Almost seven years after the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act was renewed, the U.S. Department of Education last week finalized regulations that address how to work with infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.
Babies and toddlers with disabilities come under the law’s Part C program, a $436 million program that serves about 340,000 children through age 2 who have developmental delays or conditions with high probabilities of leading to a developmental delay.
The regulations cover how quickly children must be identified and referred to those who can work with them, what language they should be evaluated in, and whether parents should be consulted before their insurance is tapped to pay for some of the services.