What is Child Find?
Published October 31, 2014
Williamson County Schools, in compliance with federal and state law, performs a countywide Child Find.
Child Find uses screening to find students who may need special education services and supports. There are two types of screening. The first is a general screening of preschool age children throughout the school year. These screenings are on-going throughout the school year and serve preschool age children. The other kind of screening is only for school age children.
A child can be referred for screening by school personnel, the family, and/or individuals in the county (physicians, child care providers, etc.). This should be done any time it is suspected that a child has a disability. Children can be screened for the following areas:
- Hearing
- Vision
- Communication Skills
- Social Skills
- Motor Skills
- Behavior/Adaptive Skills
- Academic and Pre-academic Readiness Skills/Development
Who can I call if I am concerned?
- If your child is an infant or toddler under the age of 2.5 years, then contact TEIS at (615) 904-3636.
- If your child is between the ages of three to five and you are a resident of Williamson County Schools call Student Support Services at (615) 472-4130.
- If your child is enrolled in a Williamson County School, report your concerns to your child’s principal and the principal will talk with you about the next steps of the RTI2 process.
- If your child is home schooled or attending a private school in the geographic region of the Williamson County Schools, then call Kim Palmer, at (615) 472-4132, Student Support Services.
The federal law of IDEIA (Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act of 2004) requires each school district to spend a proportionate amount of federal allocation for services for students with special needs enrolled by parents in home school or private school each year.
Gifted Child Find
Intellectual giftedness is found throughout diverse populations and crosses all economic and cultural boundaries. In order to identify all children and youth with high intellectual potential, community residents and school personnel are encouraged to help in this identification process. Each school has a team of professionals who help identify children who may need assistance in the classroom. This may include students with high academic achievement, creative thinking and intelligence.
In Tennessee, each district is required to conduct a system-wide grade level screening in at least one elementary grade. Williamson County Schools conducts a grade level screening of every student in a grade to determine if students need referral for special education gifted services. Currently students are screened during their fourth grade school year, however, the district is planning to move the screening to second grade beginning with the 2014-15 school year. Two years of overlap with screening in both fourth and second grade will occur to be sure not to miss any students in 2014-15 and 2015-16. Once the school team reviews the required data from the screening, they make a determination to consider an individual screening. Identification can also occur at any grade level regardless of the screening year.