BP BHEAD INT S

AN ACT Relating to requiring that an individualized education program for deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children fully consider the communication needs of the individual child; adding new sections to chapter 28A.155 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The office of superintendent of public instruction shall establish a program and policy to be disseminated to all school districts and other local educational agencies that promotes the education of deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children and that recognizes that:

(1) Deafness involves the most basic of human needs, the ability to acquire language and to communicate with other human beings. Many deaf and hard-of-hearing children use, as their primary language, American sign language, while others express and receive communication through English-based sign language, or orally and aurally, with or without visual signs or cues. Still other young deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children lack any functional language skills. Deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children require educational programs that provide appropriate, ongoing, communicatively, and linguistically accessible education opportunities. For the purposes of sections 1 through 3 of this act, communication mode and language refer to the individual child's communication mode of language, whether oral, manual, or a combination of oral and manual, or tactile, close visual aids, braille, assistive listening devices, and hearing aids. The purpose of sections 1 through 3 of this act is to promote understanding of communication needs and not to favor any one particular communication mode or language over another;

(2) Deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children have an education in which each individual child's unique language or communication mode is respected, used, and developed to an appropriate level of proficiency;

(3) Deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children have an education in which special education teachers, audiologists, language specialists, psychologists, speech therapists, administrators, interpreters, and other personnel understand the unique nature of deafness and are specifically trained to work with deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children and in which their special education teachers and interpreters are proficient in the primary language or mode of communication of those children;

(4) Deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children have an education with a sufficient number of language or communication mode peers who are of the same or approximately the same age and ability level and with whom the children can communicate directly, or as appropriate through the use of certified educational interpreters;

(5) Parents of deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children, advocates, deaf adults, teachers, and professionals trained in the area of deafness assist and be involved in determining the extent, content, and purpose of this program;

(6) Deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children have direct and full access to all components of the educational process, including recess, lunch, and extracurricular social and athletic activities;

(7) Deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children are entitled to participate in programs in which their unique vocational needs are provided for;

(8) A determination of the least-restrictive environment as used in state and federal law takes into consideration the most effective language and communication methods of deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children as described in sections 1 through 3 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. An individualized education program shall consider the specific communication needs of the pupil, including:

(1) The pupil's individual communication mode and language;

(2) That competent numbers of age, cognitive, and language peers of similar abilities be grouped together. However, this subsection shall not be construed to require that a specific number of peers be provided;

(3) Full, direct, and ongoing language access to special education teachers and interpreters and other specialists who are proficient in the pupil's primary language mode;

(4) Full communication accessibility during school, after school in extracurricular activities, and during any meeting pertaining to the child's school experience; and

(5) That parents of deaf, deaf-blind, and hard-of-hearing children have the right to include an advocate and to make the final decision during the individualized education program meeting on placement and the program for their child.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. In considering placement and the least-restrictive environment for a deaf, deaf-blind, or a hard-of-hearing child, the individualized education program team shall consider the unique communications needs of the child as provided in section 2 of this act. In making that determination, the individualized education program team shall consider particularly those program options that provide the pupil with an appropriate and equal opportunity for communication access, including the Washington school for the deaf, which may be the least-restrictive environment for a deaf, deaf-blind, or hard-of-hearing child.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. Sections 2 and 3 of this act are each added to chapter 28A.155 RCW.