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92_SB0461ham002
LRB9207772DJmbam04
1 AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 461
2 AMENDMENT NO. . Amend Senate Bill 461, AS AMENDED,
3 with reference to page and line numbers of House Amendment
4 No. 1, on page 1, line 6, after "Sections", by inserting
5 "10.2,"; and
6 on page 5, after line 13, by inserting the following:
7 "(k) "Qualified person" means an individual providing
8 early intervention services who has attained the highest
9 requirements in the State applicable to the profession or
10 discipline in which he or she is providing early intervention
11 services and who is suitably qualified to provide early
12 intervention services to eligible children and their
13 families.
14 (l) "Suitably qualified" means that the individual meets
15 the requirements set forth in Section 10.2 of this Act.
16 (m) "Credentialed specialist" means an individual whom
17 the lead agency has found to be a qualified person within his
18 or her discipline and who has been enrolled by the lead
19 agency as a provider of early intervention services within
20 that discipline. Under Section 10.2 of this Act, an
21 individual my be a fully credentialed specialist or may be
22 provisionally credentialed as an associate specialist.
23 (n) "Contact hours" means hours spent in a formal
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1 program of education or training related to the specialist's
2 discipline, either in a classroom or in a clinical setting.";
3 and
4 on page 11, after line 20, by inserting the following:
5 "(325 ILCS 20/10.2 new)
6 Sec. 10.2. Service providers; qualifications.
7 (a) To enroll as a credentialed specialist in the early
8 intervention program, the lead agency shall require that the
9 individual (i) establish that he or she is a qualified person
10 as defined in Section 3 of this Act, (ii) provide evidence of
11 professional liability insurance, (iii) undergo a criminal
12 background check paid for by the lead agency, and (iv) meet
13 the other requirements of this Section.
14 (b) An individual may enroll as a fully credentialed
15 specialist if her or she meets the requirements of subsection
16 (c) or (d) as appropriate to the discipline for which
17 enrollment is sought, or may enroll provisionally for no more
18 than 2 years as an associate specialist, if he or she meets
19 the requirements of subsection (f). Individuals who provide
20 services in regions that have a shortage of specialists may
21 enroll or maintain enrollment in accordance with the terms of
22 any waiver that has been granted under subsection (j) for
23 that region.
24 (c) Fully credentialed licensed specialists.
25 (1) To enroll and maintain enrollment as a fully
26 credentialed licensed specialist in the early
27 intervention program, audiologists, occupational
28 therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language
29 pathologists shall: (i) be licensed in their respective
30 disciplines in Illinois or in the state in which services
31 are provided; (ii) have completed no less than 20
32 contact hours of professional education or continuing
33 education in birth-to-3 evaluation and treatment; (iii)
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1 have a minimum of one year within the previous 3 years of
2 paid professional experience working directly with a
3 patient caseload that was at least 25% children from
4 birth to age 3 with disabilities and developmental
5 delays, and at least 50% pediatric; (iv) maintain, while
6 enrolled as an early intervention provider, a patient
7 caseload composed at least of 25% children from birth to
8 age 3 with disabilities or developmental delays, and that
9 is at least 50% pediatric; and (v) meet the following
10 additional criteria appropriate to their discipline:
11 (A) Audiologists. An audiologist shall have a
12 masters degree in audiology or communication
13 disorders, or both, from an American
14 Speech-Language Hearing Association (ASHA)
15 accredited institution; meet the requirements of a
16 hearing aid dispenser if hearing aid evaluations or
17 fittings are provided; and have a minimum of 2
18 years' experience in pediatrics.
19 (B) Occupational therapists. An occupational
20 therapist shall have a bachelors degree or
21 certificate in occupational therapy and be
22 registered as an Occupational Therapist Registered
23 (OTR).
24 (C) Physical therapists. A physical therapist
25 shall have a bachelors degree or certificate in
26 physical therapy and have a minimum of one year of
27 paid professional experience working with children
28 with disabilities.
29 (D) Speech-language pathologists. A
30 speech-language pathologist shall have a masters
31 degree in speech pathology or communication
32 disorders, or both, from an American Speech-Language
33 Hearing Association (ASHA) accredited institution
34 and shall have a minimum of 2 years of paid
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1 professional experience in working with children
2 with disabilities, which may include a supervised
3 clinical fellowship year.
