The Florida Senate

400.960  Definitions.--As used in this part, the term:

(1)  "Active treatment" means the provision of services by an interdisciplinary team which are necessary to maximize a client's individual independence or prevent regression or loss of functional status.

(2)  "Agency" means the Agency for Health Care Administration.

(3)  "Autism" means a pervasive, neurologically based developmental disability of extended duration which causes severe learning, communication, and behavior disorders with age of onset during infancy or childhood. Individuals with autism exhibit impairment in reciprocal social interaction, impairment in verbal and nonverbal communication and imaginative ability, and a markedly restricted repertoire of activities and interests.

(4)  "Cerebral palsy" means a group of disabling symptoms of extended duration which results from damage to the developing brain occurring before, during, or after birth and resulting in the loss or impairment of control over voluntary muscles. The term does not include those symptoms or impairments resulting solely from a stroke.

(5)  "Client" means any person determined by the department to be eligible for developmental services.

(6)  "Client advocate" means a friend or relative of the client, or of the client's immediate family, who advocates for the best interests of the client in any proceedings under this part in which the client or his or her family has the right or duty to participate.

(7)  "Department" means the Department of Children and Family Services.

(8)  "Developmental disability" means a disorder or syndrome that is attributable to retardation, cerebral palsy, autism, spina bifida, or Prader-Willi syndrome and that constitutes a substantial handicap that can reasonably be expected to continue indefinitely.

(9)  "Direct service provider" means a person 18 years of age or older who has direct contact with individuals with developmental disabilities and who is unrelated to the individuals with developmental disabilities.

(10)  "Epilepsy" means a chronic brain disorder of various causes which is characterized by recurrent seizures due to excessive discharge of cerebral neurons. When found concurrently with retardation, autism, or cerebral palsy, epilepsy is considered a secondary disability for which the client is eligible to receive services to ameliorate this condition according to the provisions of this part.

(11)  "Guardian advocate" means a person appointed by the circuit court to represent a person with developmental disabilities in any proceedings brought pursuant to s. 393.12, and is distinct from a guardian advocate for mentally ill persons under chapter 394.

(12)  "Intermediate care facility for the developmentally disabled" means a residential facility licensed and certified in accordance with state law, and certified by the Federal Government, pursuant to the Social Security Act, as a provider of Medicaid services to persons who are developmentally disabled.

(13)  "Prader-Willi syndrome" means an inherited condition typified by neonatal hypotonia with failure to thrive, hyperphagia, or an excessive drive to eat which leads to obesity, usually at 18 to 36 months of age, mild to moderate retardation, hypogonadism, short stature, mild facial dysmorphism, and a characteristic neurobehavior.

(14)  "Retardation" means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the period from conception to age 18. "Significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning," for the purpose of this definition, means performance that is two or more standard deviations from the mean score on a standardized intelligence test specified in rules of the department. "Deficits in adaptive behavior," for the purpose of this definition, means deficits in the effectiveness or degree with which an individual meets the standards of personal independence and social responsibility expected of his or her age, cultural group, and community.

(15)  "Spina bifida" means a medical diagnosis of spina bifida cystica or myelomeningocele.

History.--s. 9, ch. 99-144.