A Welcome Expansion: Aligning Texas Eligibility with Federal Standards
Authors: Brenna Brillhart, Deafblind Education Consultant, Educational Diagnostician, Texas Deafblind Project, Outreach Programs, Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Educators and families may have noticed a shift in language around special education eligibility for young children. For many years, Texas has used a special education category, Noncategorical Early Childhood (NCEC), to serve young children. Beginning in the 2025–2026 school year, this Texas-specific category will no longer be used. Texas will begin using the category of Developmental Delay (DD). While the shift may raise questions for families, it is simply a legal update designed to align Texas with federal requirements and practices used in other states.
Same Services, Expanded Opportunities
The most important message for families, educators, and administrators is that children will continue to receive the services they need. Texas has made an important update that aligns with federal language and what neighboring states have been doing. Texas is phasing out the Noncategorical Early Childhood (NCEC) eligibility category and is fully adopting the Developmental Delay (DD) category as outlined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The NCEC eligibility category could be used until a child’s 6th birthday, while the DD eligibility category can be used until a child’s 10th birthday. This expanded range provides additional time for multidisciplinary teams to determine additional areas of eligibility while ensuring access to special education and related services.
What is Changing
NCEC has been a Texas-specific category. Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, NCEC can no longer be used to establish eligibility. However, children found eligible as NCEC prior to the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year can continue to receive services under this eligibility until they are reevaluated before their 6th birthday.
For a child to be eligible for consideration of the DD category, a child must be between three and nine years old. The multidisciplinary team must evaluate for at least one IDEA disability category. Evaluation data must show evidence of a suspected disability that cannot be conclusively confirmed due to the child’s young age and a need for special education services.
What is NOT Changing
The eligibility criteria for Visual Impairment (VI), Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH), and Deafblind (DB) remain the same and must continue to be used when appropriate. Children who meet these specific criteria should continue to be identified under these specific categories. These sensory disability categories are not replaced by DD and provide essential legal protections, specialized services, and access to certified professionals with expertise in sensory disabilities.
DD can be used in combination with other disability categories, the same way NCEC could. A child may be identified as both VI and DD, both DHH and DD, and DB and DD, when the evaluation data clearly confirm the sensory disability but do not clearly confirm an additional suspected disability. Special education services and supports are always based on identified needs, not solely on the identified areas of eligibility.
Why This Matters for Students with Sensory Disabilities
The expanded age range moving from NCEC to DD is especially beneficial for children with sensory disabilities. A child who is VI, DHH, or DB is able to access the same services regardless of whether they are identified with an additional eligibility of DD.
However, identifying additional areas of eligibility, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder or Intellectual Disability in young children with sensory differences, is exceptionally challenging and often lies beyond the reach of current evaluation tools. Standard assessment tools assume intact vision and hearing, while cognitive skills are frequently measured through conventional language. For children with sensory differences, characteristics consistent with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Intellectual Disability may actually be a reflection of limited access to incidental learning.
The determination of an additional disability requires time, specialized assessment approaches, and careful consideration of how sensory differences impact learning opportunities, which in turn distances the student from the traditional normative groups used in norm-referenced standardized assessments. The DD category provides teams with additional years to make a well-informed decision.
Conclusion
Transitioning from NCEC to DD reflects Texas’s alignment with federal guidelines while expanding opportunities for young learners. Families and educational teams can feel confident that legal protections established for children with sensory disabilities remain firmly in place. For children with sensory disabilities, this expanded timeline represents a significant improvement in ensuring accurate identification of additional areas of eligibility.
Stay tuned for an upcoming article exploring the unique challenges and best practices for determining additional eligibility for young children with sensory disabilities. Topics will include understanding the role of incidental learning, interpreting assessment results through the lens of sensory access, and a deeper dive into the benefits of utilizing the Developmental Delay eligibility.
Resources
Texas Education Agency. (2025). Developmental delay quick guide and frequently asked questions. https://spedsupport.tea.texas.gov/sites/default/files/2025-01/developmental-delay-quick-guide-and-faqs_0.pdf