Section 10-76d-14 - Trial placement for diagnostic purposesEach board of education may use trial placement for diagnostic purposes as part of the initial evaluation or reevaluation of a child. This shall mean a structured program, of not more than forty school days duration, the purpose of which is to assess the needs of a child who is or may be a child with a disability, but for whom the evaluation or reevaluation is either inconclusive or the data insufficient to determine the child's eligibility for special education and related services or to develop or revise the child's individualized education program. A trial placement for diagnostic purposes is an evaluation and shall not be the current educational placement of a child for purposes of determining the child's status during due process proceedings in accordance with 20 USC 1415(j) of the IDEA and the regulations adopted thereunder, as amended from time to time, unless the parents and the board otherwise agree. If a trial placement for diagnostic purposes is conducted as part of a referral, the timeline for the implementation of the IEP in accordance with section 10-76d-13 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies shall be extended by the PPT for the time necessary to complete the trial placement for diagnostic purposes.
(a) The planning and placement team shall specify, in writing, diagnostic goals and objectives, as well as the types and amounts of services needed to conduct the trial placement for diagnostic purposes in order to determine more conclusively the child's needs.(b) The planning and placement team or, if the parents and the PPT agree to designate members of the PPT, such designated members, shall meet at least once every ten school days with personnel working with the child to discuss the child's progress and to revise, where necessary, the services being provided.(c) A child's time may be divided between the trial placement for diagnostic purposes and another program, or the child may be placed in the trial placement for diagnostic purposes full-time. Decisions regarding such options shall be made by the planning and placement team.(d) A trial placement for diagnostic purposes shall be terminated as soon as the child's needs have been determined, but in any event no later than forty school days after the trial placement for diagnostic purposes begins.(e) Five school days before the end of the trial placement for diagnostic purposes, the planning and placement team shall reconvene to determine the child's eligibility for special education and related services, as appropriate, or review, revise or develop the child's individualized education program, as appropriate, based on findings made during the trial placement for diagnostic purposes as well as other evaluative information regarding the child.Conn. Agencies Regs. § 10-76d-14
Effective September 1, 1980; Amended July 1, 2013