A Guide to Connecticut's Determination of Autistic Student Needs
by
Joseph C. Maya on Mar. 22, 2017
Summary: Blog post on the topic of how Connecticut determines the needs of an autistic student in public school.
by Conor J. McLaughlin, Quinnipiac University School of Law, J.D. Candidate 2017
If you have a question or concern about special education law, school administration, federal standards, or the overall rights of a student, please feel free to call the expert education law attorneys at Maya Murphy, P.C. in Westport today at (203) 221-3100 .
Connecticut's special education programs require some quantitative measure of an autistic student's need. Evaluations can be critical in the determination of an appropriate Individual Education Program, including the resources they are rightfully entitled to. The following outlines the general criteria of an evaluation.
The student should meet the criteria listed below to be eligible for special education services due to autism: The child:
A. has been evaluated by a professional with appropriate training, using an autism-specific instrument, and must be found to be functioning in the range of autistic spectrum disorders.
B. demonstrates a disability that adversely affects educational performance as evidenced by professional judgment and/or scores that fall significantly below average (-1.5 SDs) in all of the following areas: social interaction (at least two of the items listed below), verbal/nonverbal communication and atypical behaviors (at least one of the items from each category listed below).
C. does not perform effectively in the social or academic area most of the time, despite the provision of general education accommodations and supports.
Common Considerations
The following are important considerations for various areas for the needs of an autistic child. The answers to these questions will be integral in determining the developmental goals for the child's pending education program.
Social Interaction
- Deficits in Nonverbal communication (eye, gaze, gestures)
- Limited Effort to establsih joint attention or to share in experiences
- Significant deficits in social or emotional reciprocity
- Lack of developmentally appropriate peer relations
- Lack of developmentally appropriate symbolic play/imagination
- Inability to make functional adjustments to the social environment
Communication
- Significant deficits in receptive language (e.g., acts as though does not hear although hearing is normal, does not respond to name, does not respond to verbal cues, concrete and literal comprehension
- Significant deficits in expressive language (e.g., no babbling, pointing or use of gesture by 1 year of age, no single words by 16 months, does not combine words by 2 years, loss of language skills, echolalia, idiosyncratic use of words/phrases, pronoun reversals)
- Significant deficits in pragmatic skills (e.g., inability to initiate or sustain conversation, perseveration on topic, stereotypic intonation, difficulty interpreting what others think and feel, difficulty taking others‘ perspective, difficulty relating emotion) (Strock, 2004)
If you have a child with a disability and have questions about special education law, please contact Joseph C. Maya, Esq., at 203-221-3100, or at JMaya@mayalaw.com, to schedule a free consultation.
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Source: Appendix II-A: Worksheet for Determination of Eligibility for Special Education Services Under the Classification of Autism, (2016), http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/pdf/deps/special/worksheet_determination_eligibility_for_special_education_services_classification_of_autism.pdf
