NOTICE OF INQUIRY.

SEC. 102. NOTICE OF INQUIRY. (a) Publication.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of the Education of the Handicapped Act Amendments of 1990, the Secretary shall publish a Notice of Inquiry in the Federal Register for the purpose of soliciting public comments regarding the appropriate components of an operational definition under such Act for the term “attention deficit disorder” (hereinafter referred to in this section as the “disorder”) in accordance with subsection (b)(2). (b) Public Comment.— (1) The Notice of Inquiry published under subsection (a) shall provide for a 120-day period for public comment. (2) The Notice of Inquiry shall request comments concerning the following issues: (A) How should the disorder be described operationally for purposes of qualifying a child for special education and related services under part B of the Education of the Handicapped Act. (B) What criteria should be included in the definition to qualify children with the disorder whose disability is comparable in severity to other children with disabilities currently determined to be eligible for special education and related services under part B of the Education of the Handicapped Act. (C) What specific manifestations of the disorder, if any, should be included in the definition. (D) Whether the definition should include references to characteristics or circumstances that produce transient inattentive behaviors that, in and of themselves, would not make a child eligible for special education and related services under the definition of the disorder. (E) Whether the definition should address the concurrence of this disorder with other disabilities such as specific learning disabilities or serious emotional disturbance, and if so addressed, the manner in which such is to be accomplished. 104 STAT. 1106 (F) Whether guidelines should be provided to State and local educational agencies regarding their obligation to conduct an evaluation of a child suspected of having this disorder, and a description of such guidelines. (G) Who should be authorized to conduct an assessment of a child having or suspected of having the disorder and whether the assessment should be conducted by more than one individual (such as a teacher and a psychologist). (H) What provisions should be included in the definition and what additional steps, if any, not currently required by the regulations implementing part B of the Education of the Handicapped Act, should be included to ensure that racial, ethnic, and linguistic minorities are not misclassified under this definition. (c) Report to Committees.— Not later than 30 days after the close of the comment period referred to in subsection (b)(1), the Secretary shall transmit the public comments received in response to the Notice of Inquiry in a usable form, accompanied by a document summarizing such comments, to the Committee on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate and the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives.