Child Find

1. Child Find • School districts have a legal responsibility, called Child Find, to ensure that all children within their jurisdiction, birth to twenty-one, regardless of the severity of the disability, and who need special education and related services are identified, located, and evaluated. • This also applies to children who attend private schools within the district’s jurisdiction, highly mobile children, homeless children, or children who are wards of the State and children who are suspected of having a disability and are in need of special education, even though they have not failed, been retained in a course or grade, or are advancing from grade to grade.

2. Child Find (Cont’d) • RtI is now considered a part of a school’s Child Find process.

3. Who Can Make a Referral? • A parent of a child or a public agency may initiate a request for an initial evaluation to determine if the child is a child with a disability. • Referrals for an articulation screening and/or articulation evaluation can be accepted from individual teachers. These are the only requests that can be accepted from an individual teacher. All other requests must come from the Problem Solving Team (PST) or the parent.

4. Referral Requirements • RtI is an integral part of the educational process, particularly in recognizing the need for a referral to special education. • Appropriate instruction, or lack thereof, is a major consideration in determining whether a student is eligible for special education. • Appropriate, research-based interventions along with regular reporting to parents of the progress in those interventions, must be implemented and proven unsuccessful for a minimum of eight weeks. At this time the Student Support Team may consider a special education referral. • Successful intervention plans will need even longer implementation periods to ensure results.

5. Referral Requirements (Cont’d) • A parent referral can be accepted without prior implementation of RtI, but RtI must be conducted concurrently with the evaluation process. • If a parent makes a request for an evaluation, the PST must be notified of the parent request and RtI must be implemented immediately. • The RtI requirement may also be waived for a student who has severe problems that require immediate attention. • For articulation, voice and fluency problems, speech pathologists will now screen and provide intervention prior to a formal referral.

6. Referral Requirements (Con’t) • For a parent who makes a verbal referral because he or she is unable to complete a written referral, the public agency must obtain information from that parent and complete the written referral. • Public agencies may not limit referrals by the number per year or the time of year that referrals are accepted.

7. Referral Requirements (Con’t) • The IEP Team must review the referral, including documentation of intervention strategies and processes, and determine in a timely manner if the child will be evaluated for special education services. • If the IEP Team determines that the child should not be evaluated for special education services, written notice must be given to the parents and the child must be referred to the PST. If the IEP Team determines that the child should be evaluated for special education services, the public agency must obtain the parent‘s written consent for the evaluation.

8. Initial Evaluation • Obtain “Notice and Consent for Initial Evaluation” from the parent prior to conducting the initial evaluation. • The public agency has 60 calendar days from the date the agency receives the signed copy of the “Notice and Consent for Initial Evaluation” to conduct the initial evaluation.

9. Eligibility Determination • Upon completion of the administration of assessments and other evaluation measures, a group of qualified professionals, including the parent of the child, or the IEP Team, must determine if a child has a disability and the educational needs of the child within 30 calendar days from the date the public agency completes the initial evaluation.

10. IEP Team Membership The public agency must ensure that the IEP Team for each child with a disability includes the following: • The parents of the child with a disability • Not less than one regular education teacher of the child • Not less than one special education teacher of the child

11. IEP Team Membership (Con’t) • A representative of the public agency (LEA) who is qualified to provide, or supervise the provision of, specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of children with disabilities • An individual who can interpret the instructional implications of evaluation results, who may be a member of the team described above.

12. The IEP • A meeting to develop the IEP must be conducted within 30 calendar days from the date of eligibility determination • Each public agency must ensure that the child's IEP is accessible to each regular education teacher, special education teacher, related service provider, and other service provider who is responsible for implementing the IEP. Each teacher and provider must be informed of his or her specific responsibilities related to implementing the child's IEP and the specific accommodations, modifications, and supports that must be provided for the child in accordance with his or her IEP.