Bill Text: NY S05992 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced
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Bill Title: Relates to language development for deaf and hard of hearing children; requires the department to select language development milestones for existing standardized norms for purposes of developing a resource for use by parents to monitor and track deaf and hard of hearing children's expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-06-19 - referred to education [S05992 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S05992-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Relates to language development for deaf and hard of hearing children; requires the department to select language development milestones for existing standardized norms for purposes of developing a resource for use by parents to monitor and track deaf and hard of hearing children's expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-06-19 - referred to education [S05992 Detail]
Download: New_York-2017-S05992-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5992 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN SENATE May 9, 2017 ___________ Introduced by Sen. ROBACH -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to language development for deaf and hard of hearing students The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 4214 2 to read as follows: 3 § 4214. Language development for deaf and hard of hearing children. 1. 4 The department shall select language developmental milestones from 5 existing standardized norms, pursuant to the process specified in subdi- 6 vision four of this section, for purposes of developing a resource for 7 use by parents to monitor and track deaf and hard of hearing children's 8 expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages 9 toward English literacy. For the purposes of this section, the term 10 "language developmental milestones" means milestones of development 11 aligned with the existing state instrument used to meet the requirements 12 of federal law for the assessment of children from birth to five years 13 of age, inclusive. This parent resource shall: 14 a. Include the language developmental milestones selected pursuant to 15 the process specified in subdivision four of this section; 16 b. Be appropriate for use, in both content and administration, with 17 deaf children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, who use one or 18 both of the languages of American sign language and English. For the 19 purposes of this section, "English" includes spoken English, written 20 English, or English with the use of visual supplements; 21 c. Present the developmental milestones in terms of typical develop- 22 ment of all children, by age range; 23 d. Be written for clarity and ease of use by parents; 24 e. Be aligned to the department's existing infant, toddler, and 25 preschool guidelines, the existing instrument used to assess the devel- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11515-01-7S. 5992 2 1 opment of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, and state 2 standards in English language arts; 3 f. Make clear that the parent resource is not a formal assessment of 4 language and literacy development, and that a parent's observations of 5 their children may differ from formal assessment data presented at an 6 individualized family service plan or individualized education program 7 meeting; and 8 g. Make clear that a parent may bring the parent resource to an indi- 9 vidualized family service plan or individualized education program meet- 10 ing for purposes of sharing their observations about their child's 11 development. 12 2. The department shall also select existing tools or assessments for 13 educators that can be used to assess the language and literacy develop- 14 ment of deaf and hard of hearing children. These educator tools or 15 assessments: 16 a. Shall be in a format that shows stages of language development; 17 b. Shall be selected for use by educators to track the development of 18 deaf and hard of hearing children's expressive and receptive language 19 acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy; 20 c. Shall be selected from existing instruments or assessments used to 21 assess the development of all children from birth to five years of age, 22 inclusive; 23 d. Shall be appropriate, in both content and administration, for use 24 with deaf and hard of hearing children; 25 e. May be used, in addition to the assessment required by federal law, 26 by the child's individualized family service plan or individualized 27 education program team, as applicable, to track deaf and hard of hearing 28 children's progress, and to establish or modify individualized family 29 service plans or individualized education program meeting plans; and 30 f. May reflect the recommendations of the advisory committee estab- 31 lished pursuant to subdivision five of this section. 32 3. a. The department shall disseminate the parent resource developed 33 pursuant to subdivision one of this section to parents and guardians of 34 deaf and hard of hearing children, and, pursuant to federal law, shall 35 disseminate the educator tools and assessments selected pursuant to 36 subdivision two of this section to local educational agencies for use in 37 the development and modification of individualized family service plans 38 or individualized education program plans, and shall provide materials 39 and training on its use, to assist deaf and hard of hearing children in 40 becoming linguistically ready for kindergarten using one or both of the 41 languages of American sign language and English. 42 b. If a deaf or hard of hearing child does not demonstrate progress in 43 expressive and receptive language skills, as measured by one of the 44 educator tools or assessments selected pursuant to subdivision two of 45 this section, or by the existing instrument used to assess the develop- 46 ment of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, the child's 47 individualized family service plan or individualized education program 48 team, as applicable, shall, as part of the process required by federal 49 law, explain in detail the reasons why the child is not meeting the 50 language developmental milestones or progressing towards them, and shall 51 recommend specific strategies, services, and programs that shall be 52 provided to assist the child's success toward English literacy. 