2006 Louisiana Laws - RS 17:1943 — Definitions

§1943.  Definitions

(1)  "Age requirements", for the purposes of this Chapter, shall be children with exceptionalities not less than the chronological age of three years or not more than twenty-one years, inclusive, subject to the rules and regulations of the Department of Education, with the approval of its governing authority.  Special education may be provided under this Part for eligible children under three years of age.

(2)  "Assistive technology device" means any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of a child with a disability.

(3)  "Assistive technology service" means any service that directly assists a child with a disability in the selection, acquisition, or use of an assistive technology device.  Such term includes the evaluation of the needs of such child, including a functional evaluation of the child in the child's customary environment; purchasing, leasing, or otherwise providing for the acquisition of assistive technology devices by such child; selecting, designing, fitting, customizing, adapting, applying, maintaining, repairing, or replacing of assistive technology devices; coordinating and using other therapies, interventions, or services with assistive technology devices, such as those associated with existing education and rehabilitation plans and programs; training or technical assistance for such child or, where appropriate, the family of such child; and training or technical assistance for professionals, including individuals providing education and rehabilitation services, employers, or other individuals who provide services to, employ, or are otherwise substantially involved in the major life functions of such child.

(4)  A "child with an exceptionality" is any child who is located, identified, and evaluated according to R.S. 17:1945 and is defined in the regulations developed pursuant to R.S. 17:1944 with mental disabilities, hearing impairments (including deafness), multiple disabilities, deaf-blindness, speech or language impairments, visual impairments (including blindness), emotional/behavioral disorders, orthopedic impairments, other health impairments, specific learning disabilities, which include perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, developmental aphasia and dyslexia, traumatic brain injury, or autism, or as being gifted or talented, and as a result may require special education and related services.  This may also include a child with a disability, aged three through nine experiencing developmental delays.

(5)  "Educational service agency" means:  a regional public multiservice agency authorized by state law to develop, manage, and provide services or programs to local educational agencies; is recognized as an administrative agency for purposes of the provision of special education and related services provided within public elementary and secondary schools of the state; and includes any other public institution or agency having administrative control and direction over a public elementary or secondary school.

(6)  "Free appropriate public education" means special education and related services that: are provided at public expense, under public supervision and direction, and without charge; meet the standards of the Department of Education; include an appropriate preschool, elementary, or secondary school education; are provided in conformity with the individualized education program required under R.S. 17:1945; and are available to all children with exceptionalities residing within the state between the ages of three and twenty-one, inclusive.  This includes children with disabilities who have been suspended or expelled from school.  This does not include students aged eighteen through twenty-one who, in the educational placement prior to their incarceration in an adult correctional facility, were not actually identified as being a child with exceptionalities or did not have an individual education program.

(7)  "Local educational agency" means a public board of education or other public authority legally constituted within Louisiana for either administrative control or direction of, or to perform a service function for, public elementary or secondary schools in a city, school district, or other political subdivision, or for such combination of school districts as are recognized in Louisiana as an administrative agency for its public elementary or secondary schools.  The term includes an educational service agency, as defined in this Section, and any other public institution or agency having administrative control and direction of a public elementary or secondary school.

(8)  "Related services" means transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services (including speech-language pathology and audiology services, psychological services, physical and occupational therapy, recreation including therapeutic recreation, social work services, counseling services including rehabilitation counseling, orientation and mobility services, and medical services, except that such medical services shall be for diagnostic and evaluation purposes only) as may be required to assist a child with an exceptionality to benefit from special education, and includes the early identification and assessment of disabling conditions in children.

(9)  "Resident" as it applies to a child with an exceptionality for the purposes of this Chapter shall mean any one of the following:

(a)  The child is a resident within the geographical boundaries of the local educational agency in which the child's parent or parents have their legal residence, unless the parent or parents have relinquished custody of the child and in such case the child is a resident within the geographical boundaries of the local educational agency in which his legal custodian or custodians have their legal residence.

(b)  If a child's parents are divorced, the child is a resident of the geographical boundaries of the local educational agency in which the child's domiciliary or custodial parent or parents have their legal residence.

(c)  If a child is in foster care, the child is a resident of the geographical boundaries of the local educational agency in which the parent or parents with whom the child lived immediately prior to being placed into foster care have their legal residence.

(10)  "Special education" means specially designed instruction, at no cost to parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with an exceptionality, including instruction conducted in the classroom, in the home, in hospitals and institutions, and in other settings; and instruction in physical education.

(11)  "Supplementary aids and services" means aids, services, and other supports that are provided in regular education classes or other education-related settings to enable children with exceptionalities to be educated with nonexceptional children to the maximum extent appropriate in accordance with the least restrictive environment.

(12)  "Transition services" means a coordinated set of activities for a student with a disability that is designed within an outcome-oriented process, which promotes movement from school to post-school activities, including postsecondary education, vocational training, integrated employment including supported employment, continuing and adult education, adult services, independent living, or community participation; is based upon the individual student's needs, taking into account the student's preferences and interests; and includes instruction, related services, community experiences, the development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives, and, when appropriate, acquisition of daily living skills and functional vocational evaluation.

Acts 1977, No. 754, §1.  Acts 1984, No. 851, §1; Acts 1987, No. 640, §1, eff. July 9, 1987; Acts 1990, No. 1072, §1; Acts 1992, No. 458, §1, eff. June 20, 1992; Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 109, §1, eff. May 5, 1998; Acts 2001, No. 181, §1; Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 92, §1, eff. April 18, 2002.

NOTE: SEE ACTS 1984, NO. 851, §3 AND §4.