Los Niños is part of the Clovis Municipal School District and is a special education program designed to help preschool children who have developmental disabilities or delays before they reach school age.

Your child must be identified as either having a disability or significant delay in one or more of the following areas of development:

• Visual Impairment
• Hearing Impairment
• Orthopedic or Motor Impairment
• Chronic Health Impairment
• Speech/Language Impairment
• Intellectually Disabled
• Emotional/Behavioral Disturbance
• Autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorder
• Traumatic Brain Injury

Your child must also be 3 years of age by the last day of school as approved by the Clovis Municipal School Board of Education in order to be eligible for services at Los Niños.

The first step in the referral process is to call Los Niños' Casemanager. Unless you child has been evaluated or received services through another agency, an appointment will be scheduled with you to obtain your child's case history information (i.e., birth, medical and developmental) and written consent to screen. During this meeting, additional appointments will be scheduled for you to bring your child to Los Niños for a vision and hearing screening and a developmental screening. After the developmental screening is completed, you will be invited to a Student Assistance Team (SAT) meeting. During the meeting, we will discuss your child's screening results, make a team decision about the next step in the process, & answer any questions you might have. Some possible SAT decisions could include:

• Your child may not qualify for further evaluations based on the screening results. At this point, you may be referred to another agency or preschool program if appropriate.
• Additional screening information may be needed. Another screening appointment might be made for a period of observation (1-2 weeks) in a classroom setting might be recommended as part of the screening process. If an observation is recommended, your child will be assigned a classroom teacher. You will be asked to provide transportation during the observation period.
• In order to more accurately determine your child's strengths and needs, your child may need further evaluations in one or more areas of development. If so, we will provide you with advance notice of what we are recommending. We will also request your written consent for your child to be tested as well as review your parents rights with you. As soon as the evaluation date and time are scheduled, we will contact you by telephone and send a letter with the evaluation information included.

There are two types of evaluations recommended at Los Niños:

1. Standardized Assessment: This type of evaluation is usually scheduled during Friday mornings or afternoons. If your child is being observed in the classroom as part of the evaluation process, the evaluation might take place during a school day. The evaluators will pull you child out of the class in order to complete the testing. Testing will be administered in a standardized manner, and your child will receive scores that compare his/her skills with other children his/her age. As parents, you will also be asked to assist with the evaluation by answering several questions regarding your child's development.
2. Play-based Assessment (PBA): This type of assessment involves Your child in play situations with , at varying times, a facilitating adult, parent(s), and another child. Several evaluators, along with the parents will be present in order to make observations in each developmental area (i.e., communication, learning, motor, social-emotional/behavior). A two week classroom observation (one week prior to the PBA and one week following the PBA) is also recommended as part of this evaluation process.

In order to answer your questions and talk about the testing, an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) committee meeting will be scheduled. You will be contacted by telephone with the date and time of the meeting, and we will also send a written notice in the mail. Based on the evaluation results, the IEP team, which includes you, will determine if your child qualifies to receive special education services which could include the following:

• Speech/Language therapy for communication days
• Physical or Occupational therapy for gross motor, fine motor and sensory delays
• Educational Audiology for the hearing impaired
• Orientation and mobility for the visually impaired
• Psychological counseling/family-classroom behavior plans for social-emotional/behavior impairments
• Developmental preschool

If your child qualifies for special education services, the IEP committee will share information about what your child's options are for receiving special education services. If your child qualifies and you choose to enroll him/her in our program, goals and objectives will be written and the IEP and enrollment paperwork will be completed.

As a parent, you are a vital member of this IEP committee. You can assist the committee by sharing additional information about your child, helping the committee make placement decisions and providing input about appropriate goals for your child.