BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE HUMAN
SERVICES COMMITTEE
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
BILL NO: SB 472
S
AUTHOR: Correa
B
VERSION: April 11, 2011
HEARING DATE: April 26, 2011
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FISCAL: Rules; Appropriations
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CONSULTANT:
Hailey
SUBJECT
Early intervention services: assessment
SUMMARY
Directs the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the
Secretary of the Health and Human Services Agency to
develop a unified assessment for infants and toddlers with
disabilities or to develop a process to coordinate needed
assessments in one place and at one time each year.
ABSTRACT
Current law
1 Establishes various programs to assess and provide
health, education, and therapeutic services to persons who
have or may have a disability.
2. Provides for the administration of these programs
through local education agencies, county offices of
education, county departments of health and mental health,
regional centers, and other state and local government
entities.
Continued---
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3. Establishes the California Early Intervention Services
Act (Government Code Sections 95000 through 95029) to
provide for the enhancement of the development of infants
and young children who have disabilities or who are at risk
of having disabilities.
4. Establishes, through federal law, the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to provide for the
education of children with disabilities, up to age 21.
This bill
1. Makes findings and declarations about children
receiving special education and related services.
2. Directs the Superintendent of Public Instruction and
the Secretary of the Human Services Agency to find ways to
consolidate the assessments and attendant paperwork of
children with disabilities who receive services from more
than on agency, and to either develop an integrated
assessment instrument that can be performed in one place at
one times each year and serve the assessment needs of all
service agencies, or to develop a process whereby the
several assessments can be conducted in one place and time.
3. Directs this effort to focus first on infants and
toddlers, but be flexible enough to continue to serve as an
instrument or a process as the child ages.
4. Directs the secretary and superintendent to complete
this work by January 1, 2013, and report their findings to
the Legislature.
FISCAL IMPACT
Unknown.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The author has met with parents in his district who are
raising children with severe and multiple disabilities.
All of these children have an individual education plan
with their local school district or county office of
education; most have an individual program plan with the
regional center; some receive services from California
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Children's Services, some receive services from the county
mental health department; some receive other therapeutic
services, such as speech and language therapy, through
their local education agency or county office; and, some
have partial coverage for services through Medicaid or
private health care insurance. For some families,
county-provided services include in-home supportive
services (IHSS).
For each of these services, there is an assessment and
there are periodic reassessments - both to ensure
eligibility for services and to evaluate the effectiveness
of those services, therapies, and educational programs.
Each program provides these assessments on their own
calendar and at their own locations, with parents being
responsible to make and keep appointments. These many
assessments, located around the county or sometimes in a
neighboring county, can be a burden on parents causing lost
time at work and a burden on the children causing lost time
in educational and therapeutic programs - as well as the
challenges and frustrations of arranging transportation or
using public transportation.
In addition to the challenges of making and completing
multiple appointments in various locations, parents report
to the author that these assessments often cover the same
topics as others conducted by a different service
organization.
The author argues that there may be ways to consolidate
assessments or to bring multiple assessments to one place
in order to complete them more quickly and efficiently and
to relieve parents and children of the burdens of travel
and time.
The California Early Intervention Services Act
In response to overwhelming evidence that early
intervention works in mitigating the severity of the
effects of disabilities - and sometimes inhibiting the
development of a disability altogether - the Legislature
passed the California Early Intervention Services Act.
Versions of the act date back to the 1970s and early 1980s
when, in response to Public Law 94-142, the Education of
All Handicapped Children Act, the Legislature established
model programs to reach children younger than those
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accommodated by the new federal law. This relationship
between state and federal law remains to this day: the
federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
makes the public schools responsible for providing
educational services to all children with a disability once
they reach 36 months of age and permits local education
agency services to children younger than 36 months of age.
The California Early Intervention Services Act provides for
services to children birth through the time that IDEA and
the public schools take over the lead role.
A place to start
This bill begins with those infants and toddlers served
through the California Early Intervention Services Act and
it provides for flexibility so that, over time, older
children and their families would receive the benefits of
consolidated assessments. According to the Department of
Developmental Services, the numbers of children being
served in the current school year are 3,525 in the
prevention program and 27,500 in Early Start, the program
for young children who have a disability.
COMMENT AND QUESTIONS
Is one instrument a feasible possibility?
Because the range of disabilities and of therapies is
broad, some professionals question the possibility that one
assessment instrument is feasible. Physical therapists,
occupational therapists, psychologists, speech and language
therapists, physicians, and teachers may each be
responsible for one part of a child's individual program
plan or individual education plan. And each may need to do
an assessment of the child that in part at least is unique.
Should the language of the bill be amended to provide
additional options - for partial consolidation of
assessments (given that all of them include a medical
history and some have overlapping elements with one or more
of the other assessments)?
Do the superintendent and secretary have access to persons
with experience providing direct service?
Because neither the office of the Superintendent of Public
Instruction nor the programs within the several departments
that report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services
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provide direct services, some professionals question
whether the bill brings enough expertise to the table.
Should the language of the bill be amended to encourage the
superintendent and the secretary to involve or to consult
representatives of counties, local education agencies, and
regional centers? In addition, the superintendent can ask
the state's special education commission, which is
comprised of a range of professionals and parents, to
provide comment and recommendations. Staff recommends
against making this review more formal than as described in
the bill; however, providing for consultation with
providers of direct service should ensure richer findings.
Should superintendent and the secretary also consider
changes in the assessment processes of older children?
As noted above, the bill directs the superintendent and the
secretary to begin with infants and toddlers. Should it be
amended to direct the superintendent and the secretary to
consider the assessments and reassessments of older
children as well?
POSITIONS
Support: California Coalition for Families and Children
California Council of Community Mental Health
Agencies
Mental Health Association of California
The Arc of California
United Cerebral Palsey
1 individual
Oppose: None received
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