A. Initial Contact

The placement process begins with the referral of the preschool child. The legal definition of a preschooler is any child 3, 4 or non-kindergarten eligible 5 years old. Specifically, this means the district is responsible for providing services to 3 year old children from the day of their 3rd birthday, 4 year olds and children turning 5 years old after September 1. The evaluation process may begin when the child is 2 years 9 months, and the district must be ready to begin providing services to all eligible children by their third birthday given knowledge of the child and adequate time for evaluation prior to the child's third birthday.

Referrals come from many sources; however, the most common is the child's parent. Initial parent phone calls are handled by the preschool administrative support technician. The technician gives parents information about preschool programs and the evaluation process and answers parents' questions. If a parent initially calls a school psychologist, vision specialist or hearing impairment specialist, then that person needs to contact the preschool administrative support technician who will assign a preschool evaluator. The technician maintains a log of all potential special needs’ preschoolers. The Preschool Administrative Support Technician determines if the child referred needs an initial screening or a record review (if an outside evaluation has already taken place). Children requiring initial screenings will be placed on a monthly screening list. Children with previous evaluations will be assigned for a record review by the appropriate members of the Preschool/Evaluation team.

Upon receiving a referral, the Evaluation Team has 30 days from the initial request for services to contact the parents and complete the screening or any other activities necessary to determine the need for an evaluation. If an evaluation is necessary following a screening, a signed parental consent must be secured for the evaluation within 15 days of the screening. The evaluation process, including the MET decision regarding eligibility, must occur within 60 days of the signed permission to evaluate. The IEP must be written within 30 days of the MET meeting.

If a child is transitioning from Early Intervention (DDD) Services to preschool, the transition process begins at approximately 2 years 9 months.  The transition process includes participation by a district staff person at a transition meeting with parents and Early Intervention staff, records review, and appropriate evaluations to determine eligibility for preschool special education services.

B. Screening for Potential Developmental Delays

1. Developmental Screenings

The purpose of a screening is to determine if a child has a potential disability that requires further evaluation. Screenings will be conducted by a team of preschool staff members on a monthly basis. The screening will be conducted by administering a screening tool that quickly taps several areas of development (such as the DIAL-R, Boyd Developmental Screening, Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, Brigance, etc.). The screening team may include a preschool speech/language pathologist, preschool teacher, developmental evaluator and/or psychologist. A vision and hearing screening will be part of the screening.

 A screening must include the following developmental areas:

1. Communication
    --language
    --articulation
    --fluency

2. Cognitive Development

3. Physical Development
    --fine motor
    --gross motor

4. Social/Emotional Development

5. Adaptive Development
    --self-help skills

6. Sensory Skills
    --vision
    --hearing

The purpose of a screening is to determine if the child qualifies for preschool services or if further assessment is necessary to determine eligibility and need for preschool special education services.

2. Vision and Hearing Screening

The purpose of the vision and hearing screening is to rule out any sensory deficits that may be impeding the child's development. The Vision Screening consists of assessing visual acuity using a Symbol Chart. A child is considered to pass if they correctly identify 3 out of 5 items at 20/50 from 20 feet for the right eye, left eye and both eyes.

A Hearing Screening consists of the use of a pure tone audiometer set at 25dB. A child is considered to pass if they indicate the presence of a 1 second tone at 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, 2000 Hz and 4000 Hz for both the right ear and the left ear.

 Note: These tasks are very difficult for preschool children, especially children with developmental delays. When screening children, every effort must be made to determine if there is a need for further sensory assessment without overwhelming or frightening the child. If a hearing or vision screening cannot be completed for any reason, a functional hearing/vision screening parent interview should be conducted. (See Vision and Hearing section.)

3. Records Review

If a potential preschooler has received a prior evaluation from an outside agency, a preschool evaluator obtains the records from the evaluation and then review these records to determine if the information is current, complete, and complies with District and State regulations. The Preschool Evaluator must then decide if any further evaluation is needed.

C. Evaluation Process

1. Evaluation

The purpose of a preschool evaluation is to determine eligibility for preschool services. The Preschool Evaluator is responsible for coordinating the necessary staff members for completing an evaluation for all areas of suspected disability. The evaluation team may include any of the following staff members as well as the child's parents:

Developmental Evaluator
Preschool Speech/Language Pathologist
Preschool Teacher
Occupational Therapist
Physical Therapist
Visual Impairment Specialist
Hearing Impairment Specialist

Those involved in the evaluation team determine an evaluation plan to ensure the most efficient use of everyone’s time. This can be done by E-mail, phone contact or other means.

 It is the responsibility of the Preschool Evaluator to contact all the evaluation team members and coordinate the evaluation plan; the completion of the evaluation, the communication among team members, and the monitoring of timelines. An evaluation must be conducted for all areas of suspected disabilities and include standardized instruments. The evaluation must be completed within 60 calendar days of the signed permission to evaluate.

Upon completion of the evaluation, the Evaluation Team must conduct a Multidisciplinary Evaluation Team meeting with the parents to determine eligibility for services, the level of delay based on Arizona State definitions, and the recommended type of service, i.e. itinerant or center-based program.

