SB2476.DOC

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind have the same ability and capability to learn language as their peers who do not have a similar disability. The ability and right to develop language is central to the human experience and a necessary prerequisite to literacy as well as cognitive, emotional, linguistic, academic, and social growth and the chance for children to evolve into healthy and productive members of society. Without communication through language, formal education is not possible.

The legislature further finds that current statistics show many children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind arrive at kindergarten with severe language delays and, in many cases, language deprivation. Children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind often begin kindergarten without the necessary language skills to acquire the knowledge and academic competences that will allow them to be successful in school and life. Currently, there is no requirement to assess the language development of children birth to five years old who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind. There is also no requirement to monitor children's progress in the two languages most commonly used in the United States by individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind which are American Sign Language and English.

The legislature finds that formal milestones and benchmarks must be established and monitored from birth through age five in order to assure children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind have the language foundation to enter kindergarten ready to learn. Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Establish within the department of health, family health services division, an early language acquisition program to assess and track language development for children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind;

(2) Develop a resource for use by parents to monitor and track deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind children's receptive and expressive language acquisition and developmental stages related to English literacy and appropriate communication skills;

(3) Starting on or before July 1, 2018, require the department of health in conjunction with the department of education to produce a report that is specific to language and literacy development of deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind children from birth to five years of age;

(4) Establish an early language acquisition advisory committee to obtain input from experts on the selection of language development milestones for children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind;

(5) Require the department of health to forward the individual family service plan, focusing on the child's language and literacy development, to the department of education for inclusion in the development of the child's individual education plan when the child is transitioned to public school; and

(6) Make an appropriation to the department of health.

SECTION 2. Chapter 321, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§321- Deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind; early language acquisition program; advisory committee; established. (a) There is established within the department of health, family health services division, an early language acquisition program to assess and track language development for children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind.

(b) The family health services division shall select language development milestones from existing standardized norms, pursuant to subsection (e), for purposes of developing a resource for use by parents to monitor and track deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind children's expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy. The parent resource shall:

(1) Include the language development milestones selected pursuant to the process specified in subsection (e);

(2) Be appropriate for use, in content and administration, with deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, who use one or both of the languages of American Sign Language and English; provided that for the purposes of this section English includes spoken English, written English, or English with the use of visual supplements;

(3) Present the developmental milestones in terms of typical child development, by age range;

(4) Be written for clarity and ease of use by parents;

(5) Be aligned with existing guidelines and instruments of the department of health, family health services division, as applicable, that are used to assess the development of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law and state standards in English language arts;

(6) Make clear that the parent resource is not a formal assessment of language and literacy development, and that a parent's observations of a child may differ from formal assessment data presented at an individualized family service plan or individual education plan meeting; and

(7) Make clear that a parent may bring the parent resource to a family service plan or individualized education plan meeting for the purposes of sharing the parent's observations about the child's development.

(c) The family health services division shall select existing tools or assessments for educators that can be used to assess the language and literacy development of children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind. The educator tools or assessments:

(1) Shall be in a format that shows stages of language development;

(2) Shall be selected for use by educators to track the development of deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind children's expressive and receptive language acquisition and development stages toward English literacy;

(3) Shall be selected from existing instruments or assessments used to evaluate the development of all children from birth to five years of age, inclusive;

(4) Shall be appropriate, in content and administration, for use with deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind children;

(5) May be used, in addition to federally required assessments, by the child's individualized family service plan or individualized education plan team, as applicable, to track deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind children's progress and to establish or modify individual family service plans or individual educational service plans; and

(6) May reflect the recommendations of the advisory committee established pursuant to subsection (f).

(d) The family health services division shall disseminate the parent resource developed pursuant to subsection (b) to parents and guardians of deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind children, and, pursuant to federal law, shall disseminate the educator tools and assessments selected pursuant to subsection (c) to schools and teachers for use in the development of individualized family service plans or individual education plans, and shall provide materials and training on use of the educator tools and assessments to assist deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind children in becoming linguistically ready for kindergarten using both or one of American Sign Language and English.

