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IHBAC - Child Find

IHBAC - Child Find

MSAD 35 has been approved by the Commissioner of the Maine Department of Education (DOE) to assume responsibility for Child Find activities and for ensuring a free and appropriate education [FAPE] for children eligible under Part B, Section 619 of the Individuals With Disabilities Act, i.e., children with disabilities ages 3 to 5. 

MSAD 35 seeks to ensure that all children residing within its jurisdiction who are between the ages of 3 and under 22 years of age, and who are in need of special education and related services are identified, located, and evaluated at public expense. This includes students with disabilities who are homeless children, wards of the state or state agency clients, children with disabilities attending private schools and receiving home instruction, highly mobile children (including migrant or homeless), children who have the equivalent of 10 full days of unexcused absences or 7 consecutive school days of unexcused absences during a school year, and children incarcerated in county jails, and children suspected of being in need of special education and related services even though they are advancing from grade to grade.  

MSAD 35’s child find responsibility shall be accomplished through a unit-wide process which, while not a definitive or final judgment of a student’s capabilities or disability, is a possible indicator of special education needs. Final identification of students with disabilities and programming for such students occurs only after an appropriate evaluation and a determination by the IEP Team.

The school unit shall provide child find during the first 30 days of the school year or during the first 30 days of enrollment for transfer children, in addition to other child find activities provided by the school unit.

This child find process shall include obtaining data on each child through multiple measures, direct assessment, and parent information regarding the child’s academic and functional performance, gross and fine motor skills, receptive and expressive language skills, vision, hearing and cognitive skills. MSAD 35 may schedule child find activities during its annual pre-kindergarten and kindergarten enrollment to assist in planning for necessary special education and related services at the start of the school year.

If the child find process indicates that a student may require special education and supportive services in order to benefit from regular education, the student shall be referred to the IEP team to determine the student’s eligibility for special education services.

School staff, parents, or agency representatives or other individuals with knowledge of the child may refer children to the IEP team if they believe that the student, because of a disability, may be in need of special education and supportive services in order to benefit from regular education.  Such a referral should follow the school unit’s pre-referral and referral policy.

 

34 C.F.R. § 300.111 (2006), Me. Dept. of Educ. Rule Ch. 101, IV 2(A), (C) (2015), Me Dept. of Educ. Administrative Letter 1 (January 21, 2021)

 

Policy Adopted: April 1, 1987

Policy Revised: December 6, 1989; May 1, 1996; January 8, 2003; December 1, 2004; November 17, 2010; November 17, 2021; October 2025

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