The purpose of Child Find is to identify, locate and evaluate children from birth to 21 years of age with disabilities or suspected disabilities and their possible need for special education and related services. Child Find is a free referral and information service available through local education agencies and Education Service Center Region 13. If you are concerned that your child may be learning, playing or interacting differently from others, please call the special education department of your local education agency or ESC Region 13 staff listed below.
34 CFR §300.111 Child find.
(1) The State must have in effect policies and procedures to ensure that—
(i) All children with disabilities residing in the State, including children with disabilities who are homeless children or are wards of the State, and children with disabilities attending private schools, regardless of the severity of their disability, and who are in need of special education and related services, are identified, located, and evaluated; and
(ii) A practical method is developed and implemented to determine which children are currently
receiving needed special education and related services.
(b) Use of term developmental delay. The following provisions apply with respect to implementing the
child find requirements of this section:
(1) A State that adopts a definition of developmental delay under §300.8(b) determines whether the term applies to children aged three through nine, or to a subset of that age range (e.g., ages three through five).
(2) A State may not require an LEA to adopt and use the term developmental delay for any children within its jurisdiction.
(3) If an LEA uses the term developmental delay for children described in §300.8(b), the LEA must conform to both the State's definition of that term and to the age range that has been adopted by the State.
(4) If a State does not adopt the term developmental delay, an LEA may not independently use that term as a basis for establishing a child's eligibility under this part.
(c) Other children in child find. Child find also must include—
(1) Children who are suspected of being a child with a disability under §300.8 and in need of special
education, even though they are advancing from grade to grade; and
(2) Highly mobile children, including migrant children.
(d) Construction. Nothing in the Act requires that children be classified by their disability so long as each child who has a disability that is listed in §300.8 and who, by reason of that disability, needs special education and related services is regarded as a child with a disability under Part B of the Act.
(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1401(3)); 1412(a)(3))
ESC Region 13 provides Child Find posters free of cost to local education agencies within our region. If you have additional questions or need assistance please contact our Child Find team at email@example.com.
Once you submit the form, you will receive a PDF with the poster. Make sure to complete each item on the form exactly as you want it to appear on the poster as this system merges the information on form with the poster template. If you do not receive the poster PDF or have questions, please contact firstname.lastname@example.org. If you would like ESC Region 13 to print the posters for you, please review and forward the PDF you receive to email@example.com, indicating the number of posters needed. Once printed, we will coordinate pickup or delivery via mail.
Education agencies outside of Region 13 may purchase a Child Find poster from our product store.
Child Find Purpose and District
Contact Information Poster - ENGLISH
Child Find Purpose and District
Contact Information Poster - SPANISH
For more information please contact: