When should a child be
referred to Child Find?
A child should be referred when any of the following is observed:
1. A health or medical disorder interferes with development and/ or learning.
2. A child seems to have difficulty understanding directions like
others that are his/her age.
3. A child seems to have difficulty seeing or hearing.
4. A child’s speech is not
understandable to family or
friends.
5. A child appears to have social, emotional or behavioral
difficulties that affect his/her
ability to learn.
6. A child has difficulty with reading, math or other school subjects
7. A child has a diagnosed
progressive or degenerative
condition that will eventually
impair or impede the child’s
ability to learn.
How can children be referred?
A referral may be made by anyone who has a concern about a child’s develop ment. All referrals are considered confi dential. The parent retains the right to refuse services. Children may be referred by any of the following:
∙ Parent/legal guardians/foster parents ∙ Physicians/health care providers ∙ Childcare providers
∙ Preschool Programs
∙ Other family members
∙ School System personnel
∙ Community agencies
∙ Private school personnel
∙ Others who are concerned about a child’s development
Child Find activities are conducted on be half of all children with disabilities living within our Enrollment Area. Our goal is to ensure access to a Free Appropriate Public Education. For further information please call or email:
Heather Rivera
Director of Special Education
(229) 787-9999
hrivera@bccsblazers.org
Baconton Community Charter School
260 E Walton St, Baconton, GA 31716
Baconton
Community
Charter School CHILD FIND
What is Child Find?
The federal purpose of Child Find is to identify, locate, and evaluate children, from birth to 21, who are suspected of or have a disability or developmental delay that may result in a need for special education. BCCS serves children ages 4 through 21 with identified special education needs. Children birth through the age of 3 should be referred to the Mitchel County School System.
Included in this brochure, you will find a list and description of special education categories provided by the State of Georgia Department of Education: SPECIAL EDUCATION RULES Categories of Eligibility (Chapter 160-4-7-.01).
Categories of Eligibility
Autism: A developmental disability, generally evident before the age of three, that adversely affects a student’s educational performance and significantly affects developmental rates and sequences, verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction and participation. Other characteristics often associated with autism are unusual responses to sensory
experiences, engagement in repetitive activities and stereotypical movements and resistance to environmental changes or changes in daily routine.
Deaf/Hard of Hearing: A hearing loss, whether permanent or fluctuation, that interferes with the acquisition or maintenance of auditory skills necessary for the normal development of speech, language, and academic achievement.
Emotional/Behavioral Disorder: An emotional disability characterized by one or more of the following characteristics over a period of time and in multiple settings:
- An inability to build, or maintain, satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and/or teachers.
- An inability to learn which cannot by explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors.
- Consistent or chronic inappropriate type behaviors or feelings under normal conditions
- Displayed pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression
-Displayed tendency to develop physical symptoms, pains or unreasonable fears associated with personal or school problems.
Intellectual Disability: Significantly sub-average intellectual functioning, exhibited concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior, which adversely affects educational performance. The disability may be described as mild, moderate, severe, or profound.
Orthopedic Impairment : A physical impairment result from disease, such as polio, conditions such as cerebral, or from amputations or birth defects, which are so severe as to interfere with educational performance.
Other Health Impairment: An impairment characterized by limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened alertness to environmental stimuli, due to health conditions such as heart disease, epilepsy, diabetes, etc., which adversely affects academic performance to the degree that the student requires special education.
Significant Developmental Delay: A delay in child’s development in one ore more of the following areas: cognition, communication, gross or fine motor development, social emotional or adaptive development to the extent that, it not provided with special intervention, the delay may adversely affect his/her educational performance in school.
Specific Learning Disability: A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological process involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which may manifest itself in an impaired ability to listen, think, speak, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia.
Speech-Language Impairment: A communication skill that differs so significantly in manner or content from that of peers that it is apparent, disrupts communication or affects emotional, social, intellectual or education growth. The term includes impairments of articulation.
Traumatic Brain Injury: An acquired injury to the brain caused by an external physical force resulting in an impairment that adversely affects the student’s educational performance. The term does not apply to brain injuries that are congenital or degenerative in nature, or brain injuries induced by birth trauma or those resulting from internal occurrences such as stroke, tumor or aneurysm.
Visual Impairment: A condition in which the vision interferes with functioning in a regular school program. The student may be considered to be functionally blind, legally blind or partially sighted.
Related Services and Supplemental Aids: Services, which may be provided to assist a student with a disability in benefiting from special education. Such services include, but are not limited to the following: Assistive Devices/Services, Audiological Services, Counseling Services, Early Identification and Assessment, Educational Interpreting Services, Medical Services for diagnostic or evaluation, Occupational Therapy, Orientation and Mobility, Parent counseling and Training, Physical Therapy, Psychological Services, Recreation, Rehabilitation Counseling, School Health Services, Social Work Services in Schools, Speech Language Pathology Services, Transportation, and Transition Services.