Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0520-01-09-.02 - DEFINITIONS

(1) "Behavior Intervention Plan" or "BIP" means an individualized plan based on the results of a Functional Behavior Assessment that is designed to assist a student to decrease inappropriate behavior and increase or teach an alternative appropriate behavior.

(2) "Charter School" means a public charter school as defined at T.C.A. § 49-13-104.

(3) "Child with a Disability" means a child between three (3) and twenty-one (21) years of age, both inclusive, who has been evaluated and determined as having a state-identified disability of functional delay or intellectually gifted, or as having one (1) or more of the following disabilities as defined in 34 C.F.R. §§ 300.8: an intellectual disability; a hearing impairment, including deafness; a speech or language impairment; a visual impairment, including blindness; emotional disturbance; an orthopedic impairment; autism; traumatic brain injury; other health impairment; a specific learning disability; developmental delay; deaf-blindness; or multiple disabilities and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services. Any child with a disability who turns twenty-two (22) years of age between the commencement of the school year and the conclusion of the school year continues to be a child with a disability for the remainder of that school year.

(4) "Department" means the Tennessee Department of Education.

(5) "FAPE" means a free appropriate public education in compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA"), 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.

(6) "Functional Behavior Assessment" or "FBA" means a process rooted in applied behavior analysis that focuses on determining why a student engages in behaviors that impede learning and how the student's behavior relates to the environment.

(7) "Individualized Education Program" or "IEP" means a written statement for a child with a disability that is developed, reviewed, and revised in accordance with 34 CFR §§ 300.320 through 300.324.

(8) "IEP Team" means a group of individuals described in 34 CFR § 300.321 that is responsible for developing, reviewing, or revising an IEP for a child with a disability.

(9) "LEA" means a Tennessee local education agency and has the same meaning given in T.C.A. § 49-1-103(2).

(10) "Licensed Behavior Analyst" means an individual who is certified as a board certified behavior analyst (BCBA) or board certified behavior analyst-doctoral (BCBA-D) and is licensed by the Applied Behavior Analyst Licensing Committee of the Tennessee Department of Health to practice applied behavior analysis as an independent practitioner.

(11) "Parent" means:

(a) The biological or adoptive parent;

(b) A legal guardian;

(c) A person who has custody of the child;

(d) A surrogate parent appointed in accordance with 34 C.F.R. § 300.519 and Rule 0 52001-09-.20 to represent a child in all matters relating to:

1. The identification, evaluation, and educational placement of the child; and

2. The provision of FAPE to the child; or

(e) A person with caregiving authority for the child, including but not limited to, a foster parent if the biological or adoptive parent's authority to make educational decisions on the child's behalf has been terminated under Tennessee law and the foster parent:

1. Is willing to make the educational decisions required of parents under the law;

2. Has no interest that would conflict with the interest of the child; and

3. Has been the foster parent to the child for more than one (1) year in duration. If he or she has been the foster parent to the child for less than one (1) year in duration, he or she may be appointed by the LEA as a surrogate parent for the child.

(12) "Related Services" means:

(a) Transportation and such developmental, corrective, and other supportive services required to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education, including, but not limited to, speech-language pathology and audiology services; interpreting services; psychological services; physical and occupational therapy; transition services, including job placement; recreation, including therapeutic recreation; early identification and assessment of disabilities in children; counseling services, including rehabilitation counseling with a focus on career development, employment preparation, achieving independence, and integration in the workplace and community of a child with a disability; orientation and mobility services; and medical services for diagnostic or evaluation purposes; or

(b) School health services and school nurse services, social work services in schools, and parent counseling and training.

1. Parent counseling and training means:

(i) Assisting parents in understanding the special needs of their child;

(ii) Providing parents with information about child development; and

(iii) Helping parents to acquire the necessary skills that will allow them to support the implementation of their child's IEP.

(13) "School Year" means July 1 to June 30 for the purposes of determining eligibility and services for a child with a disability.

(14) "Special Education" means specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability, including instruction conducted in the classroom, home, hospitals, institutions, and other settings, and instruction in physical education.

Notes

Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0520-01-09-.02

Original rule filed June 19, 2001; effective September 2, 2001. Repeal and new rule filed November 30, 2007; effective February 13, 2008. Amendment filed April 30, 2009; effective August 28, 2009. Amendment filed August 13, 2010; effective January 29, 2011. Emergency rules filed June 29, 2017; effective through December 26, 2017. Amendments filed August 11, 2017; effective November 9, 2017. Amendments filed May 14, 2021; effective August 12, 2021. Amendments filed March 29, 2022; effective 6/27/2022.

Authority: T.C.A. §§ 49-10-101, et seq. and 49-10-1301, et seq., and 34 C.F.R. Part 300.