The advisory committee shall consist of at least nine but no more than fifteen volunteers, at least four of whom are deaf or hard-of-hearing, and all of whom practice within the fields of education or services for the deaf or hard-of-hearing

The advisory committee must include: (1) A parent of a child who is deaf or hard-of-hearing, who uses both ASL and English; (2) A parent of a child who is deaf or hard-of-hearing, who uses only spoken English, with or without visual supplements; (3) A parent of a child who is Deaf-Plus; (4) A representative from South Dakota Services for the Deaf, who is fluent in both ASL and English; (5) A representative from the Department of Education; and (6) At least four members who may be any of the following: (a) An expert who researches language outcomes for deaf or hard-of-hearing children, using ASL and English; (b) A credentialed teacher of deaf or hard-of-hearing students, with expertise in curriculum and instruction in ASL and English; (c) A credentialed teacher of deaf or hard-of-hearing students, with expertise in curriculum and instruction in spoken English, with or without visual supplements; (d) An advocate from an association in this state that represents the deaf and advocates for teaching, using both ASL and English; (e) An early intervention specialist who works with deaf or hard-of-hearing infants and toddlers, using both ASL and English; (f) A credentialed teacher of deaf or hard-of-hearing students, with expertise in ASL and English language assessments; (g) A representative from a parent training information center in this state; (h) A representative from an organization that provides communication services for the deaf; (i) A psychologist who has expertise in assessing deaf or hard-of-hearing children and is fluent in ASL and English; (j) A speech language pathologist; or (k) A pediatric audiologist. The committee may advise the department on the content and administration of instruments used to assess the language development and literacy development of deaf or hard-of-hearing children, to ensure the appropriate use of the instruments with deaf or hard-of-hearing children. The committee may make recommendations regarding future research to improve the measurement of progress of deaf or hard-of-hearing children, in language and literacy. Source: SL 2018, ch 100 , § 6; SL 2023, ch 62 , § 4.