(a) The contractor must comply with the Texas Health
and Human Services Commission (HHSC) Early Childhood Intervention
(ECI) requirements related to minimum qualifications for an EIS.
(1) An EIS must meet one of the following criteria:
(A) be registered as an EIS before September 1, 2011;
(B) hold a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited
university with a bachelor or graduate degree specialization in:
(i) early childhood development;
(ii) early care and early childhood;
(iii) early childhood special education; or
(iv) human development and family studies;
(C) hold a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited
university in a field related to early childhood intervention. For
each of the following fields, transcripts of degree coursework must
reflect successful completion of at least nine semester course credit
hours relevant to early childhood intervention and three semester
course credit hours that focus on early childhood development or early
childhood special education. Related fields include:
(i) psychology;
(ii) social work;
(iii) counseling;
(iv) special education (without early childhood emphasis);
and
(v) sociology;
(D) hold a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited
university in a field unrelated to early childhood intervention. For
fields unrelated to early childhood intervention, transcripts of degree
coursework must reflect successful completion of at least 15 semester
course credit hours relevant to early childhood intervention and three
semester course credit hours that focus on early childhood development
or early childhood special education; or
(E) hold a bachelor's or graduate degree from an accredited
university with three years of experience within the last ten years
working for an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part C
program in the United States or a United States territory providing
special instruction, as defined in 34 CFR §303.13(b)(14), or
specialized skills training, as defined in §350.501(a)(4) of
this chapter, to infants and toddlers with developmental delays or
disabilities and their families.
(2) If an EIS has not completed three of the required
hours of semester course credit relevant to early childhood intervention
provided in paragraph (1)(C) and (D) of this subsection, the EIS must
complete forty clock hours of continuing education that is relevant
to early childhood intervention within three years prior to employment
as an EIS. If the contractor hires an EIS who does not have the necessary
hours, the EIS must complete these hours no more than 30 days after
the EIS's hire date.
(3) If an EIS has not completed the required three
hours of semester course credit in early childhood development or
early childhood special education provided in paragraph (1)(C) and
(D) of this subsection, the EIS must complete forty clock hours of
continuing education in early childhood development or early childhood
special education within three years prior to employment as an EIS.
If the contractor hires an EIS who does not have the necessary hours,
the EIS must complete these hours no more than 30 days after the EIS's
hire date.
(4) Coursework or previous training in early childhood
development or early childhood special education is required to ensure
that an EIS understands the development of infants and toddlers because
the provision of specialized skills training for which an EIS is solely
responsible depends on significant knowledge of typical child development.
Therefore, the content of the three hours of coursework described
in paragraph (1)(C) and (D) of this subsection, and the forty clock
hours of continuing education described in paragraph (2) of this subsection
must relate to the growth, development, and education of the young
child and may include courses or training in:
(A) child growth and development;
(B) child psychology;
(C) children with special needs; or
(D) typical language development.
(b) The contractor must comply with HHSC ECI requirements
related to continuing education for an EIS. An EIS must complete:
(1) a minimum of 20 contact hours of approved continuing
education every two years; and
(2) an additional three contact hours of continuing
education in ethics every two years.
(c) The contractor must comply with HHSC ECI requirements
related to supervision of an EIS.
(1) The contractor must provide an EIS supervision
as defined in §350.309(e) of this chapter (relating to Minimum
Requirements for All Direct Service Staff) as required by HHSC ECI.
(2) An EIS supervisor must:
(A) have two years of experience providing ECI services,
or 2 years of experience supervising staff who provide other early
childhood intervention services to children and families; and
(B) be an active EIS or hold a bachelor's degree or
graduate degree from an accredited university with a specialization
in:
(i) child development, special education, psychology,
social work, sociology, nursing, rehabilitation counseling, human
development, or related field; or
(ii) an unrelated field and have at least 18 hours
of semester course credit in child development.
(d) Requirements for EIS active status and EIS inactive
status are as follows.
(1) Only an EIS with active status is allowed to provide
early childhood intervention services to children and families. An
EIS on inactive status may not perform activities requiring the EIS
active status.
(2) An EIS goes on inactive status when:
(A) the EIS fails to submit the required documentation
by the designated deadline.
(i) Orientation to ECI training must be completed within
30 days, from the EIS's start date.
(ii) If an EIS is required to submit the clock hours
described in subsection (a)(2) or (a)(3) of this section, the clock
hours must be completed no more than 30 days after the EIS's hire
date.
(iii) If an EIS is transferring from another program,
the Orientation to ECI training must be completed within 30 days from
the EIS's start date unless the EIS has documentation he or she has
completed the current Orientation module.
(iv) All credentialing activities (Final Individualized
Professional Development Plan) must be completed within one year from
the EIS's start date.
(v) If, due to exceptional circumstances, an EIS is
unable to submit documentation of completion of credentialing activities
by the designated due date, the EIS's supervisor must contact the
HHSC ECI EIS credentialing specialist as soon as he or she is aware
the due date will not be met. The credentialing specialist and his
or her supervisor will work with the EIS's supervisor and the EIS
to determine an appropriate course of action.
(B) the EIS fails to submit documentation of required
continuing education and ethics training by the designated deadline.
An EIS may return to active status from inactive status by submitting
the required documentation in accordance with subsection (b) of this
section.
(C) the EIS is no longer employed by a contractor.
An EIS may return to active status from inactive status by:
(i) submitting 10 contact hours of continuing education
for each year of inactive status; and
(ii) submitting documentation of three contact hours
of ethics training within the last two years.
(3) An EIS who has been on inactive status for longer
than 48 months from his or her first missed continuing education submission
date must complete all credentialing activities, including the current
Orientation to ECI and EIS Individualized Personnel Development Plan.
(4) EIS active status is considered reinstated after
the information is entered into the EIS Registry and is approved by
HHSC ECI.
(e) The contractor must comply with HHSC ECI requirements
related to ethics for an EIS. An EIS who violates any of the standards
of conduct in §350.314 of this subchapter (relating to EIS Code
of Ethics) is subject to the contractor's disciplinary procedures.
Additionally, the contractor must complete an EIS Code of Ethics Incident
Report in the EIS Registry.
(f) Contractors must contact the HHSC ECI state office
when hiring a new EIS to verify if an EIS Code of Ethics Incident
Report has been recorded in the EIS Registry.
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Source Note: The provisions of this §350.313 adopted to be effective September 1, 2011, 36 TexReg 5387; amended to be effective July 1, 2012, 37 TexReg 4621; amended to be effective September 1, 2013, 38 TexReg 5524; amended to be effective March 7, 2015, 40 TexReg 939; amended to be effective June 30, 2019, 44 TexReg 3280; transferred effective March 1, 2021, as published in the Texas Register February 5, 2021, 46 TexReg 941; amended to be effective March 17, 2022, 47 TexReg 1277 |