53 4. a. On or before March first, two thousand eighteen, the department 54 shall provide the advisory committee established pursuant to subdivision 55 five of this section with a list of existing language developmental 56 milestones from existing standardized norms, along with any relevantS. 5992 3 1 information held by the department regarding those language develop- 2 mental milestones for possible inclusion in the parent resource devel- 3 oped pursuant to subdivision one of this section. These language devel- 4 opmental milestones shall be aligned to the department's existing 5 infant, toddler, and preschool guidelines, the existing instrument used 6 to assess the development of children with disabilities pursuant to 7 federal law, and the state standards in English language arts. 8 b. On or before June first, two thousand eighteen, the advisory 9 committee shall recommend language developmental milestones for 10 selection pursuant to subdivision one of this section. 11 c. On or before June thirtieth, two thousand eighteen, the department 12 shall inform the advisory committee of which language developmental 13 milestones were selected from such recommendations. 14 5. a. The superintendent of schools shall establish an ad hoc advisory 15 committee for purposes of soliciting input from experts on the selection 16 of language developmental milestones for children who are deaf or hard 17 of hearing that are equivalent to those for children who are not deaf or 18 hard of hearing, for inclusion in the parent resource developed pursuant 19 to subdivision one of this section. The advisory committee may also make 20 recommendations on the selection and administration of the educator 21 tools or assessments selected pursuant to subdivision two of this 22 section. 23 b. The advisory committee shall consist of thirteen volunteers, the 24 majority of whom shall be deaf or hard of hearing, and all of whom shall 25 be within the field of education for the deaf and hard of hearing. The 26 advisory committee shall include all of the following: 27 (1) One parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing who uses the 28 dual languages of American sign language and English; 29 (2) One parent of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing who uses only 30 spoken English, with or without visual supplements; 31 (3) One credentialed teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils who 32 uses the dual languages of American sign language and English; 33 (4) One credentialed teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils from a 34 state certified nonpublic, nonsectarian school; 35 (5) One expert who researches language outcomes for deaf and hard of 36 hearing children using American sign language and English; 37 (6) One expert who researches language outcomes for deaf and hard of 38 hearing children using spoken English, with or without visual supple- 39 ments; 40 (7) One credentialed teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils whose 41 expertise is in curriculum and instruction in American sign language and 42 English; 43 (8) One credentialed teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils whose 44 expertise is in curriculum and instruction in spoken English, with or 45 without visual supplements; 46 (9) One advocate for the teaching and use of the dual languages of 47 American sign and English; 48 (10) One advocate for the teaching and use of spoken English, with or 49 without visual supplements; 50 (11) One early intervention specialist who works with deaf and hard of 51 hearing infants and toddlers using the dual languages of American sign 52 language and English; 53 (12) One credentialed teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils whose 54 expertise is in American sign language and English language assessment; 55 andS. 5992 4 1 (13) One speech pathologist from spoken English, with or without the 2 use of visual supplements. 3 6. The advisory committee established pursuant to subdivision five of 4 this section may also advise the department or its contractor on the 5 content and administration of the existing instrument used to assess the 6 development of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, as 7 used to assess deaf and hard of hearing children's language and literacy 8 development to ensure the appropriate use of that instrument with those 9 children, and may make recommendations regarding future research to 10 improve the measurement of progress of deaf and hard of hearing children 11 in language and literacy. 12 7. Commencing on or before July thirty-first, two thousand eighteen, 13 and on or before each July thirty-first thereafter, the department shall 14 annually produce a report, using existing data reported in compliance 15 with the federally required state performance plan on pupils with disa- 16 bilities, that is specific to language and literacy development of deaf 17 and hard of hearing children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, 18 including those who are deaf or hard of hearing and have other disabili- 19 ties, relative to their peers who are not deaf or hard of hearing. The 20 department shall make this report available on the department's website. 21 8. All activities of the department in implementing this section shall 22 be consistent with federal law regarding the education of children with 23 disabilities and federal law regarding the privacy of pupil information. 24 9. This section shall apply only to children from birth to five years 25 of age, inclusive. 26 10. The implementation of this section shall be subject to an appro- 27 priation made therefor. 28 § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 29 have become a law.
