Child Find

You, your child, and your school are partners in the learning process. This partnership is the key to determining a suitable program for your child. Your experiences with and observations of your child provide valuable insight for the school.

Parents who suspect their child may have a disability should contact the Child Find program. Child Find, an IDEA mandate, seeks to locate all children with disabilities who would benefit from public services.

In This Section

  • When Should a Child be Referred to Child Find
  • Private School Referral
  • Northshore Special Education Referral Process
  • Evaluation Process

 

When Should a Child be Referred to Child Find?

Parents should contact Child Find if they:

  • Have questions about whether their child has a disability.
  • Are concerned about their infant, toddler, or preschooler's development.
  • Know their child has a disability and are looking for appropriate educational services.
  • Would like to know how to help their school-age child succeed in school.

Students may be in need of "specially designed instruction" and qualify for special education support in the following areas:

  • Speech and Language: Difficulty with understanding language and/or speaking.
  • Motor: Difficulty with sprinting, writing, walking, or jumping.
  • Developmental Delay: Young children who appear to be behind in the development of cognition communication, physical skills, social skills and/or self-help skills.
  • Learning Disability: Children who struggle in acquiring reading, writing and math skills.
  • Health Impairments: Limited strength, vitality, alertness due to a chronic or acute health condition (i.e. diabetes, leukemia, ADD, ADHD).
  • Emotional/Behavioral: Difficulty maintaining satisfactory relationships with peers and adults.
  • Orthopedic Impairments: Difficulty with the normal function of muscles, joints and bones.
  • Intellectual Disability: Significant difficulty in intellectual skills and in self-help/adaptive skills.
  • Multiple Disabilities: Two different disabilities occurring at the same time causing severe educational need.
  • Deafness: Documented hearing loss to such a degree that student is unable to process information through hearing.
  • Hearing-Impaired: Documented hearing difficulties which negatively affect the student's educational performance.
  • Vision Impairment/Blindness: Students with a visual impairment that, even with correction, require specially designed instruction.
  • Deaf/Blindness: Students with both significant hearing and vision impairments.
  • Autism: Difficulties affecting verbal and non-verbal communication and social interaction.
  • Traumatic Brain Injury: Students who have experienced injury to the brain by an external physical force, negatively affecting educational performance. 

You can contact the principal or school psychologist at your home school or the district's Special Education office at 425-408-7731 for assistance. Any student or child whether or not enrolled in school may be referred for a special education evaluation by parents, district staff or other person knowledgeable about the student. The school team will invite you to a meeting to discuss your concerns and devise a plan of action. A special education evaluation may be recommended at this time.

 

Referral Process for Special Education

There are any number of concerns that might prompt a parent or guardian to consider the need for special education services. We are here to support you through the process. 

A referral is the first step toward receiving special education services. A referral is a written request for evaluation, explaining why the student might need special education services. Any member of a student’s community (parents or guardians, extended family, teachers, medical professionals, community members, and/or agencies) may initiate a referral for evaluation. They can request evaluation from any staff member at the school. The referral will then be routed to the school Guidance Team or the school psychologist.  

A student must be referred before they are evaluated. Evaluation determines if a student is eligible for special education services, and what those services might be. Once a student has been referred, a team at the student’s school will decide whether or not to evaluate the student within 25 school days.

During the referral period, existing records are gathered for review. Materials that may be used to determine whether to evaluate a student include:

  • Medical, therapy, or school records
  • Report cards or other progress reports
  • Teacher, parent, or provider information
  • Other assessments

Parents/guardians must give consent before records not internal to Northshore School District are shared with the district.

 

Private School Students

Students attending a non profit private school can be referred for special education through the school district in which the private school is located (which may be different from the student’s district of residence). Students attending a for profit private school can be referred for special education through their school district of residence. In both situations, when a student is found eligible for services, IEP (Individual Education Program) services are provided in the student’s school district of residence.

Private school students with disabilities who have qualified for special education services can access an ISP (Individual Service Plan) rather than receiving services through an IEP. An ISP describes the special education and/or related services that a district will provide to an eligible student who is voluntarily enrolled by their parents in a private school setting.

If you would like to initiate a special education referral please contact:

 

Evaluation Process

An evaluation will be scheduled if the district finds sufficient evidence to support the decision to evaluate the student, and if the student’s parent/guardian gives written consent. The evaluation process establishes a foundation for developing an appropriate educational program for your student. School districts use evaluations to determine a student's need for special education and related services, and to gather additional information for an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team to use when developing or revising an IEP for a student. A full and individualized initial evaluation must be done by the district before the provision of any special education or related services to a student with a disability can begin.

An initial evaluation involves gathering information from a variety of sources, including any information you have provided, about your student's functioning and development in all areas of suspected disability. The assessments used during an evaluation may look at cognitive, behavioral, physical, and developmental factors, as well as other areas of suspected disability. All information relative to the presence of a disability is used to determine your student's educational needs.

The district has 35 days to complete the initial evaluation process from the time written parental consent to evaluate is obtained.