IGBA-AR - Child Identification Procedures

1. The district’s child find efforts include:

1. Public awareness. District child find activities involve local media resources and direct contact activities, such as presentations at community meetings, business group meetings, services agencies or advocacy organizations.

   1. The district provides information about special education services in the district and the district's special education referral process to public and private facilities and public charter schools located in the district, including day care centers, homeless shelters, group homes, county jails, hospitals, medical officer and other facilities that serve children birth to 21 years old.

   2. The district provides information about special education services and how to make a referral to any migrant education programs operating in the district

2. Notice of confidentiality.  Before any major child find activity, the district publishes notice in newspapers or other media, or both, informing parents that confidentiality requirements apply to these activities. Circulation for this notice must be adequate to inform parents within the district’s jurisdiction.

3. Staff awareness. The district ensures that staff are knowledgeable of the characteristics of disabilities and the referral procedures for students, including preschool children, suspected of having disabilities.

4. Communication to parents.  District staff shall inform parents about the availability of special education services in the district and provide them with information about initiating referral for special education evaluation, including the information about early intervention/early childhood special education services (EI/ECSE) and the designated referral and evaluation agencies with which the district collaborates.

2.     Private School Children with Disabilities

1. The district’s child find system applies to children, including those children who are residents of another state, that are enrolled by their parents in private schools located within the boundaries of the district.

2. The district’s child find activities for private school students enrolled by their parents in private schools are similar to, and completed within a comparable time period, as child find activities for students in district public schools.

3. The district does not include the cost of conducting child find activities for private school students, including individual evaluations, in determining whether it has spent a proportionate share of its federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) funds on parentally -placed school students with disabilities.

4. The district consults with private school representatives and parents of private school students with disabilities about how to carry out these child find activities, including:

   1. How private school children suspected of having a disability can participate equitably; and

   2. How parents, teachers and private school officials will be informed of the process.

5. The district child find process for parentally‑placed private school students ensures the equitable participation of parentally‑placed private school students with disabilities and an accurate count of such children.

3.    Home‑Schooled Students with Disabilities:

1. The district collaborates with the education service district (ESD) that serves the district to ensure that the district responds promptly to information about home -schooled students with suspected disabilities.

2. The district collaborates with home schooling organizations in the district’s jurisdiction and provides information about special education services in the district and how to make a referral.

3. If the district has reason to suspect that a home-schooled student has a disability, the district will obtain parent consent for initial evaluation.