4 (2) Social workers, counselors, and psychologists
5 shall: (i) be licensed in their respective disciplines in
6 Illinois or in the state in which services are provided;
7 (ii) have completed no less than 20 contact hours of
8 professional education or continuing education in course
9 work involving working with birth-to-3 children with
10 developmental delays and disabilities and their families;
11 (iii) have a minimum of one year within the previous 3
12 years of paid professional experience working with a
13 caseload that was at least 15% birth-to-3 children with
14 developmental delays and disabilities and their families;
15 (iv) maintain, while enrolled as an early intervention
16 credentialed specialist, a caseload that is at 25% least
17 birth-to-3 children with developmental delays and
18 disabilities and their families; and (v) meet the
19 following additional criteria appropriate to their
20 discipline:
21 (A) A social worker shall be licensed as a
22 Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Illinois if the
23 social worker is providing any services to the
24 family and child other than identifying, mobilizing,
25 and coordinating community resources and services to
26 enable the child and family to receive maximum
27 benefit from early intervention services, in which
28 case a social worker may be licensed in Illinois as
29 a Licensed Social Worker, or have a school social
30 work certificate.
31 (B) A counselor or psychologist shall be
32 licensed in Illinois either as a Licensed Clinical
33 Social Worker, a Licensed Clinical Professional
34 Counselor, a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, a
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1 Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, or a
2 Licensed School Psychologist.
3 (3) Nurses. A nurse shall be licensed in Illinois
4 as a Registered Nurse.
5 (4) Nutrition specialists. A nutrition specialist
6 shall be licensed in Illinois as Licensed Dietitian or as
7 a Registered Nutrition Counselor.
8 (d) Fully credentialed specialists not subject to
9 licensure. Individuals who are not subject to State licensure
10 may provide certain early intervention services as
11 credentialed specialists, including service coordination,
12 developmental or rehabilitation therapy, and parent liaison
13 work.
14 (1) Developmental-rehabilitation therapists. A
15 developmental-rehabilitation therapist shall: (i) have
16 completed no less than 20 contact hours of professional
17 education or continuing education in birth-to-3
18 evaluation and treatment; (ii) have either (A) at least a
19 bachelor's degree in early childhood education or early
20 childhood special education, (B) a teacher endorsement in
21 early childhood education or early childhood special
22 education, or (C) a bachelors degree in a human services,
23 behavior science, education, special education, or a
24 health discipline, such as one of the following: child
25 development, orientation, and mobility; applied
26 psychology; social work; health education; or a related
27 field; (iii) have an educational concentration in early
28 childhood development or 40 contact hours of professional
29 education or continuing education in birth-to-3
30 evaluation and treatment; and (iv) have one year of
31 experience in working directly with a caseload that was
32 at least 25% children from birth to age 3 with
33 development disabilities and delays.
34 (2) Service coordinators. A service coordinator
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1 shall: (i) have completed no less than 20 contact hours
2 of professional education or continuing education in
3 birth-to-3 evaluation and treatment; (ii) have either (A)
4 a bachelor's degree in early childhood education or early
5 childhood special education or (B) a bachelors degree in
6 a human services, behavior science, education, special
7 education, or a health discipline, such as child
8 development, orientation, and mobility; applied
9 psychology; social work; health education; or a related
10 field; and (iii) have an educational concentration in
11 early childhood development or 40 contact hours of
12 professional education or continuing education in
13 birth-to-3 evaluation and treatment.
14 (3) Parent liaisons. A parent liaison shall be the
15 parent or guardian of a child with special needs.
16 (e) Evaluation, assessment and participation in the
17 initial development of individualized family service plans.
18 Effective 12 months after the effective date of this
19 amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly, no credentialed
20 specialist may conduct an evaluation or assessment of a child
21 for purposes of developing an individualized family service
22 plan or may serve as a member of the initial
23 multidisciplinary team developing that plan, unless she or he
24 has met the requirements of subsection (c) or (d) of this
25 Section that are appropriate to his or her discipline.
26 (f) To create incentives for reaching fully credentialed
27 status, the lead agency may, subject to available funds, if
28 cost savings are achieved through the program changes
29 required under this amendatory Act of the 92nd General
30 Assembly, and if federal financial participation is not
31 jeopardized, enhance or increase the rates for early
32 intervention services that are provided by fully credentialed
33 specialists.
34 (g) Associate level credentialing. An individual may
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1 provide early intervention services under the supervision of
2 a fully credentialed specialist if the individual: (A) has
3 (i) a physical therapist assistant license or a bachelors
4 degree in physical therapy, (ii) a certified occupational
5 therapy assistant license or bachelors degree in occupational
6 therapy, (iii) a bachelors degree in speech-language
7 pathology, (iv) current enrollment in a supervised graduate
8 internship social work, (v) current enrollment in a
9 supervised graduate internship social work, (vi) current
10 enrollment in a supervised graduate internship psychology
11 program, or (vii) for developmental therapy, an associates
12 degree in a human services field and one year of experience
13 in working with children from birth to age 5 with
14 developmental disabilities; and (B) meets other pediatric
15 training and experience requirements as the lead agency may
16 require.
