Early Childhood Special Education
Who can serve as the regular education teacher for a child who is eligible for ECSE?
For preschool children, the regular education teacher can be
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a Title 1 preschool teacher
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a public school preschool teacher
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a community preschool teacher/childcare teacher
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an integrated ECSE teacher
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a Head Start teacher
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Title1/ECSE cooperative teachers
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ECSE teachers who also hold an EC (PK-3) certificate
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Kindergarten teachers.
How is the communication area of delay interpreted?
If a district allows both a YCDD and a categorical diagnosis, the eligibility determination team has the option of determining the student eligible under YCDD, or the team can consider the categorical areas of language impairment, sound system disorder, voice, or fluency.
What are the placement options for ECSE students?
State regulations list several placement options for preschool children.
Early Childhood Setting. Children with disabilities who receive all of their special education and related services in educational programs designed primarily for children without disabilities. No education or related services are provided in separate special education settings.
Some characteristics/examples of the above setting are:
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Designed for children without disabilities
Does the educational environment category need to be documented on the child’s IEP?
No. The educational environment category should not be documented on the IEP, as these categories reflect not only the services that are listed in the IEP, but also regular education services that the child is receiving that are not required by the IEP or provided or paid for by the LEA. However, the LEA must have a system for documenting the district’s determination of the child’s “educational environment” for reporting purposes.
Can a kindergarten child receive services in ECSE?
Yes. If a child has been identified and served with ECSE services previously, the IEP team can choose to continue to provide ECSE services during the kindergarten year. However, ECSE grant funds may not be used to pay for this placement. This is not a change from previous regulation. IEP teams should carefully consider the issue of number of hours in an ECSE placement versus the number of hours a child in kindergarten in their district receives (half-day or full-day kindergartens).
Where/how do you document regular education minutes on the IEP?
State and federal regulations no longer require that regular education minutes be documented on the IEP. The extent of participation in regular education is now documented by indicating if the child will receive all of his special education services with non-disabled peers in a regular education setting. If not, documentation must show the extent of time the special education will not be provided in a regular education setting and the reasons why.