3.  Establishing Eligibility For Special Education

Overview of Special Education Eligibility Requirements

Disability Categories

The Oregon Administrative Rules (OARs 581-015-2130 to 581-015-2180) Specify minimum eligibility criteria for twelve disabilities: Autism, Communication Disorder, Deaf/Blind, Developmental Delay, Hearing Impairment, Learning Disability, Intellectual Disability, Orthopedic Impairment, Other Health Impairment, Emotional Disturbance, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Vision Impairment.

Eligibility Team Members

Eligibility decisions must be made by an eligibility team that consists of the following members:

• An individual who is knowledgeable of and experienced in the education of students with the suspected disability.

• A regular education teacher, or if the student does not have a regular education teacher due to a restrictive placement, then a classroom teacher qualified to teach a student of his/her age.

• Parent/guardian

Primary and Secondary Disabilities

A student should be evaluated in all areas related to the suspected disability, and the IEP should address all of the student’s special education needs. If the Eligibility team determines that a student is eligible in more than one category, the team must determine which disability is primary. The primary disability should be the one that most adversely affects educational performance. A secondary disability should not be the result of another disability. In this case, a single eligibility is sufficient.

Consent for Evaluation

The Evaluation team coordinator (case manager) is responsible for evaluation planning, obtaining parental consent to evaluate prior to beginning the evaluation, providing procedural safeguards and providing parent notification for Special Education Initial Evaluation Referral.

Schedule a Team Meeting

The case manager is responsible for scheduling the eligibility team meeting once the evaluation is completed. The meeting must be scheduled within (60) school days of receiving the Consent for Evaluation. Parents must be invited to this meeting and be given adequate opportunity to participate.  

Review of Evaluations

The Evaluation Team facilitates a meeting in which a written evaluation report is shared with parents.  Each evaluator provides a  summary of their assessments, observations and recommendations.  

Determining Eligibility

The Evaluation Team must determine whether all of the eligibility requirements for each potential disability have been met. This can be done by referring to the numbered items of the eligibility checklist for each specific disability. The team should look at the student’s total performance considering teacher reports, observation data, inspection of student work, parent interview,behavior and personality testing and other evaluation information. 

The following is determined: 

• Review of existing information from a variety of sources including the eligibility team members, statewide assessments, cumulative records, developmental history, and other relevant information.  

• Progress monitoring of the child's academic achievement must be administered in regular intervals prior to or as part of the referral process.  This may include standards based progress monitoring, such as, but not limited to Dibels-Next, MAP, iReady, and or SBAC/OAKS assessments. 

• The student’s disability has an adverse impact on education

• The student needs special education services

• The student’s special education eligibility is or is NOT due to a lack of appropriate instruction in reading, including the essential components of reading instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development: reading fluency/oral reading skills; and reading comprehension strategies; is or is NOT due to a lack of instruction in math; and is or is NOT due to limited English proficiency.

• A medical statement may be required or recommended in determining eligibility for special education.  

Meeting Notes 

Meeting notes are required to document team discussions and parent input. Notes may include the following: 

• A listing of the evaluation procedures utilized and the criteria met.

• Documentation that the Evaluation Summary Report was reviewed.

• A summary of the deliberation of the Team regarding the procedures and the criteria.

• Documentation of the eligibility decision of the team. If any team member disagrees with the decision, this MUST be documented and the reason for the disagreement noted. The response provided by the Eligibility Team must also be documented.

• Documentation that parents were told of graduation options beginning with students in 5th grade and each year thereafter. Final graduation decisions are not required until two years prior to the student’s graduation.

• For ineligible students, notes need to document that the student was considered for Section 504. (see Ineligible Student section.)

Complete Eligibility Forms

• The eligibility forms are completed and signed by all team members present. Team members check the appropriate box indicating agreement or disagreement with the eligibility decision.

• A copy of the completed eligibility form, and evaluation reports are given to the parent.

• Team members who disagree with the eligibility decision must provide a written statement explaining their rationale.

• Provide a copy of the completed eligibility form and supporting documents to the district office within 7 days.

Eligibility Summary Report

Complete Eligibility Report, including but not limited to the following information:

• All evaluation procedures utilized to determine eligibility, such as  tests, grades, developmental history and current information.

• The criteria met by the student, which documents the existence of the disability. 

Ineligible Student

The statement of eligibility signed marking the appropriate boxes to indicate ineligibility.

• The parent may disagree with the eligibility decision. If so, the parent should sign the Statement of Eligibility, checking the box indicating disagreement with the decision. The parent could also provide another written statement indicating disagreement with the team decision. The parent must be informed of his/her right to an independent evaluation. Parent is given the Procedural Safeguards.

• Parents must be informed of the decision if they were not present at the meeting.

