IDEA Reauthorization Letter

February 25, 2002

Thomas Irvin
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW
Mary E. Switzer Building, Room 3086
Washington, DC 20202-2570

Dear Mr. Irvin: 

The undersigned organizations, representing early intervention specialists, parents, early childhood providers, state agencies responsible for early childhood education for children with disabilities, related services providers, and early childhood development experts, believe that the reauthorization of Part C, section 619 preschool grants, and Part D in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) deserves serious attention and amendment this year. While IDEA has allowed great improvements to be made in meeting the needs of infants and young children with disabilities, less than two percent of infants and toddlers and less than five percent of preschool age children are currently served. Clearly, a significant number of eligible children and their families are not receiving the support and services that they need and deserve. 

The 2000 report of the National Academies, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development and the Department of Education's most recent report to Congress on the Implementation of IDEA offer some relevant findings.

  • 58.3 percent of infants and toddlers with disabilities receive early intervention services at home.

  • 45 percent of mothers with an infant with a disability do not return to work because they cannot find appropriate child care.

  • 53 percent of three to five year old children with disabilities are spending all or part of the day in inclusive settings, including Head Start, Early Head Start, and child care programs.

  • The inability or unwillingness of many child care providers to accept children with disabilities, transportation and other logistical problems, difficulties with coordinating early intervention and child care services, and the scarcity of appropriately trained caregivers make the effort to find any child care a tremendous challenge for families with children with disabilities.

  • Parents of children with disabilities have fewer hours of employment compared to other parents.

  • According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 4 percent of households have a preschool-age child with disability.

  • Many states require little to no prior training for work with young children in child care, meaning that few have training in appropriate services and inclusive programs.

  • Child care is the most expensive single category of expense, including medical expenses, for families with children with disabilities from birth to age 5.

Our organizations believe that this IDEA reauthorization should ensure that the appropriate services for families, children at home and in early childhood education programs, and the professionals who work with such children and families must receive focused attention and additional resources. Our guiding principles for Part C, section 619, and Part D of IDEA, as discussed in greater detail below, are:

  • Part C and section 619 services should be available to all eligible children.

  • Families should have the information and services they need to support their young children’s development and learning;

  • Services for families set forth in a child's Individualized Family Service Plan necessary to support the child's development should be available through the child's Individualized Education Programs, as appropriate, as a child moves from the infant and toddler years to preschool and on to kindergarten;

  • Services should be provided in settings typical for young children, and that are appropriate to the child and his or her family. A variety of settings may be appropriate, such as the home and any out-of-home setting such as child care, Head Start, Early Head Start or school in which the child spends a regular part of his or her week.

  • Resources must be significantly increased for Part C, Section 619 and Part D.

  • Part C should be permanently authorized.

  • Personnel preparation and ongoing professional development in early childhood development and inclusive early education programming should be provided, as well as training in appropriate referrals and in supporting family involvement in the child’s development.

Set out below are our preliminary consensus recommendations for your consideration. 

1. Natural environments 

Background: The regulations (303.18), not the statute, define this term as "settings that are natural or normal for an eligible child's peers who have no disabilities and includes the home and community settings in which children without disabilities participate." This definition does not provide sufficient guidance to families and states. 

Recommendation: To ensure that the most appropriate natural environment is determined, we recommend that the following factors be considered. 

The concerns, priorities and resources of the child's family: Almost 65 percent of women with children under the age of three are in the workforce. As a result, their children are in some form of child care. For these families, the natural environment is the home plus the child care or other early childhood program setting in which the child spends substantial amounts of time. 

Age and/or developmentally appropriate activities: To guide their decisions about practices, services and supports enumerated in the Individualized Family Services Plan and Individualized Education Program must be based on a keen understanding of the developmental changes that typically occur in the years from birth to age 8, variations in development that may occur, that such development is influenced by multiple social and cultural contexts, and how best to support children's learning and development during these years. 

Goals of the child: The outcomes set for the child must drive where supports are needed to achieve the outcomes. The current definition focuses on places where non-disabled children are. The focus must be on how the child's goals can be achieved by maximizing all the learning opportunities that occur in a child’s day. 

Multiple settings: Determining natural environments cannot be an "all or nothing" activity. Individual goals can be addressed in multiple settings. For example, the child may have a goal to be included in typical family activities, such as meals. Thus the natural environment would be the location where the family eats. The family may eat dinner at home during the week, and at Grandmother's house on Sundays. Thus, the natural environment is more than one location. Another goal, for example, may be for a child to play well with his or her peers, and this activity may occur both in the home and in early childhood program settings. 

