What is early childhood intervention?
State and federal laws require school districts and public agencies to be responsive to families who are concerned about their child’s growth and development. To accomplish these schools are part of the interagency with community and county agencies. This committee Northern lights interagency council is charged in Minnesota law to identify prekindergarteners who are at risk for developmental delay.
What does early intervention include?
- Providing a development screening
- Making referrals to particular agencies, with parental permission
- Evaluating by the local district’s early childhood special education program
- According to Minnesota special education criteria, providing early childhood education programming
- Providing an interagency planning process to develop a comprehensive, coordinated family-based plan for the very young child
Where are the services provided?
For children under the age of three early intervention is provided at home, children between the age of three to five, are provided special education intervention services in a community pre-school program with typical age mates. The program might include; early childhood family education, school readiness, local nursery schools, child care centers, and head start.
What are the qualifications for receiving the services?
Any child may be referred to the early intervention services. Children may be referred by any person or any agency with parent permission. Child fund is the system identified in federal and state law for acting on the referral of early intervention.
How is early childhood intervention determined?
The child fund referral process includes a visit to the child’s home, where the local childhood special education team screens the child and interviews the family for the needs and priorities related to the child. If the screening indicates a need, a development intervention is conducted. The evaluation report is written and an interagency plan is developed with the family. For children between the ages of three to five years, the early childhood special education team often conducts the screening and the family is interviewed at a local district site.
Bibliography
Minnesota education department.
Early childhood services; a directory of services available to children with disabilities in Minnesota.