Bill Text: FL S0260 | 2012 | Regular Session | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Deaf and Hard-of-hearing Children

Spectrum:

Status: (Failed) 2012-03-09 - Died in Messages [S0260 Detail]

Download: Florida-2012-S0260-Comm_Sub.html

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       Florida Senate - 2012                              CS for SB 260
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Education Pre-K - 12; and Senators Wise and
       Sobel
       
       
       
       581-00822-12                                           2012260c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to deaf and hard-of-hearing children;
    3         providing a short title; providing legislative
    4         findings and purpose; encouraging certain state
    5         agencies, institutions, and political subdivisions to
    6         develop recommendations ensuring that the language and
    7         communication needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing
    8         children are addressed; requiring that the act be
    9         expeditiously implemented; requiring that the
   10         Department of Education develop a communication plan
   11         to be included in the individual education plan for
   12         deaf and hard-of-hearing students; requiring that the
   13         department disseminate the model to each school
   14         district and provide training as it determines
   15         necessary; providing an effective date.
   16  
   17  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   18  
   19         Section 1. (1) SHORT TITLE.—This act may be cited as the
   20  “Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children’s Educational Bill of
   21  Rights.”
   22         (2) LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.—
   23         (a) The Legislature finds that:
   24         1. Hearing loss affects the most basic human need, which is
   25  communication. Without quality communication, a child is
   26  isolated from other human beings and from the exchange of
   27  knowledge essential for educational growth and, therefore,
   28  cannot develop the skills required to become a productive,
   29  capable adult and a full participant of society.
   30         2. Children who have a hearing loss possess the same innate
   31  capabilities to acquire language as any other children. They
   32  communicate through a visual language/American Sign Language or
   33  a spoken-written language/English. Manual systems, which do not
   34  include American Sign Language, are not languages and shall be
   35  used only as a tool to teach spoken English, not as a mode of
   36  communication in the classroom. American Sign Language is a
   37  formal language as well as the preferred language of the signing
   38  Deaf community as spoken English is the preferred language of
   39  the oral deaf community.
   40         3. It is critical that all citizens in the state work
   41  toward ensuring that:
   42         a. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children, like all children,
   43  have quality, ongoing, and accessible communication in their
   44  preferred language, both in and out of the classroom.
   45         b. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children be placed in the least
   46  restrictive educational environment that is appropriate for
   47  their communication modality and receive services based on their
   48  unique communication, language, and educational needs, as well
   49  as the culture and choices of their families, consistent with 20
   50  U.S.C. s. 1414(d)(3)(B)(iv) of the Individuals with Disabilities
   51  Education Act.
   52         c. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children be given an education
   53  in which teachers, related service providers, and assessors
   54  understand the unique nature of deafness; are specifically
   55  trained to work with deaf and hard-of-hearing students; and can
   56  communicate spontaneously and fluidly with these children in a
   57  spoken-written language/English, listening and spoken
   58  language/auditory-oral, or a visual language/American Sign
   59  Language, which are accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing
   60  children.
   61         d. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children, like all children,
   62  have the benefit of an education in which there is a sufficient
   63  number of age-appropriate peers and adults with whom they can
   64  interact and communicate in a spontaneous and fluid way.
   65         e. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children receive an education
   66  in which they are exposed to deaf and hard-of-hearing role
   67  models in their preferred communication modalities.
   68         f. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children, like all children,
   69  have direct and appropriate access to all components of the
   70  educational process, including recess, lunch, and
   71  extracurricular, social, and athletic activities.
   72         g. Deaf and hard-of-hearing children, like all children, be
   73  provided with programs in which transition planning, as required
   74  under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, focuses
   75  on their unique vocational needs.
   76         h. Families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing
   77  receive accurate, balanced, and complete information regarding
   78  their children’s educational and communication needs and the
   79  available programmatic, placement, and resource options, as well
   80  as access to support services and advocacy resources from public
   81  and private agencies, departments, and all other institutions
   82  and resources knowledgeable about hearing loss and the needs of
   83  children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
   84         (b) Given the central importance of communication to all
   85  human beings, the purpose of this act is to encourage the
   86  development of a communication-driven and language-driven
   87  educational delivery system in the state for children who are
   88  deaf or hard of hearing.
   89         (3) EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS OF DEAF AND HARD-OF-HEARING
   90  CHILDREN; DUTY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.—
   91         (a) The Legislature recognizes the unique communication
   92  needs of children who are deaf or hard of hearing and encourages
   93  the development of specific recommendations by all state
   94  agencies, institutions, and political subdivisions concerned
   95  with the early intervention, early childhood, and kindergarten
   96  through grade 12 education of students who are deaf or hard of
   97  hearing, including the Department of Education, the Florida
   98  School for the Deaf and the Blind, and the Department of Health,
   99  to ensure that:
  100         1. These children have access to the same educational
  101  environment that other children have in which their language and
  102  communication needs are fully addressed and developed and in
  103  which they have early, ongoing, and quality access to planned
  104  and incidental communication opportunities.
  105         2. The purposes of this act are expeditiously implemented.
  106         (b) Pursuant to 20 U.S.C. s. 1414(d)(3)(B)(iv) of the
  107  Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which requires that
  108  the individual education plan team consider the unique
  109  communication needs of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing,
  110  the preferred communication modality of the child, and the
  111  culture of the child’s family, the Department of Education shall
  112  develop a model addressing communication considerations for
  113  students who are deaf or hard of hearing as part of the
  114  individual education plan process. The department shall also
  115  disseminate the model to each school district and provide
  116  training as it determines necessary.
  117         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.