Two Evaluations in Early Intervention

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) states that every state system of early intervention must include: 

"A timely, comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation of the functioning of each infant or toddler with a disability in the State, and a family-directed identification of the needs of each family of such an infant or toddler, to assist appropriately in the development of the infant or toddler" (Sec. 1435(a)(3)).

This provision clearly requires two evaluations--one focused on the child, and one focused on the family.  Each of these evaluations plays an important role in fulfilling the purposes of early intervention and has its own requirements.  

Child Evaluation

The IDEA provision above includes three requirements related to the evaluation of a child suspected of experiencing (or being at risk for) developmental delay:  

(1) Timely.  One of the primary purposes of Early Intervention is to . . . uh . . . intervene early. Providing child services early on may prevent or reduce the impact of the disability on the child's life.  So, naturally, an evaluation of a child for early intervention should occur as soon as possible when their is a reason to suspect the child might have a disability.   What exactly is timely?  The prior regulations to IDEA set a two day standard, but the newly proposed regulations would change that to as soon as possible--or in other words, what is reasonably timely under the circumstances (whatever they are). 

(2) Comprehensive.  Preventing or reducing the impact of disability also requires an evaluation to be sufficiently comprehensive--it must address all suspected areas of disability.  For Early Intervention there are five categories of development to assess:  Physical, Cognitive, Communication, Social/Emotional and Adaptive. The required statement in the IFSP of present level of development uses these same categories. Additionally, IDEA requires evaluation of the child's unique strengths as well as needs.

and (3) Multidisciplinary.  The history of assessment and evaluation exposed the need for a cross-disciplinary approach to the complexities of evaluating the developmental needs of an infant or toddler.  Therefore, IDEA requires that an evaluation be multidisciplinary and that no single method of evaluation be used to determine eligibility and needs for services.  It also helps ensure that appropriate services are identified that will meet the child's needs.

Family Evaluation

While the requirement to evaluate the child suspected of developmental delay includes significant provisions guiding the procedure for evaluation, IDEA is considerably less clear about necessary elements for the family assessment.  Still, there are some standards in the statute and in the regulations (although I should note that new finalized regulations have not been published for Part C yet).  The Evaluation must:

• Assess the family's strengths and needs related to enhancing their child's development. This includes the family's resources, priorities, and concerns.
  
• Be voluntary.  Parents can turn down the family assessment.
  
• Be based on information the family provides (interview).
  
• Incorporate the family's description of their strengths and needs.
  
• And, finally, it must identify services needed to enhance the family's capacity to meet the needs of their child.

These two evaluations, child and family, provide the foundation for early intervention services and development of the IFSP.