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:

• Designed for children without disabilities

• The special education teacher and or/therapist travel to the child and provide the services in the integrated setting (The child is not pulled from the classroom for the special education and related services.)

• Daycare (Public or Private [not parochial])

• Preschool (Public or Private [not parochial])

• Head start

• Home/early childhood combinations

• May be a collaborative program this is designed for children without disabilities, where the ratio of children without IEPs is equal to or higher than that of children with IEPs.  These classrooms could be team-taught or taught by one teacher who has a split position.  Examples of these combined programs include:

• Title I/ECSE classroom

• District Early Childhood/ECSE classroom

• Headstart/ECSE classroom

• Missouri Preschool Project (MPP)/ECSE classroom

Early Childhood Special Education Setting. Children with disabilities who receive all of their special education and related services in educational programs designed primarily for children with disabilities housed in regular school buildings or other community-based settings.  No special education or related services as designated by an IEP are provided in an early childhood setting.

Some characteristics/examples of this setting are:

• Designed for children with disabilities

• Centerbased/self-contained

• Integrated ECSE (formerly reverse mainstream)

• Special education classrooms in trailers outside regular school building

Home. Children with disabilities who receive all of their special education and related services in the principal residence of the child’s family or caregivers. 

Some characteristics/examples of this setting are:

• Child's home

• Foster home

• Extended family's home (grandparent, aunt, etc.)

Part Time EC/Part time ECSE setting. Children with disabilities who receive all of their special education and related services in multiple settings, such that: (1) general and/or special education and related services are provided at home or in educational programs designed primarily for children without disabilities AND (2) special education and related services are provided in programs designed primarily for children with disabilities.

Some characteristics/examples of this setting are:

• Services are provided in two different placements

• Home  + Itinerant Service Outside the Home

• Home + ECSE

• Early Childhood Setting + Itinerant Service Outside the Home

• Early Childhood Setting + ECSE

Residential Facility. Children with disabilities who receive all of their special education and related services in publicly or privately operated residential schools or residential medical facilities on an inpatient basis. 

Note:  Only use this option when the IEP team has determined that the child needs to be placed in a residential facility in order to receive FAPE, not because the child is already placed in a residential facility by another agency or because the location for the provision of services is located such a distance from the child’s home that residing in the facility is necessary. In those cases, another placement option would be used, such as Home, EC, ECSE, or Separate School. 

Separate School. Children with disabilities who receive all of their special education and related services in educational programs in public or private day schools specifically for children with disabilities.

Itinerant Service Outside the Home. Children with disabilities who receive all of their special education and related services at a school, hospital facility on an outpatient basis, or other location for a short period of time (i.e., no more than 3 hours per week).  These services may be provided individually or to a small group of children.

This placement option would be used in the following instances:

• The service is being provided at a location other than the child’s home

• The child comes to the teacher (the service is being provided in a resource or non-school location, not in an integrated classroom setting)

• The teacher or service provider goes to the child’s preschool/childcare setting, but provides services in a “pull-out” fashion—separating the child from children without disabilities

• The service is being provided for a short period of time (3 hours or less per week)

• The service is being provided to an individual child or a small group of children

Examples of this would be:

• The child is receiving speech only services for 120 minutes per week.  The SLP goes to the child’s preschool, but provides the services one-on-one in a separate room

• The child is receiving 60 minutes of speech and 120 minutes of OT per week.  For the speech, the child comes to the public school building, but receives the services in a small group in the speech resource room.  For the OT, the child goes to the local hospital’s rehabilitation clinic.

• The child receives 30 minutes per week of specialized instruction in a small group pull-out setting and 15 minutes consultation is provided to the Early Childhood staff, at the child’s childcare center.

• The child receives 60 minutes of ECSE teacher services weekly, pullout from Head Start, and 30 minutes consultative services from the SLP in a separate room at the Head Start, monthly with parent and Head Start staff present.