2. Preschool Placement Qualifications

A developmentally delayed child receiving preschool services must be given a preschool funding label based on Arizona State definitions. These labels are as follows:

A.R.S. Section 15-761. Definitions

Preschool Moderate Delay (PMD) means a child who is at least three years of age but who has not reached the required age for kindergarten and whose performance on a standardized test measures at least one and one-half, but not more than three, standard deviations below the mean for children of the same chronological age or whose performance on a criterion reference test that has been approved by the Department of Education measures at least 25% but not more than 50% below the mean for children of the same chronological age in 2 or more of the following areas: 1) cognitive development, 2) physical development, 3) communication development, 4) social/emotional development, 5) adaptive behavior.

Preschool Severe Delay (PD) means a child who is at least three years of age but has not reached the required age for kindergarten and whose performance on standardized tests measures more than 3 deviations below the mean for children of the same chronological age or whose performance on a criterion referenced test that has been approved by the Department of Education measures more than 50% below the mean for children of the same chronological age in one or more of the following areas: 1) cognitive development, 2) physical development 3) communication development, 4) social/emotional development, 5) adaptive behavior.

Preschool Speech and Language Delay (PSLD) means a child who is at least three years of age but has not reached the required age for kindergarten and whose performance on standardized tests measures more than 1 1/2 standard deviations below the mean for children of their chronological age or whose multiple articulation errors preclude intelligibility. (The school-age definition for Speech/Language Impairment does not apply to preschool eligibility.)

Hearing Impairment means a child who has a hearing deviation from the normal, as determined by evaluation pursuant to section 15-766, which impedes the child's educational progress in the classroom situation with the support of special classes or special services designed to promote the child's educational development, and whose intellectual development is such that the child is capable of being educated through a modified instructional environment.

Visual Impairment means a child who has a vision deviation from the normal, as determined by evaluation pursuant to section 15-766, which impedes the child's educational progress in the regular classroom situation with the support of special classes or special services designed to promote the child's educational development, and whose intellectual development is such that the child is capable of being educated through a modified instructional environment.

A. MET and Class Placement Decisions

Once the evaluation is completed, the evaluation team must meet to determine the child’s eligibility and the recommended placement. If the team recommends a center-based program, the Preschool Evaluator must contact the receiving preschool team(s) to decide which class and session would be the most appropriate placement for the child. This decision is based on several factors some of which are:

* number of students in each class
* severity of disabilities in each class
* gender balance

Every attempt needs to be made to place a child at his regional preschool unless for some reason a more appropriate placement is available at another site. It is the responsibility of the evaluators to share the evaluation results with the parents and discuss program eligibility. The evaluation team shares the child’s present level of performance with the receiving school and suggests possible goals and objectives. If the parent requests to observe a preschool, other members of the evaluation team should check with the preschool speech/language pathologist or preschool evaluator involved in the evaluation to determine which preschool to observe. The speech/language pathologist or preschool evaluator will contact the receiving school to schedule the observation.

B. Placement Conference (A/K/A IEP Meeting)

The purpose of the placement conference is for the receiving preschool team to meet with the child's parents in order to develop an educational plan individualized to the child's needs, to address parental concerns, and to complete the necessary paper work. The meeting must include:

* child's parents
* evaluation team (if the evaluation results have not been previously shared with the parents)
* receiving preschool team
* administrative designees (may be a site or district administrator or preschool staff member
   designated by the principal

 A meeting may also include:

* staff from prior placements
* DDD caseworker/service providers
* related service staff
* District Office representative

The receiving preschool team is responsible for participating in developing the IEP goals and objectives, least restrictive environment, and explaining the classroom set-up to the parents, facilitating registration of the child and arranging special transportation if needed.

 NOTE: For children placed for itinerant services, the Evaluator conducts the MET including developing and writing the IEP.  Then the records are sent to the Itinerant Service Provider.  The itinerant service provider will contact the parents to schedule the child for services.

Transportation

The purpose of special transportation is to provide transportation to Preschool for special needs children whose parents are unable to transport them and would otherwise be unable to receive services. The IEP team decides on the need for transportation and indicates this need on the IEP. The receiving preschool team is responsible for arranging transportation by completing the special transportation form, contacting the Transportation Department, and sending the special transportation form to the Transportation Department.

D. Registration

Following the completion of the IEP and special programs placement the child must be registered into the receiving school. The receiving preschool team is responsible for assisting the parents with the child's registration through the school office. The exception to this is for itinerant placed children. In this case the Preschool Speech/Language Evaluator will provide the registration packet to the parents.

In order to register a child in school the parent must provide for the school office:

1) a completed registration packet;
2) a certified copy of the child's birth certificate;
3) a current validated immunization record, and
4) proof of residency.

E. Entering or Withdrawing

The receiving preschool team must inform the Preschool Administrative Support Technician of the date a child enters the program and withdraws from the program.   This may be done through completion of the "Notice of Student Status in the Kyrene Preschool Program" NCR form or e-mailing the Preschool Administrative Technician and the School Secretary.

pridplpro  Revised 7/2000