Weld Re3J
Child Find
Hello, and thank you for your interest in the Weld RE3j Child Find Program.
The Child Find Program is designed to assess disabilities in children aged 0-5.
Please scroll down and find your child's age for more information on the assessment process.
Child find services are free and available to all children birth to age five who reside in the district.
In accordance with federal guidelines, the Child Find team will make the determination whether the child should be further evaluated. If necessary, the evaluation includes assessments in the areas of cognition, language development social/emotional functioning, physical functioning (including vision and hearing screening), educational achievement and life skills functioning. Parents are an essential component of the multi-disciplinary approach to evaluation. Following assessments, the team will determine eligibility for special education and related services.
Age 0-2.5
If you suspect your child aged 0-2.5 has a disability, please contact Envision.
Envision is a Community Centered Board that will both assess your child and also help to set them up with early intervention services. The school and Envision work closely, and when they reach school age, Envision will let the Re3j Team know so the teams can transfer the student in to our program.
Age 2.5-5
If you believe your child who is age 2.5-5 years may have a disability, please first fill out this form, and then send it to our Child Find Coordinator, Zoe Martin, EdS, NCSP, at ZoeMartin@re3j.com. She will be in touch with more information.
If your child is already enrolled in school, please contact the School Psychologist in the building, who can advise next steps.
Meadow Ridge - Ben Ellis, Benjaminellis@re3j.com
Hudson and Lochbuie- Sara Lynch, Saralynch@re3j.com
Hoff- Zoe Martin, Zoemartin@re3j.com
The Evaluation Structure
Participants
Kristi Charbonneau- Speech Pathologist
Alaina Wolcott- Early Childhood Special Education Specialist
Debra Brenner- Occupational Therapist
Betty (BJ) James- Audiologist
Zoe Martin- Child Find Coordinator
General Education Teacher
There also may be others who attend due to the concerns presented, but they will be introduced at the meeting
Meeting Structure
Evaluation
The team will begin with asking questions of you and your child that address your concerns. This may include speech articulation screeners, questions about your child’s ability to perform tasks, or their coordination. The team audiologist will always ask about their hearing, vision, health, and pregnancy to make sure there are not underlying health issues that may be contributing to the concerns.
The Speech Language Pathologist will be evaluating in the following areas:
Receptive Language: Understanding what people say.
Expressive Language: How we share thoughts, ideas and feelings.
Articulation: How we make speech sounds using the mouth, lips and tongue.
Results
Once the team members have asked their questions, the results will be scored, and they will share these results with the rest of the team. If your child was referred by Envision, at this point the team will give you your results, and Envision will follow up with you on next steps.
Eligibility
If, based on the results presented, your child demonstrates a deficit in some area, the group will discuss whether these scores “qualify” your child for Special Education, and if so, in what area. This is a group decision, and a conversation with both the team members and parents about what will best work for your child and family.
Individualized Education Program (IEP) Development
If the team finds your student eligible for Special Education, the team will then create an IEP for them, which is a living document that provides your child supports within the school. The team members will discuss their goals for your child, as well as how much time they will spend working with your child on this goal, and what additional supports they would like to put in place to assist your child in meeting this goal. IEPs are revisited every year, so as your child grows and changes, this plan will also grow and change with them.
After The Meeting
The Child Find Coordinator or Envision will send you your results and a copy of the information collected via encrypted email within the month following your meeting, regardless of whether your child qualified or not. Please keep copies of this for your records.
If you are planning to enroll your child, please contact Jenny Wakeman at jennywakeman@re3j.com or contact your school directly for enrollment paperwork.
If your child did qualify and an IEP was developed, please inform the school of this upon enrollment.