HB253 Alabama 2017 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Margie WilcoxRepresentative

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2017

Title

Education, State Dept. of Education and Alabama Dept. of Rehabilitation Services, to consult with Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind to select language developmental milestones and monitor and track progress of deaf and hard-of-hearing children

Summary

HB253 would create a joint effort by state education and rehabilitation agencies to develop language milestones and resources for deaf and hard-of-hearing children ages birth through five, with an advisory committee, educator tools, and annual reporting.

What This Bill Does

It requires the State Department of Education and the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, working with the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind, to select language developmental milestones from existing norms and develop a parent resource to help monitor language and early literacy. It also establishes an advisory committee to guide milestone selection and tool use, and requires the agencies to choose educator tools to assess language and literacy development. The bill mandates dissemination of the parent resource to families and educator tools to local districts, plus annual joint reports comparing deaf/hard-of-hearing children's language development to their peers.

Who It Affects

• Deaf and hard-of-hearing children from birth to five years old and their families, who would use the parent resource and related assessments to monitor development and guide education.
• Teachers, school districts, and IFSP/IEP teams who would use the educator tools and assessments to track progress and shape services and plans.

Key Provisions

• Departments must jointly select language developmental milestones from existing standardized norms to create a parent resource for monitoring expressive and receptive language development toward English literacy, with input from the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind.
• An ad hoc advisory committee of 13 volunteers, mostly deaf or hard of hearing and in the field of deaf education, will guide milestone selection and the use of educator assessments.
• Departments must select existing educator tools or assessments that show stages of language development and are appropriate for deaf and hard-of-hearing children, usable alongside federal disability assessments, to track progress and inform IFSP/IEP decisions.
• Dissemination requirements: provide the parent resource to families and disseminate educator tools to local educational agencies, with training to support kindergarten readiness in ASL and English.
• The parent resource will clarify it is not a formal assessment, align with early guidelines and standards, be clear for parents, and be shareable at IFSP/IEP meetings.
• The departments must annually produce a report (starting by July 31, 2018) on language and literacy development of birth-to-five deaf/hard-of-hearing children, comparing to peers and posting the results on agency websites.
• The act applies only to children from birth through five years old and requires compliance with privacy laws and federal disability law.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 24, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.

Subjects

Education