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How
Inclusion Works in Our Program
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Enrollment of children with Special Education Needs
- We have 75 openings for children who qualify due to income eligibility through our Head Start Grant
- Special Education children are enrolled as they are identified through the screening and evaluation process
- Community children, whose parents are charged a fee, are enrolled as we have space available.
Development of the IEP or IFSP and Child Find
Screenings are held monthly for the community and at least six times per year for the entire County. Children who do not pass one or more portions of the screening are referred for further evaluation. We also get referrals directly from families or resources within the County and Wellington community. In addition, children who are enrolled as Head Start or community children are screened with the DIAL-3 or Denver II soon after beginning the program and referrals are made if there are concerns.All referrals for evaluations follow specific timelines. As referrals are processed, we work as a team to complete the evaluation and staffing process. A schedule for the evaluation is set up by the assigned teacher. All reports are turned in to our secretary. The staffing is scheduled according to the needs of the family and staff.
IEP's and IFSP's use the MAPS format for the staffings. We begin by discussing the child's strengths and what the family wants for their child. We then discuss the team's concerns and develop our goals and objectives from this list.
Our special education team collaborates when developing the goals and objectives by writing common goals and objectives addressing the areas of strengths and needs.
Special Education Services at Futures Unlimited, Inc.
Futures staff refer the child to the LEA, who figure the timeline, and the evaluation begins. If the child is attending Bright Futures, the team members pull the child individually and evaluate. If the child is from the community, the child comes into the classroom for a week so that the team can test. Staff use the transdisciplinary play-based assessment process. All services are delivered within the classroom setting. ECSE teachers team with EC teachers to provide special education services. The OT, PT and SLP provide services within the classroom. The speech educational support staff provide services in small groups on a weekly basis. OT and PT have trained the classroom support staff to provide their services and assist them when they are in the room. The groups are a blend of special education, Head Start, and fee funded students so that all students benefit from their services. Sometimes, the small groups are led by OT, PT or SLP and children rotate so they participate in all groups during the session. Classroom curriculum is organized around themes. The Creative Curriculum is the chosen curriculum for Bright Futures. In addition the Animated Literacy Program is used as a supplement. This is in accordance with the revised federal regulation for Head Start to provide all children with an awareness of letters and numbers before they enter kindergarten. Teachers plan theme topics together and meet on a weekly basis to brainstorm and group ideas through the use of a web. Therapists are aware of the themes in advance and send their ideas to the teachers. The classroom team, including therapists, Family Involvement Coordinator, the nurse, the Preschool Coordinator, and the Education Disabilities Coordinator come together over lunch once a month to discuss children's progress and plan for the coming weeks. Topics concerning the students that are discussed include health, mental health, family involvement cognitive, IEP progress, follow-up.
Individual Performance Evaluations
Our staff use portfolios and checklists to document the progress of all students. In addition, an activity based intervention matrix is used to target children's goals within the class routine. All staff take data on a daily basis in the classroom and this is used to update IEP objectives. At the end of the year, teachers document progress with a "Transition Passport". This is given to the family and to the kindergarten teacher along with items from the portfolio.Family Involvement in the Program
Bright Futures has several parent support groups including Parents, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. Some parents volunteer in the classroom, some take activities home to make for the classrooms, parents sewed book bags for the students to carry books from the book lending library, a toy and resource lending library is available for families, parents plan special family school events such as Fun Day, Harvest Night, Sweetheart Night. An end of the year family picnic and swim is planned for the families by the staff. Home visits and parent/teacher conferences are held 4 times a year.
Schedules
Futures
Unlimited, Inc. puts out a monthly calendar and a weekly calendar that publicizes
agency activities. Bright Futures Preschool puts out a yearly calendar and
a weekly calendar. The yearly calendar shows time off during the year, holidays,
annually scheduled conferences and inservices. It is given to all Bright
Futures families and staff. The weekly calendar lists workshops and inservices
that come up, all staff meetings, special education staffings, home visits,
field trips. A support services calendar gives the regular weekly schedule
for door greeters, swim schedule, speech/language pathologist, occupational
therapist, physical therapist, family involvement specialist, transition
teacher. The secretary at each site routes a calendar weekly for the teachers
and therapists to list meetings and activities; the secretary then prints
a calendar and distributes it to each staff member. Our agency is in the
process of connecting all staff by providing computers for their use and
for electronic mail.
Child Specific Accommodations in the Classroom
Each site has team meetings on a monthly basis which include regular and
special education teachers, all special education service providers, preschool
coordinator, nurse, family involvement specialist. Individual student
needs are discussed at that time and plans made for implementation of
those needs. When a student entered Bright Futures who was severely hearing
impaired, the
team met with the parents and discussed immediate needs at home and at school, initiated sign language, made books for home and school, investigated assistive technology. The team continued to meet on a weekly basis to support the family and assist them with legal paperwork.Program Funding
Funding for the community-based preschool comes from a variety of sources. The program is funded by Head Start for 75 students. A variety of Head Start grants assist with other aspects of the program. Our agency provides the Part B services for our local school district and a portion of our program is funded through that source. Some of the families pay a fee for their child to attend. We provide breakfast, lunch, and snack and that program is subsidized through the Federal Food Program.
Transportation for Children
Head Start and Futures Unlimited, Inc. own small school buses and vans
and transport children who live out of town, those who have special needs,
those families in which the adults work. All transportation personnel
are employed by Futures Unlimited, Inc.
Inservice Training
All regular and special education teachers and educational support staff
are notified of conferences and workshops and are given a chance to attend
those relevant to our program needs. Bright Futures provides inservices
on a monthly basis or more often as needed. There is a balance of in house
staff and outside presenters that provide the inservices.
Peer Interactions
Since children with special needs and typically developing children attend
in the same classroom, becoming friends is a natural part of their day.
They play, work, eat, swim, nap together and the children don't seem to
notice their differences. If a child has difficulty with an activity,
other children seem to know that they can be of help. The staff model
appropriate actions and words and help the children find ways to help
each other.
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