Could you tell me how children with special needs are placed in your program?
Tri-County Special Education Interlocal #607 and the Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program offer regular monthly screening services for all area children. This screening process consists of out professional staff taking a quick look at your child's development which includes the following areas:

• hearing
• vision
• communication skills
• motor skills
• general health
• self help skills
• learning skills

Many of the children referred to the Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program for screening, are referred through the community child care/preschool program where they already receive services. It is through our collaborative relationships with these agencies, that the community program personnel can share information with parents regarding the Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program and the services available to families.

If any questions or concerns arise as a result of the screening, further evaluation(s) can be scheduled with parental permission.

How do you develop the Individualized Education Plan (IEP)?
The following is a placement sequence used to determine the special needs, required services, and appropriate placements for children referred to the Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program for special education services.

• Referral for Screening and/or Preassessment
• Initial Screening (Preassessment)
• Review Screening with Parents and Team
• Comprehensive Evaluation, if Indicated
• Post Evaluation Meeting with Parents and Team
• Individualized Education Plan (IEP) Developed with Parents and Team
• Service Delivery Option(s) Determined

Tell me how the individual child teams function?
The individual child team functions according to the needs of the individual child, family, and program. We deliver special education and related services in an environment selected by the family. Typically, this environment is the environment in which the child would be found were he nor disabled. For example, a child with behavioral concerns and language/cognitive delays was able to maintain active participation in the existing program structure of a local community program. This was achieved through careful attention to program schedules, intervention strategies, collaborative planning with the community agency personnel, and based on the child's strengths.

Tell me how special education related services are delivered?
The IEP Team determines the manner in which special education and related services will be delivered. Services can be delivered in a home based, center based, or combination model.

Tell me how you know a child is performing or progressing in school?
Nine weeks following placement and every subsequent nine weeks, an "IEP" review will be conducted. Parents will be notified through a quarterly update report or a parent conference regarding their child's progress in his/her program and whether program revisions are required at that time. All annual goals and short term objectives will be reviewed and modified if needed. Monitoring of child's development is on going.

On an annual basis, the IEP will be rewritten to incorporate additional goals and objectives, contingent on the gains made by that child during the previous year. Parental involvement is a significant factor in establishing an IEP that encompasses all educational and developmental needs of their child.

At least once every three years, a comprehensive reevaluation will be conducted to review educational and developmental gains of each respective student. This testing will address all the components of the original comprehensive evaluation (i.e., cognitive, psycho-motor, social development, speech/language, etc.). Upon completion, this evaluation information will be reviewed with the parents in the same manner as the initial evaluation.

How do families get involved with the school, other parents, and the teachers?
Parent involvement varies according to the different community centers, intensity of service provision, and the need/desire of families to participate. Some parents choose a specific program based on the amount of parent involvement required and/or encouraged. Some ways parents can be active include: parent nights, inservice opportunities, home and center based combination of service provision, information sharing, volunteering, and team conferences.

How do you keep track of meetings and schedules of teachers and other professionals?

• Monthly scheduled staff meetings.
• Formal and informal site meetings.
• Matrices.
• Posted schedules.
• Pagers and phones for staff.
• Central office location with answering machines.
• Big board set up with child's names and sites located in coordinator's office.

Communication still becomes difficult at times.

How are specific child accommodations determined and implemented?
We use the activity-based intervention model. We set up on matrices with individual daily schedules and IEP objectives. Specific examples: daily picture schedules, circle time planning guide, etc.).

Who helps pay for the program?
Numerous placement options may exist for families who want their children with disabilities placed in community programs. However, families may be limited in the variety of options they might choose for their child based upon their income. The importance of creating options for families provides every family the opportunity to pick which setting would be the most appropriate for their child.

Several different options exist for financing early childhood community placements for families and within these options different types of needs exist at individual centers and preschools. A child care center or preschool may be able to access SRS assistance for children with disabilities and/or provide scholarships for children in their program, or they may need materials and supplies due to the limited resources. Inservice training opportunities may be appealing to some centers who have limited funding or coverage to attend training sessions. Lastly, child care centers and preschool programs may request additional assistance by using paraprofessional support provided by the educational cooperative or local school district.

How do children with special needs get to school?
Transportation is provided by parents, community centers, and/or the local school district.

Tell me how teachers receive extra training?

• Kansas Division of Early Childhood (KDEC)
• Kansas Inservice Training Program (KITS)
• coursework through local universities
• Agency sponsored inservice opportunities in
  the Carolina Curriculum
  Activity Based Instruction
  Integrated IEPs
  Collaborating with Community Agencies
  Transitioning to Inclusive Services
• State and local inservice opportunities

How do teachers help children with disabilities and typically developing peers become friends?

• Design social interventions per the child's IEP goals and objectives
• In the inclusive settings, children migrate toward one another naturally
• Modeling and accepting children with disabilities allows the children to become more inquisitive.

How do you help children with disabilities and typically developing peers become friends?
Each spring, the Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program personnel meet wit parents and local school district personnel to begin planning for the successful transition of children eligible to go to Kindergarten the following August. It is at this time that this transition team can discuss options for transportation, extent of inclusion in Kindergarten programming, special education and related services needs, and IEP adjustments/adaptations.