Serving Unit 5 and El Paso-Gridley District 11

Child Identification/Child Find

A. MVSEA and its Member Districts shall conduct activities to create public awareness of special education and related services and advise the public of the rights of students with disabilities. 
   1. All such public awareness activities shall ensure that information is made available in each of the major languages represented in the Member Districts and in language that will be understandable to parent(s)/guardian(s). 
     2. MVSEA and its Member Districts shall maintain documentation of their public awareness activities.

B. Methods which may be utilized by MVSEA and its Member Districts to conduct public awareness activities include the following:
   1. Utilization of various local media resources including television, radio, and newspaper;
     2. Development of communication links with various agencies that provide services to students with disabilities within the community and dissemination of child-find materials to hospitals, clinics, pediatricians, pediatric nurses, and social service professionals involved in family or child services.

C. MVSEA and its Member Districts’ public awareness activities shall include:
   1. Annual notification to all parent(s)/guardian(s) in MVSEA and its Member Districts regarding special education services available in or through the School District and of the right to receive a copy of 23 Illinois Administrative Code Part 226; and
    2. Annual dissemination of information to the community served by MVSEA and its Member Districts regarding the special education services
available in or through MVSEA or its Member Districts and the rights of students with disabilities.

D. Locate, identify and evaluate all students
   MVSEA and its Member Districts shall locate, identify and evaluate all students aged birth through 21 within the Member Districts who may be eligible for special education and related services, including students who are not currently enrolled in the school's educational program, students in nonpublic schools, and highly mobile students such as migrants and homeless students. This process shall include:

     1. Collecting, maintaining and reporting current and accurate data on all public awareness and child find activities;
     2. Reviewing the overall success and effectiveness MVSEA and its Member Districts’ public awareness and child find activities;
     3. Modifying MVSEA and its Member Districts’ public awareness and child find activities, as necessary and appropriate; and
     4. Utilizing data relative to MVSEA and its Member Districts’ public awareness and child find activities plan for the delivery of services to students with disabilities.

E. MVSEA and its Member Districts’ child find activities shall further include: 
   1. Annual screening of children under age five (5) to identify those who may need early intervention or special education and related services;
     2. Hearing and vision screening at regular intervals during the student's school career (see the Child Vision and Hearing Test Act 410 ILCS 205 and Section 27-8 of the School Code – 105 ILCS 5/27-8) and annually students who receive special education and related services (77 Illinois Administrative Code 675.110 and 685.110);
     3. Ongoing review of each student’s performance and progress by teachers and other professional personnel, in order to refer those students who exhibit problems that interfere with their educational progress, interaction with others, and/or functioning or adjustment to school environment and may be eligible for special education and related services;
     4. Ongoing coordination with early intervention programs to identify students from birth through 2 years of age who have or are suspected of having disabilities, in order to ensure timely provision of services; and
     5. Coordination and consultation with nonpublic schools located within the Member Districts that results in child find activities comparable to those activities undertaken for students in the public schools

F. MVSEA and its Member Districts’ child find shall be performed by personnel who meet all relevant certification or other licensing standards.

G. Parental permission/consent is not required when the screening procedures do not involve direct individual contact with the student (observation, interviewing of teachers or reviewing of records). When all students in a given group, e.g., all third graders, participate in the same screening procedure with the same criteria being applied, consent is not required.

H. Notice and written permission is required prior to the implementation of any selective screening procedure applied to a single child to determine if further evaluation is warranted in order to eliminate any suspicion of a disability. Notice to the parent regarding the screening and parental permission to screen cannot be obtained using the state-mandated notice and consent forms. The state-mandated notice and consent forms can only be used to notify a parent/guardian of the district's intent to evaluate or not evaluate the student and to obtain consent for a comprehensive full and individual evaluation or reevaluation. State law does not mandate the use of a uniform notice and permission form for screening. When notice is required and permission necessary, the district will provide notice and obtain permission on a locally developed form.

I. The results of each student's screening must be communicated in writing to the parent if follow-up is required.

J. The notice sent to the parent must include a description of the problem identified and the date, time and location of the screening activity, as well as an explanation of the follow-up action to be taken, i.e., re-screening, and referral to the CARES/SAP team or referral for an individual and full evaluation.

