I oppose changing the current requirements for parental consent to any change in their children’s IEPs. Current Virginia regulations require parental consent to any change in their children’s IEPs before the change can happen. The draft Virginia regulations no longer require parental consent before children’s IEP services are partially or completely terminated. If adopted, this change will be a major loss, decreasing school-family partnership.

I object to the revised eligibility definition of the disability category of Autism.  This requires an unrealistic and unsubstantiated number of symptoms.  I also object to the proposed teacher-student ratio for children with Autism.  It does not require enough staff for children with this disability to be supervised by staff safely and effectively.

I oppose changing the definition of ‘Developmental Delay’ to include only children age 2 through 5.  The current definition includes children who are 2-8 years old. However, some children under the age of 8 years old have disabilities that cannot be determined accurately because of their young age. Allowing them to be found eligible under the more general category of ‘developmental delay’ avoids inaccurate labeling and potentially, inappropriate or unnecessary services. There is an added impact for foster children who sometimes do not enter the foster care system until they are 4 or 5.