HOUSE BILL NO. 5836

June 04, 2020, Introduced by Reps. Crawford, Schroeder, Koleszar, Vaupel, Webber, Wozniak, Leutheuser, Rendon, Whiteford, Lasinski and Cherry and referred to the Committee on Families, Children, and Seniors.

"The revised school code,"

(MCL 380.1 to 380.1852) by adding section 1705.

the people of the state of michigan enact:

Sec. 1705. (1) By August 31, 2021, the department shall develop a resource for use by a parent or legal guardian of a child who is age 5 or younger and who is deaf or hard of hearing that allows the parent or legal guardian to monitor and track the child's expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy. The resource developed under this subsection must meet all of the following requirements:

(a) Include the language developmental milestones selected under subsection (7).

(b) Present the language developmental milestones described in subdivision (a) in terms of the typical development of all children by age range.

(c) Provide appropriate content and administration regarding language assessment and delivery of the assessment for deaf or hard of hearing children who are age 5 or younger and who use American Sign Language, English, or both.

(d) Be written clearly for easy use by parents and legal guardians.

(e) Be aligned with any existing infant, toddler, and preschool department guidelines, be aligned with existing instruments used to assess the development of children with disabilities under federal law, and be aligned with state standards in English language arts.

(f) Subject to the individuals with disabilities education act, 20 USC 1400 to 1482, include a statement that the parent or legal guardian of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing has the sole discretion to choose American Sign Language, English, or both, for the child's language acquisition and developmental milestones.

(g) Provide that the resource is not a formal assessment of language and literacy development.

(h) Provide that a parent's or legal guardian's observation of his or her child may differ from formal assessment data presented at an individualized family service plan or individualized education program meeting.

(i) Provide that a parent or legal guardian may bring the resource to an individualized family service plan or individualized education program meeting for purposes of sharing his or her observations about his or her child's development.

(j) Include fair, balanced, and comprehensive information about languages, communication modes, and all available services and programs.

(2) The department shall adopt existing tools or assessments to be used by local school districts, intermediate school districts, public school academies, and the Michigan School for the Deaf to assess the language and literacy development of a deaf or hard of hearing child who is age 5 or younger. The tools or assessments adopted by the department under this subsection must meet all of the following:

(a) Are in a format that shows stages of language development.

(b) Are used by local school districts, intermediate school districts, public school academies, and the Michigan School for the Deaf to track the development of a deaf or hard of hearing child's expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy at age 5 or younger.

(c) Are selected from existing instruments or assessments used to assess the development of all children who are deaf or hard of hearing and who are age 5 or younger.

(d) Are appropriate in content and administration for use with a deaf or hard of hearing child who is age 5 or younger.

(e) Are designed for use, in addition to any assessment required under federal law, by a child's individualized family service plan team or individualized education program team to track a deaf or hard of hearing child's progress and to establish or modify an individualized family service plan or individualized education program.

(f) Are reflective of the recommendations of the advisory committee established under subsection (7).

(3) Subject to federal law, the department shall provide the resource developed under subsection (1) to parents and legal guardians of deaf or hard of hearing children, shall provide the tools and assessments adopted under subsection (2) to local school districts, intermediate school districts, public school academies, and the Michigan School for the Deaf for use in the development and modification of individualized family service plans or individualized education programs, and shall provide materials and training to parents and legal guardians of deaf or hard of hearing children, on the use of the resource developed under subsection (1) to assist a deaf or hard of hearing child who is age 5 or younger to be linguistically ready for kindergarten using American Sign Language or English, or both.

(4) By September 1, 2021, local school districts, intermediate school districts, public school academies, and the Michigan School for the Deaf shall implement the tools and assessments developed under subsection (2) to track the development of a deaf or hard of hearing child's expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy at age 5 or younger.

(5) A local school district, intermediate school district, public school academy, or the Michigan School for the Deaf that administers the tools or assessments adopted under subsection (2) or any other assessment used to assess the development of children with disabilities as required by federal law to a child who is deaf or hard of hearing and who is age 5 or younger and, based on the assessment results, a child does not meet the developmental milestones or demonstrate progress in expressive and receptive language skills necessary to meet the developmental milestones, the child's individualized family service plan team or individualized education program team, as applicable, shall, as part of the process required under the individuals with disabilities education act, 20 USC 1400 to 1482, provide both of the following to each service plan team member or program team member and the parent or legal guardian of the child:

(a) A written statement explaining in detail why the child is not meeting the developmental milestones or progressing toward them.

(b) A written recommendation including specific strategies, services, and programs that must be provided to the child to assist the child toward becoming linguistically prepared for kindergarten and English literacy.

