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(3.4) What are the eligibility criteria for students with speech and language disorders?

(3.4) What are the eligibility criteria for students with speech and language disorders?

A student with speech and language difficulties is eligible for special education services if she meets one or more of the following criteria:

  1. Articulation Disorder, which reduces intelligibility and significantly interferes with communication and attracts adverse attention.  The student’s articulation competency must be below what is expected for her chronological age or developmental level and not just an abnormal swallowing pattern;
  2. Abnormal Voice, which is characterized by persistent, defective voice quality, pitch, or loudness;
  3. Fluency Disorder, in which the flow of verbal expression, including rate and rhythm, adversely affects communication between the student and listener;
  4. Language Disorder, in which the student has an expressive or receptive language disorder when she meets one of the following criteria:
    • Scores at least 1.5 standard deviations below the mean, or below the seventh (7th) percentile, for her chronological or developmental level, on two or more standardized tests in one or more of the following areas of language development: morphology, syntax, semantics, or pragmatics; or
    • Scores at least 1.5 standard deviations below the mean, or below the seventh (7th) percentile, for her chronological or developmental level, on one or more standardized tests in one of the areas listed in subsection (A) and displays inappropriate or inadequate usage of expressive or receptive as measured on a representative spontaneous or elicited language sample of a minimum of fifty (50) utterances.  The language sample must be recorded or transcribed and analyzed, and the results included in the assessment report.  If the student is unable to produce this sample, the language, speech or hearing specialist must document why a 50 utterance sample was not obtainable and the contexts in which attempts were made to elicit the sample.

(5) Hearing Loss which results in a language or speech disorder. [34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.8(c)(11); 5 C.C.R. Sec. 3030(b)(11).]

When standardized tests are considered to be invalid for the student, the expected level of performance shall be determined by alternative means.  [5 C.C.R. Sec. 3030(b)(10)(B)(2).]