1. (a) Every child referred for early intervention forty-six (46) days (or more) prior to the child’s third birthday must have a CMDE as part of the initial program eligibility process.

2. (b) The only exception to the CMDE requirement is when:

   1. (1) The child is referred for early intervention with a recent developmental evaluation from a non-Part C organization, program, or entity (example: Dennis Developmental Center) in which the development evaluation was conducted within six (6) months of the date of the child’s referral to early intervention;
   2. (2) The IFSP team provides a conversion of the scores on the developmental evaluation conducted by a non-Part C organization, program, or entity into the percent of chronological age delay in order to determine initial program eligibility;
   3. (3) A copy of the developmental evaluation is uploaded as documentation into the child’s electronic record in the state-approved data system;
   4. (4) The CMDE must be completed and entered into the child’s electronic record within twenty-one (21) calendar days of parental consent for evaluation;
   5. (5) The CMDE must be completed prior to the meeting to determine program eligibility;

   6. (6)

      1. (A) The meeting to determine program eligibility must take place no later than forty-five (45) calendar days from the date of the child’s referral for early intervention unless there is documentation of an exceptional family circumstance in the child’s electronic record.
      2. (B) The meeting must take place as soon as possible after the exceptional family circumstance has been resolved;

   7. (7) The meeting to determine initial program eligibility must meet IDEA, Part C requirements for an IFSP meeting and include, at minimum, three (3) different individuals representing three (3) different roles including:

      1. (A) The parent or person serving as parent;
      2. (B) The initial service coordinator; and
      3. (C) The developmental therapist who completed the CMDE or an evaluation interpreter who has the knowledge and skills to serve as member of the IFSP team for a program-eligible child and family;

   8. (8)

      1. (A) The parent may invite and include anyone they choose to participate in this meeting and serve on the IFSP team.
      2. (B) The EI professionals on the family's IFSP team are responsible for assisting the family in identifying adults familiar with the child’s abilities, strengths, and needs that the family wishes to include and obtaining documentation of parent consent to share information to invite and include these individuals;
   9. (9) The child’s program eligibility is determined as a team that includes the parent and, or, or both family and anyone the family chooses to include and signs documentation of consent to share and, or, or both release information for these individuals to participate on their IFSP team;

   10. (10) The child’s program eligibility may not be determined based solely on one (1) source of information such as an evaluation report and must at a minimum include a review of the following information:

       1. (A) Parent priorities and concerns from the family-directed and voluntary family assessment;
       2. (B) Functional child assessment results gathered from parent and, or, or both other caregiver interview that describes the child’s engagement, independence, and use of age-level skills within typical child and, or, or both family routines;
       3. (C) Child’s initial COS 1-7 number rating;
       4. (D) Observation of child engaging in typical activities;
       5. (E) Results of the CMDE;
       6. (F) Results of any other developmental screening, assessment, or evaluation (if available); and
       7. (G) Other information (example: medical or educational record review);

   11. (11) A child is Part C program eligible if the child meets program eligibility in any one (1) of the First Connections’ program eligibility categories:

       1. (A) Medical diagnosis program eligibility category (MD). A documented medically diagnosed condition that has a high probability of resulting in a developmental delay (in accordance with 20 CAR § 1002-502) regardless of whether the infant or toddler is experiencing a significant developmental delay as defined in 20 CAR § 1002-404 at the time of the child’s referral for early intervention;
       2. (B) Developmental delay program eligibility category (DD). A significant developmental delay as documented by a score on the CMDE that demonstrates a developmental delay of twenty-five percent (25%) of the child’s chronological age (or greater) in any one (1) of the five (5) development domains, in accordance with 20 CAR § 1002-404;
       3. (C) Informed clinical opinion of the IFSP team only program eligibility category (ICO only). The child is program-eligible without a diagnosed condition or a significant developmental delay in any one (1) area of development as documented on the CMDE based on a review of additional information by the team, which includes the parent (in accordance with 20 CAR § 1002-504);
   12. (12) When a child is program-eligible in both the MD and DD program eligibility categories, the IFSP team will record the child’s program eligibility in the MD category whenever there is documentation of a medically diagnosed condition that meets the criteria for this category of program eligibility.

Codification Notes: "COS" means Child Outcomes Summary. "EI" means early intervention.