instrument/test/procedure prior tohis/her referral to the EIP, the EIP multidisciplinaryevaluation team is responsible for determiningwhether it is necessary and appropriate (i.e., will notimpact the validity/reliability of test scores) to repeatthe instrument/test/procedure

• Finally, if a child is referred as having adiagnosed physical or mental condition with ahigh probability of resulting in developmental delay,which has also been identified on the DOH’s list ofconditions that establish a child's eligibility for theEIP, the evaluator is responsible for confirmingthat the child has the condition and is eligiblefor the EIP based on the presence of thecondition.

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The Evaluation ReportThe evaluation report and summary must include the following information:

• the names, titles, and qualificationsof the persons performing the evaluationand assessment;

• a description of the assessmentprocess;

• the child's responses to theprocedures and instruments used aspart of the evaluation process, and thefamily's belief about whether theresponses were optimal;

• the developmental status of the childin each of the five developmentaldomains, including the unique strengthsand needs in each area;

• documentation of how clinical opinionwas used by the evaluation team inevaluating and assessing the child'sdevelopmental status and potential eligibilityfor the EIP; and,

• measures and/or scores that wereused, if any; and, an explanation of thesemeasures or scores.

• the evaluation report should also includediagnostic information and ICD-9 codesrelated to the child's eligibility, whereappropriate.

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The Evaluation Report

• The evaluation report must includea clear statement of the child'seligibility. The eligibility statementmust include either a diagnosedcondition with a high probability ofresulting in developmental delay andassociated ICD-9 code;

or,

• A statement of developmentaldelay consistent with the statedefinition of developmental delay andassociated ICD-9 code fordevelopmental delay.

• When a diagnosis is made by theevaluation team, one or more membersof the team must be qualified under thepractice acts in the education lawgoverning their profession to render adiagnosis

• If the results of the multidisciplinaryevaluation indicate the child is noteligible for the EIP, the evaluation reportshould also clearly document reasonswhy the child is not eligible (forexample, the child's development iswithin normal range, or the child is notexperiencing a developmental delayconsistent with the State's definitionof developmental delay).

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Question & Answer

Feel Free To Direct Future Questions Via Email:

[email protected]

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Experience the RCDS Difference.Quality Developmental Home & Community-Based Services For Young Children

Caring & Qualified Early Intervention Professionals Needed.

PHYSICAL & OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTS ~ COTAS & CLINICAL FELLOWS

SPEECH LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS ~ CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS

SPECIAL EDUCATORS ~ CERTIFIED SOCIAL WORKERS ~ NUTRITIONISTS

TEACHERS OF THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED ~ TEACHERS OF SPEECH & LANGUAGE DISABILITIES

Certified/Licensed Providers Needed to Serve Children & FamiliesResiding in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, the Bronx as well as

Rockland & Orange County.

To Apply Simply Email Your Resume To:

[email protected]

Learn More Online at: www.rcdseip.com