• If a medical provider provides a diagnosis, the team must consider whether the student meets eligibility requirements for a Section 504 Plan. Document on Meeting Notes that the team considered Section 504 or has referred the student to the 504 Team to determine if a 504 is appropriate.

• All paperwork must be sent to the Student Services Office.

IEP Meeting

Prior Notice and Consent for Initial Placement into Special Education must be signed by parent prior to the first IEP being implemented.

No child can begin services until the Initial Placement for Initial Provision of Special Education Services is signed, and an IEP has been developed.   

The  SST team coordinator will determine who the case manager will be. The case manager is responsible for scheduling the IEP meeting. The IEP meeting must be held within 30 days of determining eligibility. Parents must be given three (3) opportunities to attend the IEP meeting. If this is an initial IEP, the parent must attend in order to sign “Prior Notice and Consent for Initial Placement Into Special Education”. The IEP meeting can be held following the eligibility determination.

What if a student moves into the district eligible for special education services?

When a student moves in from another state: The IEP team must determine Oregon eligibility. The team must conduct a file review to determine eligibility; further assessments may also be conducted if the team determines there is a need. All paperwork needs to be transferred to Banks School District forms. The student must be served until the team determines the student is not eligible. A Prior Notice of Special Education Action must be completed accepting the current eligibility and IEP.

When a student moves into the district from within Oregon: Current eligibility is valid, unless the IEP team has reason to disagree with eligibility. A Prior Notice of Special Education Action  must be completed accepting the current eligibility and IEP. The student must be served until the team determines the student is not eligible. 

Evaluation Requirements

Each Special Education eligibility has specific required assessments to be used in establishing a particular disability. The following grids are designed to provide guidance to teams in evaluation planning for each suspected area of disability.

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum Disorder—“Autism” means a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. Other characteristics that may be 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. Essential features are typically by not necessarily manifested before age three. Autism may include autism spectrum disorders such as but not limited to autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder—not otherwise specified, and Asperger’s syndrome. The term doesn’t not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance. However, a child who qualifies for special education under the category of autism may also have an emotional disturbance as a secondary disability if the child meets the criteria under emotional disturbance.

Communication Disorder

“Communication Disorder” means the impairment of speech articulation, voice, fluency, or the impairment or deviant development of language comprehension and/or expression, or the impairment of the use of a spoken or other symbol system that adversely affects educational performance. The language impairment may be manifested by one or more of the following components of language: morphology, syntax, semantics, phonology, and pragmatics.

Deaf/Blind

“Deafblindness” means having both hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational problems that the child cannot be accommodated in special education programs designed solely for students having hearing or visual impairments.

Emotional Disturbance

“Emotional Disturbance” means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance

A. An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors;

B. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers:

C. Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances;

D. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or

E. A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems;

F. The term includes schizophrenia but does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance.

Hearing Impairment

Hearing Impairment means a hearing condition, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes those children who are hard of hearing or deaf.

Intellectual Disability

“Intellectual Disability” means significantly sub average general intellectual functioning, and includes a student whose intelligence test score is two or more standard deviations below the norm on a standardized individual intelligence test, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, and that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Other Health Impaired

“Other Health Impairment” means limited strength, vitality, or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment, that:

• Is due to chronic or acute health problems (e.g. a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, leukemia, Tourette’s syndrome or diabetes); and

• Adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Developmental Delay

"Developmental Delay' means a child performs 1.5 or more standard deviations below the mean in two or more of the following developmental areas:

• Cognitive development;

• Physical development;

• Communication development;

• Social or emotional development;

• Adaptive development.

To be found eligible for special education services as a child with a developmental delay, the eligibility team must also determine that for a child aged 5 through 9, the student's disability has an adverse impact on the student's educational performance and the child needs special education services as a result of the delay.

Orthopedic Impairment

Orthopedic Impairment” means a motor disability that adversely affects the child’s educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by an anomaly, disease or other conditions (e.g., cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy or traumatic injury).

A. Is due to chronic or acute health problems (e.g. a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, leukemia, Tourette’s syndrome or diabetes); and

Adversely affects a child’s educational performance. 

Traumatic Brain Injury

“Traumatic Brain Injury” means an acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force resulting in total or partial functional disability or psychosocial impairment, or both, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes open or closed head injuries resulting in impairments in one or more areas, including cognition; language; memory; attention; reasoning; abstract thinking; judgment; problem-solving; sensory, perceptual, and motor abilities; psychosocial behavior; physical functions; information processing; and speech. The term does not include brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative, or brain injuries induced by birth trauma.

Specific Learning Disability

“Specific Learning Disability” means a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell or do mathematical calculations. Specific learning disability includes conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, dyslexia, minimal brain dysfunction, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, Intellectual Disability, emotional disturbance, or environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage.

Vision Impairment

Vision Impairment- means a visual impairment that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes those children who are partially sighted or blind.