                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING; ASSESSMENT
RESOURCES FOR PARENTS AND EDUCATORS; ADVISORY COMMITTEE; REPORT (§ 22.1-217.04)

A. For the purposes of this section, &#8220;language developmental
milestones&#8221; means milestones of development aligned to the existing
instrument used to assess the development of children with disabilities pursuant
to federal law.

B. 1. The Department, in coordination with the Department for the Deaf and
Hard-of-Hearing and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental
Services, shall establish an advisory committee for the purpose of soliciting
input from members on the selection of language developmental milestones for
inclusion in a resource for use by parents of a child from birth to age five who
is identified as deaf or hard of hearing to monitor and track the child&#8217;s
expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward
English literacy. The advisory committee shall consist of 16 nonlegislative
citizen members, nine of which shall be voting members as described in
subdivision 2 and seven of which shall be nonvoting members as described in
subdivision 3. The majority of members shall be deaf or hard of hearing, and all
of the members shall have experience in the field of education of individuals
who are deaf or hard of hearing. The advisory committee shall have a balance of
members who personally, professionally, or parentally use the dual languages of
American Sign Language and English and members who personally, professionally,
or parentally use only spoken English.

   2. The nine voting members of the committee shall be as follows:
   				a. One parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing who has chosen
   American Sign Language as the primary language for his child;
   				b. One parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing who has chosen
   spoken language as the communication mode for his child;
   				c. One parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing who has chosen
   cued speech as the communication mode for his child;
   				d. One teacher for the deaf or hard of hearing or developmental specialist
   who possesses the highest skill level in the development of American Sign
   Language competence with experience in early intervention;
   				e. One teacher for the deaf or hard of hearing or developmental specialist
   who possesses the highest skill level in the development of spoken language
   competence for children with hearing loss with experience in early
   intervention;
   				f. One teacher for the deaf or hard of hearing or early intervention
   specialist who possesses the highest skill level in the development of cued
   speech or language competence with experience in early intervention;
   				g. One speech-language pathologist who possesses the highest skill level
   in the development of American Sign Language with experience in early
   intervention;
   				h. One speech-language pathologist who possesses the highest skill level
   in the development of spoken language for children with hearing loss with
   experience in early intervention; and
   				i. One service coordinator from early intervention with experience in
   providing families with unbiased information regarding communication
   methodologies available to families.

   3. The seven nonvoting members of the committee shall be representatives of
   each of the following agencies or committees, as determined by the agency head
   or committee chair:
   				a. The Virginia Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program Advisory
   Committee;
   				b. The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind;
   				c. The Infant and Toddler Connection of Virginia;
   				d. The Virginia Department of Education;
   				e. The Center for Family Involvement at the Virginia Commonwealth
   University Partnership for People with Disabilities;
   				f. The Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing; and
   				g. The Virginia Association of the Deaf.

C. No later than January 1, 2023, the Department, in coordination with the
Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing and the Department of Behavioral
Health and Developmental Services, shall provide the advisory committee
established pursuant to subsection B with a list of all existing language
developmental milestones from standardized norms and any relevant information
regarding such language developmental milestones for possible inclusion in the
parent resource set forth in subsection D. No later than June 1, 2023, the
advisory committee shall recommend language developmental milestones for
inclusion in the parent resource and may make recommendations for tools or
assessments to be included in an educator resource set forth in subsection E for
use in assessing the language and literacy development of children from birth to
age five who are deaf or hard of hearing. No later than June 30, 2023, the
Department, in consultation with the Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing
and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, shall select
language developmental milestones for inclusion in the parent resource and
inform the advisory committee of its selections.

