California Education Code § 56326.5

(a) The department’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing unit and the California School for the Deaf shall jointly select language developmental milestones from existing standardized norms, pursuant to the process specified in subdivision (d), for purposes of developing a resource for use by parents to monitor and track deaf and hard-of-hearing children’s expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy. This parent resource shall: (1) Include the language developmental milestones selected pursuant to the process specified in subdivision (d). (2) Be appropriate for use, in both content and administration, with deaf and hard-of-hearing children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, who use both or one of the languages of American Sign Language (ASL) and English. For purposes of this section, “English” includes spoken English, written English, or English with the use of visual supplements. (3) Present the developmental milestones in terms of typical development of all children, by age range. (4) Be written for clarity and ease of use by parents. (5) Be aligned to the department’s existing infant, toddler, and preschool guidelines, the existing instrument used to assess the development of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, and state standards in English language arts. (6) Make clear that the parent resource is not a formal assessment of language and literacy development, and that a parent’s observations of their children may differ from formal assessment data presented at an individualized family service plan (IFSP) or individualized education program (IEP) meeting. (7) Make clear that a parent may bring the parent resource to an IFSP or IEP meeting for purposes of sharing their observations about their child’s development. (b) The department shall also select existing tools or assessments for educators that can be used to assess the language and literacy development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children. These educator tools or assessments: (1) Shall be in a format that shows stages of language development. (2) Shall be selected for use by educators to track the development of deaf and hard-of-hearing children’s expressive and receptive language acquisition and developmental stages toward English literacy. (3) Shall be selected from existing instruments or assessments used to assess the development of all children from birth to five years of age, inclusive. (4) Shall be appropriate, in both content and administration, for use with deaf and hard-of-hearing children. (5) May be used, in addition to the assessment required by federal law, by the child’s IFSP or IEP team, as applicable, to track deaf and hard-of-hearing children’s progress, and to establish or modify IFSP or IEP plans. (6) May reflect the recommendations of the advisory committee established pursuant to subdivision (e). (c) (1) The department shall disseminate the parent resource developed pursuant to subdivision (a) to parents and guardians of deaf and hard-of-hearing children, and, pursuant to federal law, shall disseminate the educator tools and assessments selected pursuant to subdivision (b) to local educational agencies for use in the development and modification of IFSP and IEP plans, and shall provide materials and training on its use, to assist deaf and hard-of-hearing children in becoming linguistically ready for kindergarten using both or one of the languages of ASL and English. (2) If a deaf or hard-of-hearing child does not demonstrate progress in expressive and receptive language skills, as measured by one of the educator tools or assessments selected pursuant to subdivision (b), or by the existing instrument used to assess the development of children with disabilities pursuant to federal law, the child’s IFSP or IEP team, as applicable, shall, as part of the process required by federal law, explain in detail the reasons why the child is not meeting the language developmenta

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