Family & Community: HEA 1484 IDEAL New Releases on the Center Website

House Enrolled Act 1484—Indiana Deaf Education and Assessments of Language (IDEAL), which was approved and signed by the governor on May 5, 2019, tasked the Center with a number of duties. As you may remember from the timeline printed in our summer 2019 Center newsletter, several items were required to be available July 1, 2020, including a list of approved tools and assessments to use for language progress monitoring and a parent document. Through the hard work of the advisory committee and Center staff, we are proud to announce the completion of these resources. These items are now available on our Center website. You can find them on the left side under the IDEAL tab.

 Tools and Assessments

This link will lead you to the list of tools and assessments for language progress monitoring that was developed by the IDEAL Advisory Committee and Center staff. A PDF document with the names of the tools, covered ages, and a very brief description is included, as well as a link to the test. Center staff can be contacted to assist with understanding which tool may be most appropriate for a child.

Technical Assistance

The technical assistance link includes some short videos and flyers. More technical assistance flyers and/or videos can be added as needs and/or requests from the field arise. Technical assistance also covers the Center staff’s availability to consult with EI providers and school staff to assist with any needs surrounding IDEAL. Center staff can be contacted at cdhhe@isdh.in.gov.

 Reporting Portal

This link allows access to the reporting portal in order to input scores and data from the administered progress monitoring tools.

 Parent Document

This is a tool specifically designed for parents to find information and resources that assist with supporting the language development of a child who is deaf or hard of hearing. The document is web-facing but can be downloaded and/or printed if desired. Four general topics are covered: General Language, Supports for Language Acquisition, Laws and Policies for children who are deaf and hard of hearing, and Milestones for children who are deaf and hard of hearing ages 0-11 years. The entire document is available on the Center website presented in individual sections for ease of finding information. This document will be reviewed periodically to ensure there are no broken links and content remains current.