Transcript Slide 1

April 2014
Early Intervention
 Federal regulations (IDEA) mandate early intervention
services for preschool children.
 However, each state decides on criteria for eligibility,
how services will be provided, and who will be
responsible for providing those services.
 Differences between states were highlighted in a
report from The National Early Childhood Technical
Assistance Center (NECTAC) in 2011.
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www.nectac.org
Examples from NECTAC (2011):
 Arizona:
 Dev. Delay = 1.5 – 3.0 SD in two areas
 Severe Dev. Delay = 3 SD in one area
 Illinois:
 Dev. Delay = a delay in physical, cognitive,
communication, social/emotional, or adaptive areas
 Michigan:
 Dev. Delay = 50% delay in one or more areas
 New Jersey:
 Dev. Delay = 33% delay in one area or 25% in two areas
Early Intervention in PA
Two Separate Programs Work Together:
 Infant Toddler Early Intervention
• Serves children ages birth to 3
• Funded through Department of Public Welfare
• Family centered and routines-based
• Plan is called “Individual Family Service Plan” (IFSP)
• Services provided by each county
• All services are by contracted individuals or agencies
Early Intervention in PA
 Preschool Early Intervention
• Serves children ages 3-5
• Funded through Department of Education
• Focus on the individual child and is education-based
• Plan is called “Individual Education Plan” (IEP)
• Services provided by Intermediate Units, plus a
few individual school districts, and one large agency
(Elwyn in the Philadelphia area)
• Services provided by direct staff or contracted
staff
•
Direct staff are public school employees
Kirstan (Easter Seals)
Preschool EI Program
 Special Education services for children from the age of
3 until they go to kindergarten.
 Special Education regulations (IDEA and Chapter 14)
cover all children ages 3 – 21.
 Services are funded through federal and state funds
and are provided at no cost to families (FAPE).
 Federal funds: IDEA (based on Dec. 1 child-count)
 State funds: Early Intervention funds (based on per
child allotment- different for every program)
 ACCESS reimbursement (for eligible services)
 Local funds: Kindergarten eligible charges to districts
Funding Details
2013-2014 CIU # 10 Preschool EI Program:
State EI Allocation:
$3,918,701
IDEA 619 Allocation:
210,927
IDEA 611 Component 1:
517, 517
Projected MA:
350,000
Total PDE Revenue $4,997,145
less IDEA 619 K-5 pass through 53,545
$4,943,600
2013-2014 Projected Child Count:
850
Funding Details
funding divided by child count = “per child allocation”
$4,943,600 / 850 = $5,816 per child
OCDEL uses a formula to determine state funding:
 Per child $ x child count = total budget amount
 Total budget – projected MA – IDEA funds = EI funds
needed from the state
Funding Details
Important factors:
• If you don’t make child count – OCDEL could request
return of funds
• In the past – if you didn’t make projected MA earnings
that was a loss to the program.
 To improve financial circumstances a program can:
 Decrease program costs
 Increase child count
 Increase MA revenue
 Request additional state funding
Dakoda & Courtney (home visit)
Kindergarten Eligible Children (Act 30)
 Pennsylvania regulations allow parents to delay
sending children to kindergarten for one year.
 Those children are entitled to continue receiving early
intervention services during that year.
 EI programs are not permitted to use EI funds to pay
for kindergarten-eligible children, and are mandated
to charge school districts for those services.
 CIU # 10 encourages parents to send eligible children
to school, but we still average about 25 K-eligible
children each year (within the 12 districts).
David – Rev MS (w/HS)
Pennsylvania’s Intermediate Units
Centre County
 Area in square miles (urban-mix)
 Number of children 0-5:
 Risk of school failure:
 % participating in pub. funded EC programs:
 Children in econ. high risk families (100% FPL):
 Children in econ. at risk families (300% FPL):
 % of births to mothers w/ less than HS educ.
 OCDEL Reach & Risk Report 2013
1,112
6,771
Low
39.3%
16.7%
54.6%
9.3%
Clearfield County
 Area in square miles (rural)
 Number of children 0-5:
 Risk of school failure:
 % participating in pub. funded EC programs:
 Children in econ. high risk families (100% FPL):
 Children in econ. at risk families (300% FPL):
 % of births to mothers w/ less than HS educ.
 OCDEL Reach & Risk Report 2013
1,154
4,053
High
56%
33%
78.9%
13.8%
Clinton County
 Area in square miles (rural)
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898
Number of children 0-5:
2,205
Risk of school failure:
Moderate-High
% participating in pub. funded EC programs:
46.9%
Children in econ. high risk families (100% FPL):
23%
Children in econ. at risk families (300% FPL):
74.3%
% of births to mothers w/ less than HS educ.
22.4%
 OCDEL Reach & Risk Report 2013
Three County CIU # 10 Area
• Total Square Miles:
3,164
(larger in area than Delaware or Rhode Island)
 Total Children ages 0-5:
13,029
(According to the Reach & Risk Report, this number
has increased by 659 children since 2009)
Niko – Rev MS (Easter Seals)
On his “Jet Scooter”
Child Count
The CIU # 10 Preschool Early Intervention Program
provided services to over 850 children per year in our
three county area for the last three years.
CIU # 10 Preschool
Data Profile 2011 – 2012*
% by Educational Environment:
 Early Childhood
 EC – Head Start
 EC – Special Ed
 Home
 Itin. Outside Home
 Reverse Mainstream
 Inclusive Env.
