As used in this chapter, the term:(1) “Assistance services” means those assessments, individualized therapies, and other medical, educational, and social services designed to enhance the environment for the high-risk or handicapped preschool child, in order to achieve optimum growth and development. Provision of such services may include monitoring and modifying the delivery of assistance services.
(2) “Case management” means those activities aimed at assessing the needs of the high-risk child and his or her family; planning and linking the service system to the child and his or her family, based on child and family outcome objectives; coordinating and monitoring service delivery; and evaluating the effect of the service delivery system.
(3) “Community-based local contractor” means any unit of county or local government, any for-profit or not-for-profit organization, or a school district.
(4) “Developmental assistance” means individualized therapies and services needed to enhance both the high-risk child’s growth and development and family functioning.
(5) “Discharge planning” means the modification of the written individual and family service plan at the time of discharge from the hospital, which plan identifies for the family of a high-risk or handicapped infant a prescription of needed medical treatments or medications, specialized evaluation needs, and necessary nonmedical and educational intervention services.
(6) “Drug-exposed child” means any child from birth to 5 years of age for whom there is documented evidence that the mother used illicit drugs or was a substance abuser, or both, during pregnancy and the child exhibits:(a) Abnormal growth;
(b) Abnormal neurological patterns;
(c) Abnormal behavior problems; or
(d) Abnormal cognitive development.
(7) “Early assistance” means any sustained and systematic effort designed to prevent or reduce the assessed level of health, educational, biological, environmental, or social risk for a high-risk child and his or her family.
(8) “Handicapped child” means a preschool child who is developmentally disabled, mentally handicapped, speech impaired, language impaired, deaf or hard of hearing, blind or partially sighted, physically handicapped, health impaired, or emotionally handicapped; a preschool child who has a specific learning disability; or any other child who has been classified under rules of the State Board of Education as eligible for preschool special education services, with the exception of those who are classified solely as gifted.
(9) “High-risk child” or “at-risk child” means a preschool child with one or more of the following characteristics:(a) The child is a victim or a sibling of a victim in a confirmed or indicated report of child abuse or neglect.
(b) The child is a graduate of a perinatal intensive care unit.
(c) The child’s mother is under 18 years of age, unless the mother received necessary comprehensive maternity care and the mother and child currently receive necessary support services.
(d) The child has a developmental delay of one standard deviation below the mean in cognition, language, or physical development.
(e) The child has survived a catastrophic infectious or traumatic illness known to be associated with developmental delay.
(f) The child has survived an accident resulting in a developmental delay.
(g) The child has a parent or guardian who is developmentally disabled, severely emotionally disturbed, drug or alcohol dependent, or incarcerated and who requires assistance in meeting the child’s developmental needs.
(h) The child has no parent or guardian.
(i) The child is drug exposed.
(j) The child’s family’s income is at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level or the child’s family’s income level impairs the development of the child.
(k) The child is a handicapped child as defined in subsection (8).
(l) The child has been placed in residential care under the custody of the state through dependency proceedings pursuant to chapter 39.
(m) The child is a member of a migrant farmworker family.
(10) “Impact evaluation” means the provision of evaluation information to the department on the impact of the components of the childhood pregnancy prevention public education program and an assessment of the impact of the program on a child’s related sexual knowledge, attitudes, and risk-taking behavior.
(11) “Individual and family service plan” means a written individualized plan describing the developmental status of the high-risk child and the therapies and services needed to enhance both the high-risk child’s growth and development and family functioning, and shall include the contents of the written individualized family service plan as defined in part H of Pub. L. No. 99-457.
(12) “Infant” or “toddler” means any child from birth to 3 years of age.
(13) “Interdisciplinary team” means a team that may include the physician, psychologist, educator, social worker, nursing staff, physical or occupational therapist, speech pathologist, parents, developmental intervention and parent support and training program director, case manager for the child and family, and others who are involved with the individual and family service plan.
(14) “Parent support and training” means a range of services for families of high-risk or handicapped preschool children, including family counseling; financial planning; agency referral; development of parent-to-parent support groups; education relating to growth and development, developmental assistance, and objective measurable skills, including abuse avoidance skills; training of parents to advocate for their child; and bereavement counseling.
(15) “Posthospital assistance services” means assessment, individual and family service planning, developmental assistance, counseling, parent education, and referrals which are delivered as needed in a home or nonhome setting, upon discharge, by a professional or paraprofessional trained for this purpose.
(16) “Prenatal” means the time period from pregnancy to delivery.
(17) “Preschool child” means a child from birth to 5 years of age, including a child who attains 5 years of age before September 1.
(18) “Prevention” means any program, service, or sustained activity designed to eliminate or reduce high-risk conditions in pregnant women, to eliminate or ameliorate handicapping or high-risk conditions in infants, toddlers, or preschool children, or to reduce sexual activity or the risk of unwanted pregnancy in teenagers.
(19) “Preventive health care” means periodic physical examinations, immunizations, and assessments for hearing, vision, nutritional deficiencies, development of language, physical growth, small and large muscle skills, and emotional behavior, as well as age-appropriate laboratory tests.
(20) “Process evaluation” means the provision of information to the department on the breadth and scope of the childhood pregnancy prevention public education program. The evaluation must identify program areas that need modification and identify community-based local contractor strategies and procedures which are particularly effective.
(21) “Strategic plan” means a report that analyzes existing programs, services, resources, policy, and needs and sets clear and consistent direction for programs and services for high-risk pregnant women and for preschool children, with emphasis on high-risk and handicapped children, by establishing goals and child and family outcomes, and strategies to meet them.
(22) “Teen parent” means a person under 18 years of age or enrolled in school in grade 12 or below, who is pregnant, who is the father of an unborn child, or who is the parent of a child.
