Improving Child Find Practices in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

The Child Find mandate helps to ensure that children with disabilities are identified, and have access to a free and appropriate education with educational services available to support their individual needs (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2004). Research relating to Child Find and Early Intervention Services have also found significant variances in the process and practices used to locate, identify, and evaluate children suspected of having a disability (Barger, Rice, Simmons, & Wolf, 2018; Macy, Stancin, Kirchner, & Bauchner, 2014; Sices, Stancin, Kirchner, & Bauchner, 2009), and in program activities, strategies, and accountability practices that are meant to find and identify children who could have developmental delays or disabilities (Macy, et al. , 2018, Sices, et al, 2009; Barger, et al., 2018). These inconsistencies are believed to have a significant impact on the number of children who are actually identified and gain access to Early Intervention Services. The lack of data on program systems, practices, and effectiveness presents a limited capacity to understand, assess, and improve Child Find efforts nationwide (Barger, et al. , 2018). This purpose of this study was to identify current Child Find practices being used in four school districts across a north-central state, to identify, locate, and evaluate children during early childhood ( ages 3 to 5 years old) and to bring to light how early childhood professionals felt about the overall effectiveness of those practices, and how they believed Child Find practices could be improved.