Early Childhood
What's Required
Each public agency must conduct a full and individual initial evaluation (FIIE) before providing special education and related services to a child with a disability (34 CFR 300.301(a)). Subsequently, an ARD Committee determines if the child needs special education and/or related services (34 CFR 300.8(a)(1)).For information regarding the disability conditions that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) recognizes, see Disability Terms.
Special education means specially designed instruction, at no cost to the parents, to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability. Specially designed instruction means adapting, as appropriate to the needs of an eligible child under this part, the content, methodology, or delivery of instruction— to address the unique needs of the child that result from the child’s disability; and to ensure access of the child to the general curriculum, so that the child can meet the educational standards within the jurisdiction of the public agency that apply to all children (34 CFR 300.39(a)).
Each public agency must ensure that to the maximum extent appropriate, children with disabilities, including children in public or private institutions or other care facilities, are educated with children who are nondisabled; and special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily (34 CFR 300.114(a)).
Each public agency must ensure that a continuum of alternative placements is available to meet the needs of children with disabilities for special education and related services. The continuum must include instruction in regular classes, special classes, special schools, home instruction, and instruction in hospitals and institutions; and make provision for supplementary services (such as resource room or itinerant instruction) to be provided in conjunction with regular class placement (34 CFR 300.115(b)).
For Infant and Toddlers with vision or auditory impairments see Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP).
What We Do
A child observation appointment will be scheduled. At the appointment, the team will use parent information and child observation to determine the next step. The assessment staff will ask you to formally consent to the evaluation or determine not to conduct an evaluation and a Notice of Decision will be provided to you.
If consent for evaluation is signed, the evaluation team will use formal and informal measures to evaluate and determine eligibility. The law allows 45 school days to complete the Full Individual Evaluation. The results of the evaluation will be compiled into a report and shared with the parents.
Once the report is complete, you will be invited to an ARD meeting at an HCISD school close to your home to review the results and possible Special Education service options. The law allows 30 calendar days, from the date of the report, for a district to hold an ARD meeting.
The Early Childhood Coordinator secures placement and forwards the recommendation to the appropriate campus.
Campus personnel are responsible for:
Attending the ARD/IEP meeting at the student's home campus
Verifying the demographic data for the child, and
Submitting a request for transportation if appropriate.
Eligibility
Preschool age children may be eligible for special education and related services under the following categories
noncategorical early childhood
NCEC cannot be used when a child meets the criteria for Multiple Impairment.
Process for Involving Nurse Consultant
Nurse Consultants are to only be included on the evaluation team when the child is medically fragile. For all other children, the evaluation team is able to conduct observations related to the child’s vision/hearing status during performance of evaluation and assessment procedures. Additionally, parent report can assist team members in determining what vision/hearing -related behaviors are or are not typically observed with the child.
Continuum of Services
The following continuum of special education services is available for preschool children with disabilities:
Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE, formerly PPCD)
Campus Based Speech
Speech Stars
The Language Class
Foundational Learning
The ARD/IEP Committee determines the type and amount of time for provision of services.
Forms
Coming Soon
Resources
Coming Soon