32.8%
27.5%
7.2%
13.8%
1.1%
14.6%
88.9%
* Most recent Data Profile available
State Average:
32.5%
15.2%
15.8%
7.2%
10.2%
2.8%
69.8%
Eligibility in Pennsylvania
 Children referred to Preschool EI must be within 45
days of their 3rd birthday up to the age of school entry.
 The child must have 1.5 SD or a 25% delay in cognition,
motor, language, personal-social, or adaptive skills OR
have a diagnosis that is one of the disability categories
from IDEA/Chapter 14, AND is in need of specially
designed instruction.
Referral Process
 Most of our referrals are from families or EC programs
 A referral packet is mailed to the family: Ages & Stages
Questionnaire (ASQ), permission to screen, parent
input form, consent to exchange info, return envelope
with postage
 When returned, ASQ is scored by director, screening is
then assigned to a staff person
 Staff perform screening, always have option to go
directly to evaluation if they feel it is warranted
Niko with a Friend
Connor – Rev MS (Easter Seals)
Kindergarten Transitions
 We host district meetings in November to give
administrators advance information about how many
children they can expect in the fall and their individual
level of needs
 Preschool EI staff attend February meetings with the
families, often more than one staff for involved kids
 If a district offers a “kindergarten camp” type of
program in the summer, we will support our kids if
needed for them to attend (PCA’s, etc.)
Matternville ECSE
CIU # 10 Preschool
Service Delivery
Early Childhood Special Education Classes (7):
 Centre Co: 3 classes (Matternville – CIU # 10 staff )
 Clearfield Co: 1 class (Cen Clear Clearfield Campus)
 Clinton Co: 3 classes (Infant Development Program)
Contracted Integrated Classes (rev. mainstream: 13)
 Centre Co: 5 classes (Matternville & Easter Seals)
 Clearfield Co: 5 classes (Clearfield Campus, Woodland,
Graham Station II)
 Clinton Co: 3 classes (Infant Development Program)
CIU # 10 Preschool
Service Delivery
Itinerant Teachers / Therapists provide services in:
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Community preschools & daycare facilities
Head Start classrooms
Pre-K Counts classrooms
Family Homes
Transitions from Infant/Toddler Programs:
 CIU # 10 “Transition Teachers” complete the process in
Centre and Clearfield Counties, including the initial
meeting, evaluation, ER, & IEP.
 A Trans. Teacher is contracted in Clinton Co. – part time
Summer Services
By state regulation – PS EI must not have any break more
than 3 weeks in length. We operate on a “stretch calendar” of
184 work days “stretched” over 12 months.
 PALS = Preschoolers Accessing Language & Speech
 Many children receive services in community programs that
do not operate during the summer months.
 PALS sessions are team-taught by a teacher and an SLP, or
sometimes by two SLPs. Related service staff (OT – PT: visit
PALS to provide services in that setting).
 Theme-based language activities focus on skill practice.
 2 hour classes are held one day per week for 4 weeks during
July and August (on Preschool Calendar).
 Classes are held at a variety of central locations and
transportation is provided.
Summer Services
 Specialized Classes and Reverse Mainstream Classes
 Classes run on a modified schedule for 4 weeks during July &
August. Transportation is provided.
 Home-based services
 Children receiving home-based services are encouraged to
participate in Summer PALS. Often this is a way to introduce
a classroom-based experience to children transitioning to a
preschool class in the fall.
 Some children continue to receive home-based services on
the preschool calendar during the summer months (children
who are medically fragile or just turning 3 for example).
Summer PALS – Centre Co.
Summer PALS – Clearfield Co.
CIU # 10 Preschool
Contracted Agencies
 Cen-Clear Child Services, Inc.
 Head Start, Pre K Counts, & B-3 provider in Clearfield
& Centre Counties
 1 Specialized class
 8 Integrated classes (rev. mainstream) with HS
children
 Itinerant teachers for services in Head Start
classrooms
 Classroom teachers, classroom aides, personal care
aides as needed in contracted classrooms
CIU # 10 Preschool
Contracted Agencies
 Infant Development Program
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Preschool Program & B-3 provider in Clinton County
3 Specialized classes
3 Integrated classes (reverse mainstream with typical
preschool children)
Classroom teachers, classroom aides, personal care aides as
needed in contracted classrooms
Part-time Transition Teacher completes B-3 transitions in
Clinton County
CIU # 10 Preschool
Contracted Agencies
 Easter Seals
 Preschool Program & B-3 provider in Centre County
 Contracted for 12 slots (reverse mainstream with
typical preschool children)
 Classroom teachers, classroom aides, personal care
aides as needed in integrated classrooms
 Provides office & therapy space for CIU # 10 SLP, OT,
and PT/TVI
Rev MS – Easter Seals
Claire in the swing - ES
Claire & Heidi use AT
to make choices at ES
CIU # 10 PS Professional Direct Staff (34)
 1 ½ Transition Teachers (Centre & Clearfield transitions)
 2 Specialized Classroom Teachers (Matternville)
 4 ½ Itinerant Teachers
 19 Speech / Language Pathologists
 2 ½ Physical Therapists
 3 ½ Occupational Therapists
 .5 Teacher of the Deaf & Hard of Hearing
 .5 Teacher of the Visually Impaired + some help from SA
CIU # 10 Preschool Administration and
Administrative Assistants (4)
 1 Director
 1 Administrative Assistant
 1 Fiscal Administrative Assistant
 ½ Data Administrative Assistant
 ½ of ACCESS Administrative Assistant
Zoe at ES
Zoe in the sensory room at ES
Cen Clear Rev MS – Clearfield
Kari (SLP)
We strive to help each child make progress
toward their goals, be ready for school, and still
have time to just enjoy being a kid.