Child Find
What is Child Find and why is it important to understand?
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act includes the Child Find mandate. Child Find requires all school districts to identify, locate and evaluate all children with disabilities, regardless of the severity of their disabilities. This obligation to identify all children who may need special education services exists even if the school is not providing special education services to the child.
Schools are required to locate, identify and evaluate all children with disabilities from birth through age 21. The Child Find mandate applies to all children who reside within a State, including children who attend private schools and public schools, highly mobile children, migrant children, homeless children, and children who are wards of the state.
What are the Components of Child Find and how does it impact children, families, teachers, school district and the community?
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Definition of Target Population: The state defines the criteria that determine which children are eligible for help. Some states expand the target population to include at-risk children, not just those who have disabilities or developmental delays.
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Public Awareness: The state raises public awareness about children who need help and the services available to them, targeting parents, caregivers, educators, school staff, physicians and others.
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Referral and Intake: A child is referred for services; specific procedures vary, depending on the state.
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Screening and Identification: The child is screened for possible disabilities or developmental delays.
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Eligibility Determination: Results of the screening are compared to the state’s eligibility guidelines, which must be consistent with federal regulations.
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Tracking: The state tracks and follows up with children who are receiving services.
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Interagency Coordination: Some states have multiple agencies that share responsibilities mandated by IDEA. Resources must be coordinated to ensure availability of services.
What is a Child Study Team?
Child Study Team (CST) is a multidisciplinary group of professionals typically employed by the board of education to provide parents and teachers with a variety of learning related services. These services include consultative, evaluative and prescriptive services for students who are experiencing academic difficulties. A typical CST consists of a psychologist, a learning disabilities consultant, social worker and oftentimes, a speech/language therapist alongside the student's parents. Ideally, they will meet before any special education testing is conducted and will continue to meet periodically if the student requires special services.
14 Federal Disability Categories:
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Autism
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Deaf-blindness
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Deafness
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Developmental delay
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Emotional disturbance
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Hearing impairment
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Intellectual disability
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Multiple disabilities
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Orthopedic impairment
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Other health impairment
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Specific learning disability
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Speech or language impairment
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Traumatic brain injury
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Visual impairment, including blindness
As a classroom teacher, how do you determine a need for a Child Study for a Child?
To be eligible for special education and related services: (1) A student must have a disability according to one of the eligibility categories; (2) The disability must adversely affect the student’s educational performance; and (3) The student must be in need of special education and related services. It would be important to know if a child in my classroom would need a child study before the IEP meeting so that we know if any changes need to be made in the IEP. The Child Study team will then determine whether or not the child needs to be tested. A child study would need to be done if I ever suspicioned one of my students having a disability.
How Child Find impacts special education and general education teachers:
Children may be diagnosed with a disability by a medical provider or by the school district. However, one must understand that being simply diagnosed with a disability is not a guarantee of services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Having a disability is the first question when determining if a student qualifies. Child find holds a rather large impact on special education considering that students cannot be classified as having a disabilty under IDEA if during the child study they did not qualify for the three steps. This makes it hard for teachers if a student is ever border-line especially.
