Resources

• Outcome 1: Positive Social Emotional Skills (including social relationships)

How does your child... Attend to other people?

Relate with family members?

Relate with other adults?

Display Emotions?

Respond to touch?

A caring, warm relationship between parents and a child is the foundation for all subsequent development. From this foundation, the young child begins to develop a positive sense of self and can begin to build more relationships with other family members and those outside of the family such as peers. Making new friends and learning to get along with others is an important accomplishment of the early childhood years. Children develop a sense of who they are by having rich and rewarding experiences interacting with adults and peers. They also learn that different rules and norms apply to different everyday settings and that they need to behave accordingly. All children need support from adults in learning how to be successful participants in their social world but some children who face challenges in the area need additional or specialized support. Children who achieve this outcome show a variety of behaviors related to making and maintaining positive social relationships in age-appropriate ways.

Center on the Social & Emotional Foundations for Early Learning

• Outcome 2: Acquisition & Use of Knowledge & Skills (including early language/communication [and early literacy])

How does your child... Understand and Respond to directions and/or requests from others?

Think, remember, reason, and problem solve?

Interact with books, pictures, and print?

Understand concepts such as big, hot, more, all, note, etc.

Over the early childhood period, children display tremendous changes in what they know and what they can do. Everyday life can present children with a wide variety of natural learning opportunities that serve to help children acquire progressively more advanced skills. Parents and other adults support children's acquisition of knowledge and skills by providing children with safe, nurturing and stimulating environments in which learning can flourish. Children with special needs can face a variety of challenges related to acquiring knowledge and skills and may need additional supports to realize their potential. The knowledge and skills acquired in the early childhood years, especially related to communication, pre-literacy and pre-numeracy, provide the foundation for success in kindergarten and the early school years. Children who achieve this outcome show a variety of behaviors related to acquiring and using knowledge and skills across a variety of everyday routines and activities.

• ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy
• ABC Printable Cards with Pictures (ex. A a - Airplane)
• Get Ready to Read (Free Early Learning Resources)
• KidZone Kindergarten Language Arts
• KidZone Kindergarten (Learning Beginning Letter Sounds)
• KneeBouncers (free games & apps)
• Lee Pesky Learning Center
• Phonological Awareness (Nursery Rhymes)
• Scholastic (Get Your Preschooler Ready to Read)
• Starfall - Where Children Have Fun Learning to Read!
• Stern Center for Language and Learning (Building Blocks for Literacy)

• Outcome 3: Use of Appropriate Behaviors to Meet This Need

How does your child....

Take care of his/her basic needs, such as feeding and dressing?

Move his/her body from place to place?

Use his/her hands to play with toys and crayons?

Communicate his/her wants and needs?

Contribute to his/her own health and safety?

As children develop, they become increasingly more capable of acting on their world. Babies cry to communicate hunger whereas an older child can ask for something to eat. Children have a variety of needs - to eat, sleep, play, move, explore and communicate to name but a few. With the help of supportive adults, young children become able to address their needs in more sophisticated ways and with increasing independenceover the course of the early childhood year. They integrate their developing skills, such as fine motor skills and increasingly complex communication skills, to achieve a goal that is of value to them, such as showing their artwork to an adult and describing what it is or pointing to a toy and asking for it. Children with disabilities may use specialized technology or may need assistance from adults to allow them to meet their needs. Children who take appropriate action to meet their needs show a variety of behaviors related to this outcome.

The Center on the Social & Emotional Foundations for Early Learning

• Learning Without Tears

• Resources for Parents

  • Center on Social Emotional Foundations of Early Learning
  • Division for Early Childcood (DEC)
  • Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center
  • Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
  • NAECY (National Association for the Education of Young Children}
  • National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health
  • NECTC (National Early Childhood Transition Center)
  • Vanderbilt Peabody College - The IRIS Center Improving Education Outcomes for all Children

Special Education - Process, Procedures, & Timelines

Your Child & Special Education

Part B: Eligibility & Individualized Education Programs

Part B (Ages 3-21); Processes, Procedures, & Timelines From Screening or Referral to Discontinuation

 

Step #1: Referral to Consider Special Education

• Referral, screening or transition from Infant Toddler

Step #2: Assessment

• Pocatello/Chubbuck School District is responsible for identifying and servicing students with disabilities (ages 3-21)
• Disability is suspected; Evaluation is requested
• School provides parents with procedural safeguards and written notice for parents to consent to evaluation / assessment—school receives signed Parental Consent for Assessment
• The school has 60 days (from the date signed consent is received) to determine whether the child is eligible for special education services

*In Idaho, the 60 day timeline excludes periods when school is not in session for 5 or more consecutive days

Step #3: Eligibility Determination Procedures

• Evaluation data is gathered from multiple assessments
• Parent participates as a valuable team member
• Evaluation team conducts a review of the data and makes an eligibility determination
• Once the child is found eligible for special education services, there is a 30 day timeline for IEP (Individualized Education Program) development

