I support the continuatiion of the use of Developmentally Delayed through the age of 8. This allows individual school systems the flexibility to serve their students in the most appropriate manner considering both the individual needs of each student and the specific make-up of each district.

Under current regulations, students who clearly fit into a particular eligibility category can be found eligible under that category at any age; however, students with more complicated profiles can still receive services under DD.  By restricting the use of DD through age 6, Virginia will, in effect, limit opportunities for students with disabilities.

If this change passes, some districts will respond by assigning students with more restrictive labels at a younger age, while others will be loathe to use these labels and will end up denying services to otherwise qualified students.

May I suggest that those districts that are finding that the use of DD through the age of 9 is causing increased disproportionality be allowed to set a LOCAL policy restricting the age of DD to a subset of 2-8.   Those districts, however, that are using the DD label to reduce disproportionality, should be allowed to continue doing so.