The Florida Senate

229.832  Creation of a system of diagnostic and learning resource centers.--The Department of Education is directed to establish regional diagnostic and learning resource centers for exceptional students, to assist in the provision of medical, physiological, psychological, and educational testing and other services designed to evaluate and diagnose exceptionalities, to make referrals for necessary instruction and service, and to facilitate the provision of instruction and services to exceptional students.

(1)  ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION.--The Department of Education shall cooperate with the Department of Children and Family Services in establishing regional centers and identifying service areas. All centers shall be operated by the Department of Education, either directly or through grants.

(2)  DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES.--Within its identified service area, each regional center shall:

(a)  Provide assistance to parents, teachers, and other school personnel and community organizations in locating and identifying exceptional children and in planning educational programs for such children.

(b)  Assist in the provision of services for exceptional children, using to the maximum, but not supplanting, the existing facilities and services of each district.

(c)  Provide orientation meetings at least annually for teachers, principals, supervisors, and community agencies to familiarize them with center facilities and services for exceptional children.

(d)  Plan, coordinate, and assist in the implementation of inservice training programs, consistent with each district's program of staff development, for the development and updating of attitudes, skills, and instructional practices and procedures necessary to the education of exceptional children.

(e)  Assist districts in the identification, selection, acquisition, use, and evaluation of media and materials appropriate to the implementation of instructional programs based on individual educational plans for exceptional children.

(f)  Provide for the dissemination and diffusion of significant information and promising practices derived from educational research, demonstration, and other projects.

(g)  Assist in the delivery, modification, and integration of instructional technology, including microcomputer applications and adaptive and assistive devices, appropriate to the unique needs of exceptional students.

History.--s. 30, ch. 74-227; s. 1, ch. 75-69; s. 3, ch. 78-416; s. 1, ch. 87-339; s. 29, ch. 99-8.