Step #4: IEP Development & Implementation

• IEP Team meets and determines services required to provide a free and appropriate public education (FAPE)
• Parent participates as a valuable team member
• IEP team determines the least restrictive environment (LRE) for the child
• Parent signs or denies consent for services

Step #5: Continuing Services & Eligibility

• A review of the IEP occurs at least once every 365 days
• The school, parents and/or adult students may request an IEP team meeting at any time
• An eligibility review occurs at least once every 3 years
• Parents and/or adult student may revoke consent for special education services at anytime by writing to the Lincoln Early Childhood Center

Step #6: Discontinuation of Special Education Services

• Discontinuation can occur in any of the following ways:
  • Student no longer meets eligibility criteria, student completes requirements for high school diploma or parent and/or adult student revokes consent for services (in writing)

Glossary of Terms:

Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)

The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) 2004 states that special education and related services are provided at public expense (free); in conformity with an appropriately developed Individualized Education Program (IEP) (appropriate); under public supervision and direction (public); and include preschool, elementary and secondary education that meets the education standards, regulations and administrative policies and procedures issued by the State Department of Education.

Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA)

A law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation.

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

A written document (developed collaboratively by parents and school personnel) which outlines the special education program for a student with a disability. This document is developed, reviewed and revised at an IEP meeting as least annually.

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

The IDEA 2004 requirement that students with disabilities, including those in public or private institutions or other care facilities, be educated with students who are nondisabled to the maximum extent appropriate.

Procedural Safeguards

The formal requirements of Part B of the IDEA 2004 that are designed to allow a parent/adult student to participate meaningfully in decisions concerning an appropriate educational program for a student with a disability and, if necessary, dispute such decisions. Also referred to as Special Education Rights.

Special Education - Eligibility & Test Scores

Your Child & Special Education
Eligibility Categories & Test Scores (all categories must meet all 3 prongs of eligibility)

 

Developmental Delay: Ages 3-9

• Developmental areas assessed: Cognitive, physical, communication, social—emotional and adaptive.
• Criteria: The child functions at least 2.0 standard deviations (SD) below the mean (30% delay in age equivalency or below the 3rd percentile) OR 1.5 SD below the mean in 2 or more broad developmental areas (25% delay or below the 7th percentile).

Multiple Disabilities: Ages 3-21

• Two or more co-existing impairments, one of which includes a cognitive impairment (typically life long impairments).

Speech or Language Impairment: Ages 3-21

• Language: Disorder or delay in the development of comprehension and/or the uses of spoken or written language and/or other symbol systems (the form, content and function of language).
• Speech: Articulation is the ability to speak distinctly and connected (sound omissions, distortions, substitutions or additions) (interferes with communication)
• Criteria: Two procedures (assessments, etc.), at least 1 that produces a standard score; 1.5 SD below the mean (at or below the 7th percentile)

Cognitive Impairment: Ages 3-21

• "Significantly sub-average intellectual functioning that exists concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior."
• Criteria: IQ at or below 70 and deficits in adaptive functioning.

Autism: Ages 3-21

• "Autism is a developmental disability, generally evident before age 3, significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, and adversely affecting educational performance."
• Child has a diagnosis of a disorder in the autism spectrum by a school psychologist and a speech-language pathologist; or by a psychiatrist, physician or licensed psychologist.

Health Impairment: Ages 3-21

• Health impairment that exhibits limited strength, vitality or alertness (including heightened alertness)
• Criteria: Child exhibits limited strength, vitality or alertness (including heightened alertness) and has been diagnosed by a physician as having a health impairment.

Other (not as common) categories for preschool include: Deaf-Blindness, Deafness, Emotional Disturbance, Hearing Impairment, Specific Learning Disability (elementary age or higher), Orthopedic Impairment, Traumatic Brain Injury, Visual Impairment Including Blindness


Three-Prong Test of Eligibility (all of the following must be true):

1. The student must meet eligibility requirements established by the state for a specific disability;
2. The child's disability must have an adverse impact on the student's education (harmful or unfavorable impact);
3. The student must need special education (specially designed instruction) in order to benefit from his or her education.

Special Education Services offered at Lincoln Early Intervention:

• Services related to Outcome 1: Social, emotional, behavioral
• Services related to Outcome 2: Pre-reading, pre-math, speech therapy, language, communication
• Service related to Outcome 3: Occupation therapy (fine motor), physical therapy (gross motor), adaptive, vision, hearing

Standard Deviation Information (Normal Distribution of Data):

• Mean = Average of all the values in a data set
• -1 SD to +1 SD low– to high– average range
• Below -1 SD = below average; Above +1 SD = above average

 

• Outcome 1: Positive Social Emotional Skills (including social relationships)

How does your child... Attend to other people?

