CHILD FIND

CHILD FIND PROCEDURES

For all students entering preschool or kindergarten and all students new to the district, the teacher will complete screening activities within 45 days of enrollment. The teacher will look at the child’s ability in the areas of academics, visions, hearing, adaptive, communication, social/emotional and motor skills. If any concerns are noted the child may be referred for additional help.

A teacher or parent who suspects the student may have a disability may request a referral for evaluation. Children, within the district or charter, birth through 2 years of age who are receiving early intervention services and will be participating in preschool programs will be provided a transition conference at 2 years 6 months to 2 years 9 months. By the child’s 3rd birthday an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) will be developed and implemented. For children who turn 3 over the summer, the IEP team will determine the date for services to begin including eligibility for Extended School Year (ESY) services.

Upon request or referral, the classroom teacher will receive a “Pre-Referral Team Form”. This will include demographic information related to the student. Reason for referral, study habits, social behavior observations and assessment results. In addition, the teacher or parent will list the various pre-referral interventions that were utilized and whether or not the the interventions were successful in the remedy of the student’s deficits.

In the event the deficits were not remedied, Child Study Team will then follow the procedures for Formal Referral to Special Education. Provision of multi-tiered systems of support or interventions shall not delay the evaluation of a student for whom a disability is suspected.

Evaluation Process:

For parents requesting evaluation of a student, the District shall, within 15 school days either deny the request for evaluation or schedule a meeting to review existing data. The District will issue a prior written notice to the parent of its decision.

The District will obtain written consent to evaluate prior to collecting additional data or completing any additional assessment that is needed by the team to determine whether the student has a disability and is in need of special education. Prior to additional assessment, the District will issue a prior written notice outlining the proposal for conducting additional assessments or data collection.

The District may not conduct additional assessment or collect additional data without written informed consent from the parent.

For initial evaluations only, if the child is a ward of the state and is not residing with the child’s parent, the public education agency is not required to obtain consent from the parent if:

Despite reasonable efforts to do so, the public education agency cannot discover the whereabouts of the parents of the child;

The rights of the parents of the child have been terminated by the court;

The rights of the parent to make educational decisions have been subrogated by a judge and consent for an initial evaluation has been given by an individual appointed by the judge to represent the child.

The public education agency may, but is not required to, seek informed consent through due process procedures if the parent of a child who is enrolled or seeking to enroll in the public education agency refuses consent for an initial evaluation.

After all data has been collected, the multi-disciplinary team, which includes the parent, shall determine eligibility for placement in special education. The District will obtain informed consent from the parent before the initial provision of special education and related services and will issue a prior written notice before implementing the individual education program.