La. Admin. Code tit. 48 § I-5533

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section I-5533 - Services for Education, Training and Habilitation

A. In those instances where the Department of Education has assumed the responsibility for the educational services at a facility or has imposed licensing requirements for special schools, the standards governing educational service shall be established by the Department of Education and shall supersede the standards set forth below.

B. Students of grossly different ages, developmental levels, and social needs shall not be grouped in close physical or social proximity, unless such grouping is planned to promote the growth and development of all those grouped together. Students who are mobile-nonambulatory, deaf, blind, epileptic, and so forth, shall be integrated with peers of comparable social and intellectual development, and shall not be segregated on the basis of their handicaps.

C. All residential facilities shall provide educational, training and habilitation services as appropriate to the needs of the individuals admitted either directly or through arrangements with agency approved outside resources, including the public school system.

D. The residential facility which provides these services directly shall have an educational, training and habilitation staff which is in a ratio of one staff member to five persons. However, the staff members providing these services may also be used in other capacities by the facility when not engaged in classroom training. The above-mentioned ratio may be waived by the certifying agency if the facility has documented evidence that there is not a need for training staff in these numbers and that the educational, training, and habilitation needs of the individuals would not be impaired.

E. All day-care facilities shall provide directly for educational, training and habilitation services appropriate to the needs of the person. There shall be at least one training staff member for every five persons in day-care facilities. The above-mentioned ratio may be waived by the certifying agency if the facility has documented evidence that there is not a need for training staff in these numbers and that the educational, training, and habilitation needs of the individuals would not be impaired.

F. Training and habilitation services shall be available to all students.

G. The educational services should be structured to develop proficiency in the following areas:

1. communication skills;

2. computational skills;

3. language arts;

4. aesthetic and cultural development;

5. physical education and recreation;

6. motor development (perceptual and fitness);

7. pre-academic education;

8. academic education;

9. pre-vocational education;

10. vocational education.

H. The program must be designed as a whole to maximize the student's human abilities, to enhance his ability to cope with his environment, to enable him to develop and realize his fullest potential and to equip him to live as normally as possible.

I. Individual evaluations of students shall:

1. be based upon the use of empirically reliable and valid instruments, whenever such tools are available; and

2. provide the basis for prescribing an appropriate program of experiences for the student.

J. Physicians shall participate when appropriate:

1. in the continuing interdisciplinary evaluation of individual residents for the purpose of initiation, monitoring, and follow-up of individualized habitation programs; and

2. in the development for each person of a detailed written statement of treatment goals, encompassing the areas of physical and mental health, education, and functional and social competence, and in the development of a treatment plan, detailing the various habilitation modalities that are to be applied in order to achieve the specified goals with clear designation of responsibility for implementation.

K. Nursing services shall include as appropriate:

1. registered nurse participation in:

a. the evaluation study, treatment plan, and placement of the individual at the time of admission to the facility;

b. the periodic re-evaluation of the type, extent, and quality of services and programming;

c. the development of discharge plans; and

d. the referral to appropriate community resources;

2. development of a written plan for each student to provide for nursing services as a part of the total habilitation program.

L. The educational, training and habilitation program for each student shall be determined according to the handicapping conditions of the student, based upon complete and relevant diagnostic and prognostic data, and stated in specific behavioral terms that permit the progress of the individual to be assessed.

M. There shall be evidence of educational, training and habilitation services activities designed to meet the objective set for every student in these areas. There shall be a functional educational, training, and rehabilitation record for each student maintained by, and available to, the staff members in this area. Appropriate educational, training and habilitation programs shall be provided students with hearing, vision, perceptual, or motor impairments, in cooperation with appropriate staff.

N. There shall be available sufficient, appropriately qualified educational, training and habilitation personnel, and necessary supporting staff, to carry out the programs. Supervision of delivery of these services shall be the responsibility of a person who is a professional qualified in the area of the particular disability that is the primary handicap of the student. For facilities caring primarily for learning disable children, the supervisor of delivery of these services shall be the responsibility of a person qualified at the master's level in the area of special educational services. The above-mentioned supporting staff shall possess the necessary background to meet the educational, training and habilitation needs of the persons served.

O. There shall be evidence of equipment generally accepted as necessary to providing educational, training and habilitation services.

La. Admin. Code tit. 48, § I-5533

Promulgated by the Department of Health and Human Resources, Office of the Secretary, Division of Licensing and Certification, LR 13:246 (April 1987).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 46:1971 through 1980.