What is Child Find?

Child Find (ages 3-21) is the affirmative, ongoing obligation of local education agencies (LEAs) to identify, locate and evaluate all children with disabilities residing within their jurisdictions who need special education and related services.

Federal law:

Sec. 300.39, 1975, 1990 & 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires educational systems receiving state/federal funding to provide a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) to children found to have a disability in their least restrictive setting.

State law:

Texas Education Code, Texas State Board of Education & Commissioner’s Rule requires Texas schools to adhere to the federal law for students with disabilities under IDEA.

Spring ISD: 

If you suspect a scholar may have a disability, please contact:

• The student’s counselor and/or 

• The campus assigned student support specialist. 

We abide by the federal regulations of Child Find:

• We actively review and locate children that may have a disability

What steps do I take for my child?     

Students ages 3-4
 
Spring ISD's Special Education Department schedules appointments to screen 3- or 4-year old children whose parents believe their child may have a speech/language, emotional/behavior, physical or cognitive disability.

The screening appointment may be scheduled by calling 281-891-8290

The screening is designed to identify children with potential disabilities that may qualify them for the District's special education programs.

Parents who can answer "yes" to any of the following questions may wish to consider having their pre-school child screened:

• Language needs -- Are you worried because your child is not talking? Are you the only one who can understand your child?

• Learning problems -- Is your child having difficulty learning new concepts such as color identification or counting?

• Emotional problems -- Does your child seem to have many fears and worries or be constantly afraid? Is he/she overly aggressive or withdrawn and unresponsive?

• Physical difficulties -- Does your child seem to have trouble seeing people or objects? Does your child seem to have trouble hearing voices or other sounds, or is he/she usually quiet? Has a physician diagnosed your child as blind or as having a severe hearing loss? Is there any special health or physical problems?

The screening will be conducted by our appraisal specialists.  If the appraisal specialists determine that a deficit exists in one or more of the developmental areas, a full & individual evaluation for special education services will be scheduled with parental consent.  The timeline to complete a full & individual evaluation for special education is 45 school days.

Students age 5 and Older

If you believe your child has a disability and would like to request information regarding the evaluation processes for consideration of special education.  Please contact your campus Student Support Specialist. The Student Support Specialist (SSS) will provide you with the information that is needed for your evaluation considerations. If you are not able to locate the Student Support Specialist, please also contact the campus Principal at the campus that is zoned to your home address. Upon contact, your request will be reviewed and information will be provided to you to indicate if informed written consent for an initial evaluation for the consideration of special education eligibility will or will not be offered, at this time. You should receive information about the status of your requests within fifteen school days.

• Parent's Guide to ARD Process: English

• Parent’s Guide to the ARD Process: Spanish

• Notice of Procedural Safeguards: English

• Aviso Sobre Procedimientos de Protección

• Senate Bill 139 : English

• Senate Bill 139: Spanish

• Resources for Special Education in Texas

• Parental Access to Special Education Records- Records Request Process

• Records Request Form

Updates located on our Legal Updates and Notices Page

Spring ISD aligned our reporting requirements regarding the enrollment of special education Performance-Based Monitoring to comply with the state's Analysis System.  We ensure that parents are provided their rights via the procedural safeguards at least annually for their students identified to receive special education services.   We believe that every parent should and is provided clear and transparent processes regarding how students are considered for referral for special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)  and TEC Sec. 29.004 .  You can easily locate our local policies and procedures related to how one can initiate a referral for evaluation under IDEA on our webpage and also through communication with our campus leadership.