2015-16 SY updated

Transition to Elementary School from Preschools for

Special Education Students

1)Determine whether reevaluation is necessary:

a)If current school placement is Autism – No reevaluation necessary, unless the team wants updated information prior to making a placement decision.

b)If current school placement is Developmentally Delay –

i)Reevaluation is not necessary if the student needs a Resource setting.

ii)Reevaluation is necessary if the student needs a Self-contained setting

Note: Determining eligibility for learning disabled services and emotionally disabled services prior to a student’s kindergarten year is typically quite difficult. Please see your school psychologist for questions regarding eligibility for these services.

2)Hold reevaluation meetings as early as possible.

3)Evaluate children. If possible, it will make transition planning easier if the testing is completed ASAP.

4)Submit a list of children transitioning to elementary schools from preschool, along with proposed placements, to the Elementary Special Education Coordinator and the Lead School Psychologist. If there are still students whose placements are not yet determined (i.e., whose reevaluations have not yet been completed), then please include these students’ names, indicating what the most likely placement option(s) will be.

a)The preschool teacher should let the psychologist know which school each student is zoned for. The teacher should be sure that the address information that they have is accurate in order to be sure that they are assigning the child to the correct elementary school.

b)Self-contained class placements are generally determined as follows: Children living in the South Fant area go to Midway. Children living in the West Market zone go to McLees (or Centerville if LD). The classroom for students with Severe Intellectual Disabilities is at Concord. The classrooms for students with Emotional Disabilities will be at North Pointe.

5)Hold transition meetings with elementary school representatives in late April/May. Children who are receivingonly speech services do not need a transition meeting.

6)Resource students do not need transition meetings unless there are extenuating circumstances that require face-to-face discussion. If youdetermine that a transition meeting is not needed for a tentative Resource placement, it is still best practice to collaborate with the elementary case manager to get specific information about the elementary schedule (service hours, length of periods, etc.).

7)When possible, try to coordinate these meetings for one day at each receiving elementary school. Be sure to plan these meetings well in advance.

8)The special education case manager from the preschool is in charge of doing the meeting paperwork. She should work with the proposed/probable elementary school teacher in order to be sure that necessary changes are made to the IEP. In general, students going to mild and moderately intellectuallydisabledclassrooms will need goals andobjectives on their IEPs.

9)The preschool school psychologist will coordinate meeting dates and times and will notify participants (as there are potentially children from several different special educators to coordinate with receiving schools). One exception isthat the receiving school (the elementary school) has the responsibility of providing the regular education teacher.

10) Persons to invite include:

  • The sending and receiving special educator (i.e. preschool teacher and proposed/probable elementary school teacher);
  • The receiving speech/language therapist. If speech is a major concern, the sending speech/language therapist should attend.
  • The principal from the receiving school (the principal may designate someone else to be the LEA, but you should always invite the principal first)
  • Elementary Special Education Coordinator (may not need to attend all meetings, but should be involved)
  • Preschool psychologist (may not need to attend all meetings, but should be involved) .The preschool psychologist will contact the designated contact person listed below at the elementary school, with a list of students potentially attending their school (if at all possible), with proposed placements, DOBs, and disability labels, as well as a list of staff members/positions to invite (principal, speech, etc.).

Calhoun – SamanthaHembree (resource)

Centerville – Rebecca Marsengill (LD/SC)

Concord – Katie Newton (resource)

Homeland Park- Ruby Wooten (resource)

McLees – Coral Magner (school psychologist)

Midway – Lisa Lipscomb (school psychologist)

Nevitt Forest – Pamela Ritterling (resource)

New Prospect – Nick Davis (resource)

North Pointe- Rachel Cary (ED/SC)

Varennes – Craig Pate (resource)

Whitehall – Trisha Wray (resource)