K. When responsible MVSEA and/or its Member Districts’ personnel conclude that an individual evaluation of a student is warranted, the procedures for referral and evaluation set forth herein will be followed.

L. When there is reason to believe that a student may have a disability requiring special education and related services, the student shall be referred for a full and individual evaluation. Referrals may be made by any concerned person knowledgeable of the student’s problems, including but not limited to MVSEA or Member District personnel, the parent(s)/guardian(s) of the child, or an employee of the Illinois State Board of Education may make a referral.

M. A referral process shall be developed and implemented by the MVSEA Executive Director and communicated annually to all professional personnel within MVSEA and its Member Districts and to persons within the community. The referral procedures shall include:
    1. The steps to be taken in making a referral, including a direction that referrals are to be made in writing, signed and dated;
      2. The person(s) to whom a referral may be made;
      3. The information that must be provided;
      4. Assistance, if needed, to enable persons making referrals to meet all referral requirements; and
      5. A process for providing parent(s)/guardian(s) with notice of their rights with respect to procedural safeguards.
      6. MVSEA and its Member Districts have established, in each school, a CARES/SAP team to assist teachers serving students who are experiencing unique problems that are interfering with educational success. The CARES/SAP team serves all teachers and all students.

N. The CARES/SAP team may engage in the following activities:
    1. Reviewing the problem areas in which the student is having difficulty;
      2. Recommending specific in-school modifications to attempt to remedy the problem;
      3. Arranging for special services support from personnel who are teaching and providing other services to the student, as needed;
      4. Monitoring the effectiveness of the modifications recommended and implemented and suggesting further modifications where appropriate;
      5. Collecting and reviewing information regarding academic and social performance; and
      6. Notwithstanding 1-5 above, immediately referring for a full and individual evaluation any student who is suspected of having a disability that interferes with educational performance.

O. As appropriate the principal will schedule a meeting of the CARES/SAP team to consider the following:
    1. The type of interventions to be used and the reasons for the interventions;
      2. The time frame established to implement the interventions and their review;
      3. The parents' right to meet with the person(s) involved in the interventions; and
      4. The parents' right to initiate a formal request for a full and individual evaluation.

P. Under no circumstances will CARES/SAP team activities preclude, or delay, the full and individual evaluation of any student referred by a parent,
unless the district has officially considered such request and has determined the request not to be in best interests of the student because the student
exhibits satisfactory educational performance. 

Q. When a request for a full and individual evaluation is made, it should be given to the building principal where the student attends school or would
attend school if enrolled. If such a request is given to an employee of the district, the employee will immediately give the referral to the building
principal.

R. If the Member District decides to conduct an evaluation, parental consent must be obtained. 

S. The date of referral, triggering the 60-school-day timeline, is the date on which informed written parental/guardian consent to complete an evaluation
is obtained or provided, or the date of application for admittance to the public school by the parent(s)/guardian(s) of the student. A school day is
any day, including a partial day during the regular school year that students are in attendance at school for instructional purposes. When a student is
referred for evaluation with fewer than 60 pupil attendance days left in the school year, the eligibility determination must be made and, if the student
is eligible, an IEP must be in effect prior to the first day of the beginning of the next school year.

T. If it is determined that a referral for a full and individual evaluation is not warranted, the parent(s)/guardian(s) and subject to the requirements of law, the referring party, shall be notified in writing in writing of the date of the referral, the reasons for which the evaluation was requested, the reasons
that the Member District decided not to conduct a full and individual evaluation and provided with notice of their rights with respect to procedural safeguards.



LEGAL REF.: 

20 U.S.C. 1412 (State eligibility) 1412 (a)(7), 1413 (local 
educational agency eligibility).

34 C.F.R. 300.125 105 ILCS 5/14-8.02(b) 23 Ill. Admin. Code Subpart K and 226.50 (requirements for FAPE), 226.75 (definitions), 226.100 (child find responsibility), 226.110 (referral).
 

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