Child Find/Screening Process
Child Find/Screening Process in Glendale Elementary
Do you suspect that your preschool aged child (3 years to 5 years) may have a delay in the following 5 areas?
1) Cognitive
2) Social/Emotional
3) Adaptive (Self-Help) or Behavioral
4) Motor Skills (fine motor, gross motor, sensory)
5) Speech/Language & Communication
If yes, please know that the Glendale Preschool provides free Child Find/Screenings for our preschool aged children.
Please call our preschool office at 623-237-5404 to schedule a time for Child Find/Screening.
Please note that Child Find/Screening is a service provided for all preschool-aged children who live within our district.
*It is not the same as a special education evaluation. As such, there is no discussion of special education eligibility, services, or placement during Child Find/Screening. The purpose of Child Find/Screening is only to answer the question, "Do we suspect that the child may have a delay in any area of early childhood?"
The Child Find/Screening Process in Glendale Preschool
Step 1--Intake/Pre-Registration
The purpose of this step is to create a student file in the Preschool Office.
Parents and/or Legal Guardians, bring in the following documents for pre-registration:
● Birth Certificate
● Immunization Record
● Proof of Residency (within 30 days)
● Photo ID (driver’s license, state ID, passport)
● If available, Hearing and Vision Results--must be dated within 1 year
● Any outside therapy notes (if your child is receiving speech therapy, occupational therapy, counseling, or other services through an outside (not a school) agency.
Please note, appropriate proof of residency is a utility bill, mortgage statement, or rent statement dated within the last month (30 days). Coupon books or ‘ junk’ mail will not be accepted as proof of residency.
If the parent(s) name is not on the utility bill, mortgage statement or rent statement because they are living with someone else, the parent must fill out an “Affidavit of Residency Form.”
The form must be notarized and turned in at the time of Intake/Pre-Registration. You will also need to bring the utility bill, mortgage statement, or rent statement for the person listed on the Affidavit of Residency Form. This form may be obtained from the Preschool Department.
When the Intake/Pre-Registration is completed, we will move to Step 2.
Step 2-- Hearing and Vision Screening
The purpose of this step is to either identify or rule out a suspected delay in hearing and vision.
We will ask the parent to sign a permission form allowing us to screen for hearing and vision. These results are required to have in the child’s file.
Hearing and Vision results may be received in 3 ways:
- The student passes hearing and vision screening using our screening tools. We use an OAE hearing screener. We use a SPOT vision screener.
- The student passes using a functional hearing & vision questionnaire that is completed by the parent on behalf of the child.
- Families bring in current (within 1 year) hearing and vision results from a doctor’s office or other credible organization.
Hearing
If a child is referred through the OAE hearing screener, we will schedule a follow-up screening within 2 weeks. If the child continues to be referred through the OAE screener, we may consider a referral (at no cost to parent) to a hearing agency called Desert Valley Regional Cooperative (DVR). DVR will reach out to you to schedule a hearing examination. DVR will mail us the results and we will follow-up with the family.
Vision
If the child does not pass the vision screener, we will give you a copy of the results and it is at the discretion of the parent to consider following up with making an eye appointment for the child.
When Hearing & Vision screening is completed, we will move on to step 3.
Step 3--Child Find/Screening
The purpose of Child Find/Screening is to help the team determine if an evaluation is necessary because of a suspected disability in the area of cognitive, self-help/adaptive, social-emotional, expressive language, receptive language and speech, fine motor, gross motor, and sensory.
The date of the Child Find/Screening will be provided for you by our Preschool Office.
On the day of Child Find:
1) Report to the address provided to you by the preschool office.
2) Parents will be given a folder with some forms to fill-out. These forms will take approximately 30 minutes.
3) The child will be screened in the areas of: cognitive, self-help/adaptive, social-emotional, expressive language, receptive language and speech, fine motor, gross motor, and sensory. This will take approximately 1 hour.
4) After the screening, parents will receive an update stating:
a) No--There is not a suspected delay. We will provide you with strategies and next steps.
b) Yes--There may be a suspected delay. We will schedule a date for a formal evaluation, issue a Prior Written Notice for Initial Referral in your home language, and provide you with Procedural Safeguards (parent rights) in your home language.