Relate with family members?

Relate with other adults?

Display Emotions?

Respond to touch?

A caring, warm relationship between parents and a child is the foundation for all subsequent development. From this foundation, the young child begins to develop a positive sense of self and can begin to build more relationships with other family members and those outside of the family such as peers. Making new friends and learning to get along with others is an important accomplishment of the early childhood years. Children develop a sense of who they are by having rich and rewarding experiences interacting with adults and peers. They also learn that different rules and norms apply to different everyday settings and that they need to behave accordingly. All children need support from adults in learning how to be successful participants in their social world but some children who face challenges in the area need additional or specialized support. Children who achieve this outcome show a variety of behaviors related to making and maintaining positive social relationships in age-appropriate ways.

Center on the Social & Emotional Foundations for Early Learning

• Outcome 2: Acquisition & Use of Knowledge & Skills (including early language/communication [and early literacy])

How does your child... Understand and Respond to directions and/or requests from others?

Think, remember, reason, and problem solve?

Interact with books, pictures, and print?

Understand concepts such as big, hot, more, all, note, etc.

Over the early childhood period, children display tremendous changes in what they know and what they can do. Everyday life can present children with a wide variety of natural learning opportunities that serve to help children acquire progressively more advanced skills. Parents and other adults support children's acquisition of knowledge and skills by providing children with safe, nurturing and stimulating environments in which learning can flourish. Children with special needs can face a variety of challenges related to acquiring knowledge and skills and may need additional supports to realize their potential. The knowledge and skills acquired in the early childhood years, especially related to communication, pre-literacy and pre-numeracy, provide the foundation for success in kindergarten and the early school years. Children who achieve this outcome show a variety of behaviors related to acquiring and using knowledge and skills across a variety of everyday routines and activities.

• ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy
• ABC Printable Cards with Pictures (ex. A a - Airplane)
• Get Ready to Read (Free Early Learning Resources)
• KidZone Kindergarten Language Arts
• KidZone Kindergarten (Learning Beginning Letter Sounds)
• KneeBouncers (free games & apps)
• Lee Pesky Learning Center
• Phonological Awareness (Nursery Rhymes)
• Scholastic (Get Your Preschooler Ready to Read)
• Starfall - Where Children Have Fun Learning to Read!
• Stern Center for Language and Learning (Building Blocks for Literacy)

• Outcome 3: Use of Appropriate Behaviors to Meet This Need

How does your child....

Take care of his/her basic needs, such as feeding and dressing?

Move his/her body from place to place?

Use his/her hands to play with toys and crayons?

Communicate his/her wants and needs?

Contribute to his/her own health and safety?

As children develop, they become increasingly more capable of acting on their world. Babies cry to communicate hunger whereas an older child can ask for something to eat. Children have a variety of needs - to eat, sleep, play, move, explore and communicate to name but a few. With the help of supportive adults, young children become able to address their needs in more sophisticated ways and with increasing independenceover the course of the early childhood year. They integrate their developing skills, such as fine motor skills and increasingly complex communication skills, to achieve a goal that is of value to them, such as showing their artwork to an adult and describing what it is or pointing to a toy and asking for it. Children with disabilities may use specialized technology or may need assistance from adults to allow them to meet their needs. Children who take appropriate action to meet their needs show a variety of behaviors related to this outcome.

The Center on the Social & Emotional Foundations for Early Learning

• Learning Without Tears

• Resources for Parents

  • Center on Social Emotional Foundations of Early Learning
  • Division for Early Childcood (DEC)
  • Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center
  • Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
  • NAECY (National Association for the Education of Young Children}
  • National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health
  • NECTC (National Early Childhood Transition Center)
  • Vanderbilt Peabody College - The IRIS Center Improving Education Outcomes for all Children

Special Education - Process, Procedures, & Timelines

Your Child & Special Education

Part B: Eligibility & Individualized Education Programs

Part B (Ages 3-21); Processes, Procedures, & Timelines From Screening or Referral to Discontinuation

 

Step #1: Referral to Consider Special Education

• Referral, screening or transition from Infant Toddler

Step #2: Assessment

• Pocatello/Chubbuck School District is responsible for identifying and servicing students with disabilities (ages 3-21)
• Disability is suspected; Evaluation is requested
• School provides parents with procedural safeguards and written notice for parents to consent to evaluation / assessment—school receives signed Parental Consent for Assessment
• The school has 60 days (from the date signed consent is received) to determine whether the child is eligible for special education services

*In Idaho, the 60 day timeline excludes periods when school is not in session for 5 or more consecutive days

Step #3: Eligibility Determination Procedures

• Evaluation data is gathered from multiple assessments
• Parent participates as a valuable team member
• Evaluation team conducts a review of the data and makes an eligibility determination
• Once the child is found eligible for special education services, there is a 30 day timeline for IEP (Individualized Education Program) development

