How you use the tool depends upon your program's size, needs, and priorities. There is not a right or wrong way. There are many approaches. Select one or more ways to use the DLLPA that makes sense for your program.
All program staff can participate. Consider having your:
- Leadership and management teams complete the entire DLLPA as part of your program's planning process. Managers of the human resources or financial systems should be included.
- Share the results with the agency's governing board/Tribal Council and Policy Council to establish goals, monitor and report progress, and plan or document program improvement efforts.
- Education managers complete one or more sections over a six-month period.
- Use the results to guide professional development plans and the work of supervisors and coaches.
- Use sections of the DLLPA as a foundation for education staffs' self-reflection or self-evaluation activities.
- Family service staff complete relevant sections and focus on culturally sensitive ways to promote partnerships and communication with families.
- Staff in other service areas complete sections. Depending on their specialty, they can rate the sections with an eye to children with identified disabilities or suspected delays or they can take a look at the nutrition and transportation services.
To help answer the questions, have documents and data sources handy, such as:
- Community assessment
- Program Information Report (PIR)
- Personnel policies
- Aggregated child assessment data
Use a holistic approach to consider how culture and language are integrated into and across your program's comprehensive services.
- Be sensitive to the intersection of the regulations that apply to children who are DLLs with identified disabilities or suspected delays
- The HSPPS also require that programs implement a coordinated approach to ensure the full and effective participation of children with disabilities.
- Pay attention to all regulations as you assess your program-wide coordinated approach and the integration of culture and language, not just the ones cited in the DLLPA.
- Consider fiscal implications and the cost of services or activities that may need to be added to your budget, including:
- Interpretation or translation services
- Recruitment of bilingual staff
- Purchase of culturally responsive classroom materials
- Professional development opportunities
Take the DLL Program Assessment
Last Updated: February 8, 2023