2. Early Childhood Transitions

Background: The transition from Part C Early Intervention Services to Preschool is only one of several transitions that can occur for young children with disabilities and their families before age 6. A consistent presence is needed to assist the family from the birth of a child with a disability to referral to Part C Services to Preschool Special Education to Elementary School. A child and family may also experience horizontal transitions between Early Head Start and Part C and Head Start and public Preschool services. Dealing with different professionals, different eligibility criteria, and different sets of regulations is needlessly confusing and stressful for families.

Recommendation: To ease this situation and to provide continuity, language in the IDEA should recognize the complete network of services for children younger than school age and assure smooth transitions between all programs:

  • Add language to Part C and Part B Child Find Sections to encourage with parental consent, contact with hospitals and pediatricians to solicit information pertinent to the development of the IFSP.

  • Referrals must be made in timely manner to ensure that the LEAs timelines can be met so that an eligible child has an IEP in effect by their 3rd birthday and there is a seamless transition.

  • Require that the Early Intervention Program co-convene with the LEA the 90-day transition meeting.

  • Amend uses of Section 619 state set-aside funds to include provision of Service Coordination to children of preschool age.

  • Consideration should be given to ensuring ongoing support to children and families when the child’s 5th birthday conflict with local districts’ kindergarten entry cut-off dates/ages.

  • Encourage states to use the child's IFSP as the baseline for discussion of services to be provided in the child's IEP.

3. Parent and Family Involvement in Early Intervention and Preschool Programs

Background: The critical role that families play in children’s learning is well documented and can not be overstated. Research has shown that this is especially true in the early years, when the interplay between the child’s environment, experiences, and their relationships and interactions with family members lay the foundation for later learning and development. IDEA recognizes the importance of parental involvement in identifying and addressing the needs of their children with disabilities, birth through 21. Particularly for the Part C Infants and Toddlers program, IDEA targets the family as a primary focus of services. The actual configuration of services for a given child and family under Part C will be strongly influenced by what they need in today’s ever-changing social and cultural context(s). This, in turn, will influence whether other family members, beyond the child’s parent(s), will be involved in the delivery of those services. The IFSP should also consider the needs of the child's siblings. 

Many barriers continue to exist that interfere with full and appropriate parental and family involvement in early intervention and preschool programs. These include lack of adequate and timely information and supports, poor interagency linkages and coordination, limited knowledge among providers about how to properly include families, and agency/facility policies and procedures that actually inhibit best practices for informed family participation. 

Recommendation: Specific language is needed to assure that family support is available as the child transitions to preschool and throughout the preschool years. 

4. Financing of Early Childhood Services

Background: At present a piecemeal combination of IDEA funds, other public agency contributions, private insurance, and parent fees supports the provision of services to children below school age. There is a need for adequate support of both the statewide system infrastructure and the actual delivery of service. 

Recommendation: There is a need to develop financing mechanisms that promote appropriate child and family outcomes (as identified on the IFSP/IEP. Finance regulations and guidance should support the use of a variety of service delivery models and locations based on the needs of the child and family. .

Access to Medicaid, the state children's health insurance program (S-CHIP) and other public funds to support IFSP and IEP services needs to be simplified so that Medicaid and other applicable public program’s contribution to services is accessed consistently across the country. 


5. Part D Including Personnel Issues

  • We must ensure dedicated adequate fiscal support for the development and implementation of research-based practices to improve developmental outcomes for young children with disabilities. This includes resources for early childhood research; model demonstration and dissemination; training and technical assistance; etc. Part D is the quality infrastructure of IDEA and must be funded accordingly with dedicated early childhood investments.

  • Strong support for changes to language in Subpart 1 of Part D- The State Program Improvement Grants to ensure that efforts supported under this program benefit the entire age range of IDEA. In some states, there are NO

  • birth through five activities supported under these grants, regardless of the clear intent of the statute, which includes ample references to early childhood.

Thank you for considering our views. We look forward to working with you on the IDEA reauthorization. 

Sincerely, 

The Arc
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
American Association on Mental Retardation
American Occupational Therapy Association
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Association of University Centers on Disabilities
Child Welfare League
Council for Exceptional Children
Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates
Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children 
Down Syndrome Congress
Easter Seals
IDEA Infant and Toddler Coordinators Association
National Association for the Education of Young Children
National Association of School Psychologists
TASH
Tourette Syndrome Association
Zero to Three
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