Step #4: IEP Development & Implementation

• IEP Team meets and determines services required to provide a free and appropriate public education (FAPE)
• Parent participates as a valuable team member
• IEP team determines the least restrictive environment (LRE) for the child
• Parent signs or denies consent for services

Step #5: Continuing Services & Eligibility

• A review of the IEP occurs at least once every 365 days
• The school, parents and/or adult students may request an IEP team meeting at any time
• An eligibility review occurs at least once every 3 years
• Parents and/or adult student may revoke consent for special education services at anytime by writing to the Lincoln Early Childhood Center

Step #6: Discontinuation of Special Education Services

• Discontinuation can occur in any of the following ways:
  • Student no longer meets eligibility criteria, student completes requirements for high school diploma or parent and/or adult student revokes consent for services (in writing)

Glossary of Terms:

Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE)

The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) 2004 states that special education and related services are provided at public expense (free); in conformity with an appropriately developed Individualized Education Program (IEP) (appropriate); under public supervision and direction (public); and include preschool, elementary and secondary education that meets the education standards, regulations and administrative policies and procedures issued by the State Department of Education.

Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA)

A law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation.

Individualized Education Program (IEP)

A written document (developed collaboratively by parents and school personnel) which outlines the special education program for a student with a disability. This document is developed, reviewed and revised at an IEP meeting as least annually.

Least Restrictive Environment (LRE)

The IDEA 2004 requirement that students with disabilities, including those in public or private institutions or other care facilities, be educated with students who are nondisabled to the maximum extent appropriate.

Procedural Safeguards

The formal requirements of Part B of the IDEA 2004 that are designed to allow a parent/adult student to participate meaningfully in decisions concerning an appropriate educational program for a student with a disability and, if necessary, dispute such decisions. Also referred to as Special Education Rights.

Special Education - Eligibility & Test Scores

Your Child & Special Education
Eligibility Categories & Test Scores (all categories must meet all 3 prongs of eligibility)

 

Developmental Delay: Ages 3-9

• Developmental areas assessed: Cognitive, physical, communication, social—emotional and adaptive.
• Criteria: The child functions at least 2.0 standard deviations (SD) below the mean (30% delay in age equivalency or below the 3rd percentile) OR 1.5 SD below the mean in 2 or more broad developmental areas (25% delay or below the 7th percentile).

Multiple Disabilities: Ages 3-21

• Two or more co-existing impairments, one of which includes a cognitive impairment (typically life long impairments).

Speech or Language Impairment: Ages 3-21

• Language: Disorder or delay in the development of comprehension and/or the uses of spoken or written language and/or other symbol systems (the form, content and function of language).
• Speech: Articulation is the ability to speak distinctly and connected (sound omissions, distortions, substitutions or additions) (interferes with communication)
• Criteria: Two procedures (assessments, etc.), at least 1 that produces a standard score; 1.5 SD below the mean (at or below the 7th percentile)

Cognitive Impairment: Ages 3-21

• "Significantly sub-average intellectual functioning that exists concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior."
• Criteria: IQ at or below 70 and deficits in adaptive functioning.

Autism: Ages 3-21

• "Autism is a developmental disability, generally evident before age 3, significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, and adversely affecting educational performance."
• Child has a diagnosis of a disorder in the autism spectrum by a school psychologist and a speech-language pathologist; or by a psychiatrist, physician or licensed psychologist.

Health Impairment: Ages 3-21

• Health impairment that exhibits limited strength, vitality or alertness (including heightened alertness)
• Criteria: Child exhibits limited strength, vitality or alertness (including heightened alertness) and has been diagnosed by a physician as having a health impairment.

Other (not as common) categories for preschool include: Deaf-Blindness, Deafness, Emotional Disturbance, Hearing Impairment, Specific Learning Disability (elementary age or higher), Orthopedic Impairment, Traumatic Brain Injury, Visual Impairment Including Blindness


Three-Prong Test of Eligibility (all of the following must be true):

1. The student must meet eligibility requirements established by the state for a specific disability;
2. The child's disability must have an adverse impact on the student's education (harmful or unfavorable impact);
3. The student must need special education (specially designed instruction) in order to benefit from his or her education.

Special Education Services offered at Lincoln Early Intervention:

• Services related to Outcome 1: Social, emotional, behavioral
• Services related to Outcome 2: Pre-reading, pre-math, speech therapy, language, communication
• Service related to Outcome 3: Occupation therapy (fine motor), physical therapy (gross motor), adaptive, vision, hearing

Standard Deviation Information (Normal Distribution of Data):

• Mean = Average of all the values in a data set
• -1 SD to +1 SD low– to high– average range
• Below -1 SD = below average; Above +1 SD = above average