(6) Subject to the individuals with disabilities education act, 20 USC 1400 to 1482, a child who is identified as deaf or hard of hearing must be provided a learning environment that includes services that utilize the family's choice for the child's language and communication mode or modes and that are delivered by professionals with background, training, and experience in that language and communication mode or modes.

(7) For the purposes of developing the parent resource described in subsection (1), all of the following apply:

(a) On or before March 1, 2021, the department shall provide the advisory committee established under subsection (8) with a list of language developmental milestones based on standardized norms, along with any relevant information held by the department regarding those language developmental milestones for possible inclusion in the parent resource developed under subsection (1). The language developmental milestones must be aligned with any applicable existing infant, toddler, and preschool department guidelines, existing instruments used to assess the development of children with disabilities under federal law, and state standards in English language arts.

(b) On or before May 1, 2021, the advisory committee established under subsection (8) shall recommend language developmental milestones selected for inclusion in the parent resource described under subsection (1).

(c) On or before June 30, 2021, the department shall inform the advisory committee established under subsection (8) of the language developmental milestones that were selected under subdivision (b) for inclusion in the parent resource described under subsection (1).

(8) The superintendent of public instruction shall appoint 13 volunteer members to an advisory committee within the department. All of the following apply to the advisory committee described in this subsection:

(a) The advisory committee shall solicit input from experts on the selection of language developmental milestones for children who are age 5 or younger and who are deaf or hard of hearing that are equivalent to those for children who are age 5 or younger and who are not deaf or hard of hearing, for inclusion in the resource described under subsection (1).

(b) The advisory committee may make recommendations on materials that are unbiased and comprehensive to add to the resource described under subsection (1).

(c) The majority of the volunteer members appointed to serve on the committee under this subsection must be deaf or hard of hearing. The committee must be composed of advocates and professionals within the field of education for the deaf or hard of hearing and parents of deaf or hard of hearing children. The advisory committee must have both members who personally, professionally, or parentally use the dual languages of American Sign Language and English and members who personally, professionally, or parentally use only spoken English. The advisory committee must include all of the following:

(i) One parent or legal guardian of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing who uses the dual languages of American Sign Language and English.

(ii) One parent or legal guardian of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing who uses only spoken English, with or without visual supplements.

(iii) One certificated teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils who uses the dual languages of American Sign Language and English.

(iv) One certificated teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils from a spoken-English-only program.

(v) One certificated teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils whose expertise is in curriculum and instruction in American Sign Language and English.

(vi) One certificated teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils whose expertise is in curriculum and instruction in spoken English, with or without visual supplements.

(vii) One certificated teacher of deaf and hard of hearing pupils whose expertise is in American Sign Language and English language assessments.

(viii) One American Sign Language expert, as determined by certification and an American Sign Language Proficiency Interview of 4.0 or higher, who researches language outcomes for deaf and hard of hearing children using American Sign Language and English.

(ix) One expert who researches language outcomes for deaf and hard of hearing children using spoken English, with or without visual supplements.

(x) One advocate for the teaching and use of the dual languages of American Sign Language and English.

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

(xii) One early intervention specialist who works with deaf and hard of hearing infants and toddlers using the dual languages of American Sign Language and English.

(xiii) One speech language pathologist whose expertise is in assessment and intervention with children who are deaf and hard of hearing.

(9) The advisory committee established under subsection (8) may also advise the department on the content and administration of existing instruments used to assess the development of children with disabilities under federal law, as used to assess deaf and hard of hearing children's language and literacy development to ensure the appropriate use of those instruments with those children, and may make recommendations regarding future research to improve the measurement of progress of deaf and hard of hearing children in language and literacy.

(10) By July 1, 2022, and by July 1 of each year thereafter, the department 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 the language and literacy development of deaf and hard of hearing children who are age 5 or younger as compared to their peers. The department shall make this report available on its website homepage.

(11) All activities of the department in implementing this section must be consistent with federal law regarding the education of children with disabilities.

(12) This section applies only to children who are age 5 or younger.

(13) The legislature shall appropriate sufficient funding for the purposes of this section.

(14) As used in this section:

(a) "English" includes spoken English, written English, or English communicated with or without the use of a visual supplement.

(b) "Language" includes, but is not limited to, American Sign Language and English.

(c) "Language developmental milestones" means milestones of development aligned with existing state instruments used to meet the requirements of federal law for the assessment of a child who is age 5 or younger.

(d) "Visual supplement" includes, but is not limited to, smart boards, printed materials, diagrams, graphs, certified sign language interpreters, semicircular seating, large-print books, overhead projectors, electronic white boards, captioned television or media, posted schedules or assignments, or communication boards.