(a) A Head Start grantee, or delegate agency,
if appropriate, must develop a disabilities service plan providing strategies
for meeting the special needs of children with disabilities and their parents.
The purposes of this plan are to assure:
(1) That all components of Head Start are appropriately involved in the
integration of children with disabilities and their parents
(2) That
resources are used efficiently.
(b) The plan must be updated annually.
(c) The plan must include provisions for children with disabilities to be
included in the full range of activities and services normally provided to all
Head Start children and provisions for any modifications necessary to meet the
special needs of the children with disabilities.
(d) The Head Start grantee and delegate agency must use the disabilities
service plan as a working document which guides all aspects of the agency's
effort to serve children with disabilities. This plan must take into account the
needs of the children for small group activities, for modifications of large
group activities and for any individual special help.
(e) The grantee or delegate agency must designate a coordinator of services
for children with disabilities (disabilities coordinator) and arrange for
preparation of the disabilities service plan and of the grantee application
budget line items for services for children with disabilities. The grantee or
delegate must ensure that all relevant coordinators, other staff and parents are
consulted.
(f) The disability service plan must contain:
(1) Procedures for timely screening;
(2) Procedures for making
referrals to the LEA for evaluation to determine whether there is a need for
special education and related services for a child, as early as the child's
third birthday;
(3) Assurances of accessibility of facilities;
and
(4) Plans to provide appropriate special furniture, equipment and
materials if needed.
(g) The plan, when appropriate, must address strategies for the transition of
children into Head Start from infant/toddler programs (0-3 years), as well as
the transition from Head Start into the next placement. The plan must include
preparation of staff and parents for the entry of children with severe
disabilities into the Head Start program.
(h) The grantee or delegate agency must arrange or provide special education
and related services necessary to foster the maximum development of each child's
potential and to facilitate participation in the regular Head Start program
unless the services are being provided by the LEA or other agency. The plan must
specify the services to be provided directly by Head Start and those provided by
other agencies. The grantee or delegate agency must arrange for, provide, or
procure services which may include, but are not limited to special education and
these related services:
(1) Audiology services, including identification of children with hearing
loss and referral for medical or other professional attention; provision of
needed rehabilitative services such as speech and language therapy and
auditory training to make best use of remaining hearing; speech conservation;
lip reading; determination of need for hearing aids and fitting of appropriate
aids; and programs for prevention of hearing loss;
(2) Physical therapy
to facilitate gross motor development in activities such as walking prevent or
slow orthopedic problems and improve posture and conditioning;
(3)
Occupational therapy to improve, develop or restore fine motor functions in
activities such as using a fork or knife;
(4) Speech or language
services including therapy and use of assistive devices necessary for a child
to develop or improve receptive or expressive means of
communication;
(5) Psychological services such as evaluation of each
child's functioning and interpreting the results to staff and parents; and
counseling and guidance services for staff and parents regarding
disabilities;
(6) Transportation for children with disabilities to and
from the program and to special clinics or other service providers when the
services cannot be provided on-site. Transportation includes adapted buses
equipped to accommodate wheelchairs or other such devices if required;
and
(7) Assistive technology services or devices necessary to enable a
child to improve functions such as vision, mobility or communication to meet
the objectives in the IEP.
(i) The disabilities service plan must include options to meet the needs and
take into consideration the strengths of each child based upon the IEP so that a
continuum of services available from various agencies is considered.
(j) The options may include:
(1) Joint placement of children with other agencies;
(2) Shared
provision of services with other agencies;
(3) Shared personnel to
supervise special education services, when necessary to meet State
requirements on qualifications;
(4) Administrative accommodations such
as having two children share one enrollment slot when each child's IEP calls
for part-time service because of their individual needs; and
(5) Any
other strategies to be used to insure that special needs are met. These may
include:
(i) Increased staff;
(ii) Use of volunteers; and
(iii) Use
of supervised students in such fields as child development, special
education, child psychology, various therapies and family services to assist
the staff.
(k) The grantee must ensure that the disabilities service plan addresses
grantee efforts to meet State standards for personnel serving children with
disabilities by the 1994-95 program year. Special education and related services
must be provided by or under the supervision of personnel meeting State
qualifications by the 1994-95 program year.