17 (h) Provisional credentialing. An individual may be
18 provisionally credentialed as an credentialed specialist for
19 no more than 24 months if he or she has not met the
20 requirements of subsection (c) or (d) relevant to his or her
21 discipline for which credentialing is sought, if the
22 applicant can show that those requirements will be met in
23 full within those 24 months. During those 24 months, the
24 individual may work only under the direction and supervision
25 of an individual who is a fully credentialed specialist
26 within the same specialty area or areas as the individual
27 who is providing services on a provisional basis. This
28 direction and supervision must include, at a minimum, the
29 co-signature of the supervising specialist on progress
30 reports, treatment recommendations, and claims of the
31 individual who is providing services on a provisional basis.
32 An individual who is provisionally credentialed shall submit
33 documentation at the point of enrollment and every 6 months
34 thereafter of the specific steps he or she is taking to meet
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1 the requirements of this Section, and shall set forth the
2 nature of the supervision and the name or names of the
3 credentialed specialist or specialists supervising his or her
4 work with children enrolled in the early intervention
5 program.
6 (i) New enrollees. An individual who seeks to enroll as
7 a fully credentialed specialist on or after the effective
8 date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly
9 shall meet the requirements of subsection (c) or (d) of this
10 Section that are relevant to that discipline at the time of
11 his or her application for enrollment, or shall meet the
12 requirements necessary for provisional enrollment as an
13 associate credentialed specialist.
14 (j) Currently enrolled credentialed specialists. An
15 individual who is enrolled by the lead agency as a fully
16 credentialed specialist within his or her discipline under
17 the requirements of the lead agency as of the effective date
18 of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly shall
19 meet the requirements of subsection (c) or (d) of this
20 Section that are relevant to that discipline within 24 months
21 of that effective date, and during that 24 months the
22 individual may supervise provisionally enrolled associates so
23 long as they had met the credentialing requirements as of the
24 effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General
25 Assembly. An individual who is enrolled by the lead agency
26 as a provisionally enrolled associate within his or her
27 discipline under the requirements of the lead agency as of
28 the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General
29 Assembly shall meet the higher education and licensing
30 requirements of subsection (c) or (d) relative to his or her
31 discipline within 12 months after the effective date of this
32 amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly, and shall meet
33 the remaining requirements of subsection (c) or (d)
34 appropriate to the discipline within 24 months after that
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1 effective date.
2 (k) Continuing education. To maintain enrollment as a
3 credentialed specialist, the individual must certify, every 3
4 years, that he or she has completed no less than 20
5 additional contact hours of continuing education in
6 birth-to-3 evaluation and treatment. Payment of the costs of
7 continuing education shall be the responsibility of the
8 credentialed specialist.
9 (l) Waivers. The lead agency shall establish
10 procedures, by rule, that allow for the consideration and
11 approval of regional waivers of the requirements of this
12 Section related to birth-to-3 professional education,
13 birth-to-3 pediatric experience, continuing education, and,
14 in the case of service coordinators and developmental
15 therapists, the bachelors degree requirement. The waiver may
16 also allow designated services to be provided by assistants
17 and graduate students who would have been authorized to
18 provide services before the effective date of this amendatory
19 Act of the 92nd General Assembly so long as they work under
20 the supervision of fully credentialed and licensed
21 individuals, as provided under subsection (f) of this
22 Section. The waiver shall be developed in conjunction with
23 the regional intake entity and the local inter-agency council
24 on early intervention. A waiver may be granted only upon a
25 showing that there is an insufficient number of fully
26 credentialed specialists to meet the demand for timely early
27 intervention services in a particular region. A waiver shall
28 specify what areas of specialty are covered by the waiver,
29 the geographic reach of the waiver, the specific requirements
30 being waived, and the length of time of the waiver. No
31 waiver may be granted for more than 2 years, but a waiver may
32 be renewed after its 2-year or shorter expiration date upon a
33 showing that all reasonable steps have been taken to increase
34 the supply of fully credentialed specialists and that the
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1 waiver continues to be necessary to avoid waiting lists for
2 services. The waiver must set forth a detailed plan to meet
3 all the requirements of this Section before the expiration of
4 the waiver.".