IDEA, the nation’s special education law, is designed with one goal in mind: to ensure that children with disabilities receive an appropriate education to address their needs. The law covers children from birth through age 21. One part of IDEA—Section 619—funds services for preschoolers. Every state, including New Jersey, offers special education to eligible preschoolers ages 3 through 5 at no cost to parents.
The Road to Referral
Through a process called Child Find, schools are required to find and evaluate students who may have disabilities, at no cost to families. If a child has a qualifying disability, schools must offer special education and related services to meet the child’s unique needs, again at no cost to parents.
Just how are children with disabilities found? Often, infants and toddlers who have developmental delays are first served through the state’s Early Intervention System. Other times, young children are referred for specialized services by their pediatrician, day care provider, or preschool program when it appears the child may not be meeting developmental milestones in key areas: vision and hearing, gross and fine motor skills, speech and language use, social and emotional behavior, and more.
If a parent is concerned about their child’s development, they can contact the local school district directly and ask for a free screening.
Early Intervention: Transition to Preschool
The New Jersey Department of Health provides Early Intervention services to eligible infants and toddlers from birth to three years old. While these services may be necessary to address any disabilities or delays early in the child’s life, they are not considered special education. When a child needs special education services through their local school district, they are entitled to these services on their third birthday. To ensure a smooth transition without interruption of services:
- 120 days before the child’s third birthday, the EI service coordinator should notify the school district that a child with special needs will be enrolling in the school.
- 110 days before the child’s third birthday, parents should write to their school district’s director of special education to request an evaluation.
Evaluation and Eligibility
The evaluation procedure for preschoolers is much the same as for older students. For preschoolers, a speech-language specialist must be part of the Child Study Team to determine whether to evaluate a student for a speech and language impairment. To be eligible for preschool special education services, a child must be found to have at least 33% delay in one area, or at least a 25% delay in two or more key areas of development: physical, cognitive, communication, social/emotional, and adaptive. All children who are found eligible for special education under the age of 5 are classified “preschool disabled,” regardless of any medical/clinical diagnosis, such as autism or Down syndrome.
Services
Every school district must provide preschool programs for students with disabilities. Services must be provided for a minimum of five days a week: at least four of those days must be devoted to student instruction for a minimum of ten hours. The fifth day may be used for parent training. Depending on their needs, some children will be eligible for more intensive services and a longer school day.
Each child’s individualized needs must be documented in an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The IEP is a written summary of the child’s goals and the services and supports they will receive. The parent or guardian is a member of the IEP team.
Preschoolers must receive all the services needed to meet their unique needs. This includes but is not limited to speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, social skills instruction, curriculum modification, behavioral services, extended school day, and extended school year.
Extended School Year
Some students require instruction beyond the traditional 180-day school year that runs from September to June. Services delivered in the summer are referred to as ESY—Extended School Year services. While not every child needs this, the law requires that all students with disabilities be considered for extended school year services, including preschoolers.
Placement
As is the case for all students with disabilities, preschoolers are entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). This means that special education and related services must be “appropriate” to the child’s needs and provided according to the IEP at no cost to parents. They must be delivered in a setting that allows the child to learn alongside typically developing peers. If school districts do not operate a pre-school program within district, they must contract with a private preschool provider or other programs, such as childcare centers or Head Start, to implement an Individualized Education Program. If a child’s needs cannot be met in the local school district, an outside agency, or another school district, an out of district program such as a private school may be used to provide preschool instruction and related services.
In a joint policy statement issued this year, the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education outlined characteristics of high-quality and inclusive early childhood programs. Such programs:
- Include children with disabilities so they can learn together alongside their peers without disabilities.
- Provide high-quality teaching and learning environments that support children’s development and allow all children to meet high expectations.
- Intentionally promote children’s participation in all learning and social activities, with individualized accommodations and differentiated interventions and instruction.
- Use high-quality, evidence-based services and supports that are developmentally appropriate and culturally and linguistically responsive. These supports should also foster children’s knowledge and skills, use of appropriate behaviors, positive social-emotional skills, and sense of belonging.
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