(l) The disabilities service plan must include commitment to specific efforts
to develop interagency agreements with the LEAs and other agencies within the
grantee's service area. If no agreement can be reached, the grantee must
document its efforts and inform the Regional Office. The agreements must
address:
(1) Head Start participation in the public agency's Child Find plan under
Part B of IDEA;
(2) Joint training of staff and parents;
(3)
Procedures for referral for evaluations, IEP meetings and placement
decisions;
(4) Transition;
(5) Resource sharing;
(6) Head
Start commitment to provide the number of children receiving services under
IEPs to the LEA for the LEA Child Count report by December 1 annually;
and
(7) Any other items agreed to by both parties. Grantees must make
efforts to update the agreements annually.
(m) The disabilities coordinator must work with the director in planning and
budgeting of grantee funds to assure that the special needs identified in the
IEP are fully met; that children most in need of an integrated placement and of
special assistance are served; and that the grantee maintains the level of
fiscal support to children with disabilities consistent with the Congressional
mandate to meet their special needs.
(n) The grant application budget form and supplement submitted with
applications for funding must reflect requests for adequate resources to
implement the objectives and activities in the disability services plan and
fulfill the requirements of these Performance Standards.
(o) The budget request included with the application for funding must address
the implementation of the disabilities service plan. Allowable expenditures
include:
(1) Salaries. Allowable expenditures include salaries of a full or
part-time coordinator of services for children with disabilities (disabilities
coordinator), who is essential to assure that programs have the core
capability to recruit, enroll, arrange for the evaluation of children, provide
or arrange for services to children with disabilities and work with Head Start
coordinators and staff of other agencies which are working cooperatively with
the grantee. Salaries of special education resource teachers who can augment
the work of the regular teacher are an allowable expenditure.
(2)
Evaluation of children. When warranted by screening or rescreening results,
teacher observation or parent request, arrangements must be made for
evaluation of the child's development and functioning. If, after referral for
evaluation to the LEA, evaluations are not provided by the LEA, they are an
allowable expenditure.
(3) Services. Program funds may be used to pay
for services which include special education, related services, and summer
services deemed necessary on an individual basis and to prepare for serving
children with disabilities in advance of the program year.
(4) Making
services accessible. Allowable costs include elimination of architectural
barriers which affect the participation of children with disabilities, in
conformance with 45 CFR part 84, Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Handicap in
Program and Activities Receiving or Benefiting from Federal Financial
Assistance and with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C.
12101). The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that public
accommodations including private schools and day care centers may not
discriminate on the basis of disability. Physical barriers in existing
facilities must be removed if removal is readily achievable (i.e., easily
accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense).
If not, alternative methods of providing the services must be offered, if
those methods are readily achievable. Alterations must be accessible. When
alterations to primary function areas are made, an accessible path of travel
to the altered areas (and the bathrooms, telephones and drinking fountains
serving that area) must be provided to the extent that the added accessibility
costs are not disproportionate to the overall cost of the alterations. Program
funds may be used for ramps, remodeling or modifications such as grab bars or
railings. Grantees must meet new statutory and regulatory requirements that
are enacted.
(5) Transportation. Transportation is a related service to
be provided to children with disabilities. When transportation to the program
site and to special services can be accessed from other agencies, it should be
used. When it is not available, program funds are to be used to provide it.
Special buses or use of taxis are allowable expenses if there are no
alternatives available and they are necessary to enable a child to be
served.
(6) Special Equipment and Materials. Purchase or lease of
special equipment and materials for use in the program and home is an
allowable program expense. Grantees must make available assistive devices
necessary to make it possible for a child to move, communicate, improve
functioning or address objectives which are listed in the child's
IEP.
(7) Training and Technical Assistance. Increasing the abilities of
staff to meet the special needs of children with disabilities is an allowable
expense. Appropriate expenditures may include but are not limited to:
(i) Travel and per diem expenses for disabilities coordinators, teachers
and parents to attend training and technical assistance events related to
special services for children with disabilities;
(ii) The provision
of substitute teaching staff to enable staff to attend training and
technical assistance events;
(iii) Fees for courses specifically
related to the requirements of the disabilities service plan, a child's IEP
or State certification to serve children with disabilities; and
(iv) Fees and expenses for training/technical
assistance consultants if such help is not available from another provider
at no cost.