D. The Department, in consultation with the Department for the Deaf and
Hard-of-Hearing and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental
Services, shall, after considering the recommendations submitted by the advisory
committee, select language developmental milestones for inclusion in a resource,
and develop such resource, for use by parents of a child from birth to age five
who is identified as deaf or hard of hearing to monitor and track the
child&#8217;s expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental
stages toward English literacy. Such parent resource shall:

   1. Be appropriate for use, in both content and administration, with children
   who use American Sign Language, English, or both;

   2. Present the language developmental milestones selected pursuant to
   subsection C in terms of typical development of all children in a particular
   age range;

   3. Be written for clarity and ease of use by parents;

   4. Be aligned to the Department&#8217;s existing infant, toddler, and
   preschool guidelines; the existing instrument used to assess the development
   of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law; and state standards in
   English language arts;

   5. Make clear that parents have the right to select American Sign Language,
   English, or both for their child&#8217;s language acquisition and
   developmental milestones;

   6. Make clear that the parent resource is not a formal assessment of language
   and literacy development and that parents&#8217; observations of their child
   may differ from formal assessment data presented at an Individual Family
   Service Plan (IFSP) or Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting;

   7. Explain that parents may bring the parent resource to an IFSP or IEP
   meeting for purposes of sharing their observations about their child&#8217;s
   development; and

   8. Include fair, balanced, and comprehensive information about American Sign
   Language and English and respective communication modes as well as available
   services and programs.
   				The Department, the Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, and the
   Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services shall jointly
   disseminate the resource to parents of children from birth to age five who are
   deaf or hard of hearing.

E. The Department, in coordination with the Department for the Deaf and
Hard-of-Hearing and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental
Services, shall, after considering any recommendations submitted by the advisory
committee, select existing tools or assessments for early intervention
specialists and educators for use in assessing the language and literacy
development of children from birth to age five who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Such tools or assessments shall:

   1. Be in a format that shows stages of language and literacy development;

   2. Be selected for use by educators to track the expressive and receptive
   language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy of
   children from birth to age five who are deaf or hard of hearing; and

   3. Be appropriate, in both content and administration, for use with children
   who are deaf or hard of hearing and who use American Sign Language, English,
   or both.
   				The Department, the Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, and the
   Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services shall jointly
   disseminate the tools or assessments selected pursuant to this subsection to
   local educational agencies and provide materials and training on their use.
   Such tools or assessments may be used by a child&#8217;s IFSP or IEP team, as
   applicable, to track the expressive and receptive language acquisition and
   developmental stages toward English literacy of such child or to establish or
   modify IFSP or IEP plans.

F. In addition to the powers and duties set forth above, the advisory committee
may:

   1. Advise the Department, the Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, and
   the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services or its
   contractor on the content and administration of the existing instrument used
   to assess the development of children who are deaf or hard of hearing in order
   to ensure the appropriate use of such instrument for the assessment of the
   language and literacy development of children from birth to age five who are
   deaf or hard of hearing; and

   2. Make recommendations regarding future research to improve the measurement
   of the language and literacy development of children from birth to age five
   who are deaf or hard of hearing.

G. If a child from birth to age five who is deaf or hard of hearing does not
demonstrate progress in expressive and receptive language skills as measured by
one of the educator tools or assessments selected pursuant to subsection E or by
the existing instrument used to assess the development of children who are deaf
or hard of hearing, such child&#8217;s IFSP or IEP team, as applicable, shall
explain in detail the reasons why the child is not meeting or progressing toward
the language developmental milestones and shall recommend specific strategies,
services, and programs that shall be provided to assist the child&#8217;s
progress toward English literacy.

H. No later than August 1, 2024, and no later than August 1 of each year
thereafter, the Department, in coordination with the Department for the Deaf and
Hard-of-Hearing and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental
Services, shall produce a report, using existing data reported in compliance
with the federally required state performance plan on students with
disabilities, that compares the language and literacy development of children
from birth to age five who are deaf or hard of hearing with the language and
literacy development of their peers who are not deaf or hard of hearing and
shall make such report available to the public on its website.

I. The Department, the Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, and the
Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services shall comply with the
provisions of the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C.
&#xA7; 1400 et seq.) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20
U.S.C. &#xA7; 1232g) in carrying out the provisions of this section.

J. The advisory committee function shall terminate effective June 30, 2023.

HISTORY: 2022, cc. 238, 240.