1. Eligibility and Informed Clinical Opinion
Beth Konde MS, OTR/L
Shriners Hospital
June 10, 2015

2. Eligibility
Based on a synthesis of the data gathered from all assessment activities
Medical records
Administration of a norm-referenced assessment
A family assessment
Observation of the child in typical routines and activities
A diagnosis of a medical condition that has a high probability of resulting in a developmental delay. A developmental delay in one or more areas as documented on a norm-referenced assessment of 1.5 standard deviations below the mean or a delay of 25% from the child’s chronological age and informed clinical opinion.

3. Informed Clinical Opinion (ICO)
Appears in IDEA part C
Used by EI professionals in the evaluation and assessment process to make recommendations for eligibility
Uses Qualitative and Quantitative information
Difficult to measure aspects of development
What are some of the aspects of development that are difficult to measure? What types of assessment tools can providers use to measure difficult areas of development?

4. What ICO is not!
Informed Clinical Opinion is not “eyeballing” a child for a few minutes and deciding whether or not she is eligible.

5. Key Components of ICO Multiple Sources of information
Expertise and Experience
Synthesizing

6. Multiple Sources of Information
Parent observation and report
Medical and Health information
Provider observation

7. Expertise and Experience
ICO may be used by qualified personnel to establish a child’s eligibility even when other instruments do no not establish eligibility

8. Provider Skills Needed
The ability to use informed clinical opinion requires:
Appropriate Training
Previous experience
Cultural sensitivity
Ability to gather and use family perceptions

9. Synthesizing and Documenting
The team synthesizes and interprets all available information
Documentation should include:
Who was involved on the team
Description of procedures used
Description of the functioning of the child
State the decision of the team and rationale