Infants and Toddlers Program: Special Education Process – Birth to 2
Learn about the Infants and Toddlers Program.
Phase 1 — Referral
The process of receiving infants and toddlers services begins with a referral. A referral may be made by anyone who suspects that a child may have special needs, a delay in development, or a disability.
This can be done by:
- Completing an online referral
- Calling the Howard County Infants and Toddlers Program at 410-313-7017
- Emailing earlyinterventionservices@hcpss.org
Parents, family members, guardians, physicians, daycare or preschool providers, teachers, or staff members from community agencies may refer a child if they have concerns about a child’s development in any of these areas:
- Communication/Language: understanding and communicating with others
- Fine Motor: i.e.: pinching food, grasping for toys, moving toys from one hand to the other
- Gross Motor: i.e.: rolling, sitting up, crawling, walking, Torticollis
- Social-Emotional/Behavior: feeling, coping, and getting along with others
- Sensory: Hearing
- Sensory: Vision
- Cognitive: Thinking and Learning
- Adaptive: Doing things for themselves
A child may also be referred for risk factors including premature birth, low birth weight, and medical conditions associated with developmental delay. As part of the referral process, identifying information is obtained from the parents through an online parent referral, a developmental survey questionnaire, and “Ages and Stages Questionnaire”. Members of the Infants and Toddlers team and the parents/guardians meet to review the written referral and the questionnaires completed by the parent.
Phase 2 — Evaluation
Once a referral is made, the assigned service coordinator from one of the participating teams will then contact the family to arrange for the intake process to continue. Evaluations are completed to determine if the child is eligible for early intervention services. Health and developmental needs may be identified in the areas of:
- Hearing and Vision
- Speech/Language
- Physical Development
- Cognitive Development
- Social-Emotional Development
- Self Help Skills
Children are eligible to receive services if they show a 25% or more delay in any of the areas of concern, atypical development likely to result in subsequent delay, or a diagnosed condition that has a high probability of resulting in developmental delay.
After making the referral, an appointment will be made for an evaluation in your home to determine if your child qualifies for early intervention services. If eligible, a Routines-Based Interview will be scheduled. This will be approximately two hours and will help turn your concerns and priorities into real-life, functional outcomes you can work on throughout your everyday activities. An Individual Family Service Plan (IFSP) will be developed to document these outcomes.
Phase 3 — Individualized Family Support Plan (IFSP)
Early intervention services for infants, toddlers and their families are outlined in Individualized Family Service Plans. These services are provided by a team of special educators and are designed to build the capacity of parents and caregivers through reflective coaching.