Child Find Process

The Weld County RE-3J School District in accordance with state and federal guidelines conducts child find activities throughout the year. These activities include locating, identifying and evaluating all children ages birth to 21 years who may have a disability and be eligible for special education services. Child find services are available to all children who reside in the district.

Weld RE-3J and Weld Re-8 work together in locating, identifying and evaluating the birth to five populations. Family fairs are conducted two to three times per year in the community. These screenings identify children ages birth to five years who have been identified through the family fairs. This developmental evaluation assesses the areas of cognition, language development, social/emotional functioning, physical functioning (including vision and hearing screening) and academic readiness skills. A multi-disciplinary team, including the parents, determines whether the child is eligible for special education and related services.

Children five to 21 years are located, identified and assessed through the building level teams. The parents or the building level staff may conduct referrals to child find. Each building in the district has a pre-referral system, which assists parents and teachers in identifying students who may be eligible for special education services.

Once the building has completed the pre-referral process, they will make the determination whether the child should be further evaluated. This evaluation includes assessments in the areas of cognition, language development social/emotional functioning, physical functioning (including vision and hearing screening), educational achievement and life skills functioning. Parents are again an essential component of the multi-disciplinary approach to evaluation. Following assessments, the team will determine whether the child is eligible for special education and related services.

All child find activities conducted in the Weld RE-3J School District are available to all children who reside in the district. These activities include parent input and parent permission given before assessments can begin. If you have questions about the child find process or if you have a child you wish to refer, please call me at (303)536-2000 or notify the building team where your child attends.