If a deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind child does not demonstrate progress in expressive or receptive language skills, as measured by one of the educator tools or assessments selected pursuant to subsection (c), or by the existing instrument used to assess the development of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, the child's individualized family services plan or individualized education plan, as applicable, shall, as part of the process required by federal law, explain in detail the reasons why the child is not meeting the language developmental milestones, and shall recommend specific strategies, services, and programs that shall be provided to assist the child's success toward English literacy.

(e) On or before March 1, 2018, the family health services division shall provide the advisory committee established pursuant to subsection (f) with a list of existing language development milestones from existing standardized norms, along with any relevant information held by the family health services division regarding those language development milestones for possible inclusion in the parent resource developed pursuant to subsection (b). These language development milestones shall be aligned with the existing guidelines and instruments of the department of health's family health services division and department of education, as applicable, that are used to assess the development of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, and state standards in English language arts.

On or before June 1, 2018, the advisory committee shall recommend language development milestones for selection pursuant to subsection (b).

On or before June 30, 2018, the family health services division and department of education shall inform the advisory committee of which language development milestones were selected.

(f) The director of health shall establish an ad hoc early language acquisition advisory committee for the purposes of soliciting input from experts on the selection of language developmental milestones for children who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind, for inclusion in the parent resource developed pursuant to subsection (b). The advisory committee may also make recommendations on the selection and administration of the educator tools or assessments selected pursuant to subsection (c).

The advisory committee shall consist of fourteen members, the majority of whom shall be deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind. In addition, the advisory committee shall include the following:

(1) One parent of a child who is deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind who uses American Sign Language and English;

(2) One parent of a child who is deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind who uses only spoken English, with or without visual supplements;

(3) One parent, sibling, or teacher of a child who is deaf-blind who is familiar with the language needs of a child who is deaf-blind;

(4) One credentialed teacher of students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind who uses American Sign Language and English;

(5) One credentialed teacher of students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind from a state certified nonpublic, nonsectarian school;

(6) One credentialed teacher of students who are deaf, heard of hearing, and deaf-blind whose expertise is in curriculum development and the instruction of American Sign Language and English;

(7) One credentialed teacher of students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind whose expertise is in curriculum development and instruction in spoken English, with or without visual supplements;

(8) One credentialed teacher for students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind whose expertise is in American Sign Language and English language assessment;

(9) One expert who researches language outcomes for children who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind using American Sign Language and English;

(10) One expert who researches language outcomes for students who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind using spoken English with or without visual supplements;

(11) One advocate for the teaching and use of American Sign Language and English;

(12) One advocate for the teaching and use of spoken English, with or without visual supplements;

(13) One early intervention specialist who works with infants and toddlers using American Sign Language and English; and

(14) One speech pathologist who works with spoken English, with or without use of visual supplements.

Advisory committee members shall serve without compensation and include representation from each of the counties of Honolulu, Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui.

(g) The advisory committee established pursuant to subsection (f) may also advise the family health services division on the content and administration of the existing instruments used to assess the development of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, as used to assess children who are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind's language and literacy development to ensure the appropriate use of the instrument, and may make recommendations regarding future research to improve the measurement of progress of children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind in language and literacy.

(h) Commencing on or before July 1, 2018, and on or before each July 1 thereafter, the family health services division, in collaboration with the department of education, shall produce a report, using existing data reported in compliance with the federally required state performance plan on students with disabilities that is specific to language and literacy development of children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind from birth to five years of age, inclusive, including those who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind and have other disabilities, relative to their peers who are not deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind. The family health services division and the department of education shall make this report available on each department's website.

(i) All activities of the family health services division in implementing this section shall be consistent with federal law regarding the education of children with disabilities and the privacy of student information.

(j) For the purposes of this section, the term "language development milestones" means milestones of development aligned with the existing state instruments used to meet the requirements of federal law for the assessment of children from birth to five years of age, inclusive.

(k) This section shall apply to children receiving services from the department of health from birth to three years of age, inclusive, and to children transitioning to the department of education from ages three to five, inclusive."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2016-2017 for the establishment of language developmental milestones for children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind and development of a parent resource and educator tools to monitor and track children who are deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind's language acquisition and development stages toward English literacy.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of health for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2016.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2476
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016
STATE OF HAWAII