What is the name of your program and where are you located?
The Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program is an educational program that provides early intervention and educational services for children ages three to five years who have a variety of special needs. This program offers services to children who reside within the school districts of Caney, Cherryvale, Coffeyville, Fredonia, Independence, Neodesha, and Parsons.

What are the hours of your program?
The Kids FIRST Early Intervention program provides services to eligible children according to the local school district calendars. The actual scheduling of these services is determined by the IEP team. The operating hours and calendar of the community programs are considered at this time.

What is your program's educational philosophy?
The primary purpose of the program is to help young children with disabilities develop to his or her potential, and to prepare the children for entering and succeeding in the public school environment. It is believed that this can best be achieve in a setting and program which provides a variety of educational services through various instructional formats and approaches.

For children identified as needing special services, the program is based on the philosophy that:

• every child with special needs can benefit from early childhood programming;
• programming for children with special needs should be started as soon as the need is identified or suspected;
• children learn and develop through active participation and interaction with people and things in their world; and
• parents and families play a very important role in a young child's educational, emotional and physical development and their participation is encouraged.

Based on this philosophy, the Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program is committed to providing free and appropriate educational services for all area preschool children with disabilities. The general goals of the program are as follows:

• to provide an environment in which parents and children will participate in and obtain a comprehensive educational experience;
• to aid in the development of each child's Individual Educational Plan (IEP) or Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP);
• to provide a multidisciplinary based program of special education and related services to all children with special needs; and
• provide support and assistance to parents of children who transition from the Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program into another educational placement.

The Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program provides services to all children between the ages of three and five years, who have been identified as having deficits in one or more of the following areas:

• Hearing
• Vision
• Communication
• Self-Help Skills
• Adaptive Behavior
• Fine/Gross Motor Skills
• Personal/Social Skills

Services provided by the Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program

• Screening to identify children who may have developmental difficulties
• Conduct comprehensive evaluations by the professional staff of the Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program
• An individualized educational program will be developed for every eligible child based on his/her own unique strengths and weaknesses
• Center based educational programs offered in Kids FIRST Early Intervention Program community setting options
• Home based intervention programs conducted under the guidance of professional staff, in the child's home environment
• Combination of center based and home based intervention services
• Nine week reviews of each child's progress by the professional staff with written report to the parents
• Referral to area agencies and other specialized resources as needed
• Assistance in obtaining and organizing support services for the family as needed.

Could you describe your school?
Each center provides their own staff. Tri-County provides additional support of special education and related service staff only when children are in attendance.

During the 1997-1998 school year for the communities of Independence, Coffeyville, and Caney:

Independence, KS:

• 18 children with IEP's
  
• 1 ECSE (Early Childhood Special Education) teacher
• 1.5 ECSE Paraprofessionals
• .2 Speech/Language Pathologist
• 1 Speech Paraprofessional
• .2 School Psychologist
• .1 Occupational Therapist

Coffeyville

• 17 children with IEP's
• .75 ECSE Teacher
• 2.5 ECSE Paraprofessionals
• .2 Speech/Language Pathologist
• 1 Speech Paraprofessional
• .2 School Psychologist
• .1 Occupational Therapist

Caney

• 6 children with IEP's
  
• .25 ECSE Teacher
• 1 ECSE Paraprofessional
• .1 Speech/Language Pathologist
• .1 School Psychologist
• .1 Occupational Therapist