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Preschool Child Find
The district offers Child Find screenings each month. Children as young as age 2 years 9 months may participate in hearing, vision and developmental screenings to determine if further evaluations are necessary. Eligible children identified with significant delays will be offered services through enrollment in either regular preschool or special education programs in the district at no cost to the parent/guardian. If you think your preschool-age child may have speech or other developmental delays, please call 602-257-3808 or 602-523-8756 to make an appointment for screening.
If your infant birth to 2 years 9 months of age appears to have developmental delays, please contact Arizona Early Intervention Programs (AzEIP) at (602) 253-1620 to learn about services available for younger children with disabilities.
Child Find Notice
Phoenix Elementary School District #1 is required by federal and state law (34 CFR 300.220.34 CFR 300.121) to conduct a "Child Find" effort as a means to locate, identify, and evaluate all resident children with disabilities, including children with disabilities attending private schools, regardless of the severity of their disabilities. The purpose of Child Find is to locate these children so that a free appropriate public education can be made available. Upon request, PESD will screen any resident child 2 years 9 months to 15 years of age to determine whether a special education referral is appropriate. The information from the screening is used to determine whether a child should be evaluated for a suspected disability. When the school staff reasonably believes a school age child is a child with a disability, they refer the child for evaluation by the school's Teacher Assistance Team (TAT).
After students are evaluated, eligible students are entitled to a free and appropriate education, including specially designed individualized instruction for disabled students between the ages of 3 and 21. This law applies to EVERY eligible child, regardless of the severity of the disability and assures confidentiality procedures are followed.
If you suspect that your child has a disability (emotional, mental or physical) and does not receive Special Education services, contact the special education department at your local Phoenix Elementary School District or by writing to Diane Wray, Director of Special Education at 1817 North 7th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85006.
A physician, nurse, psychologist, social worker, or administrator of a social agency who reasonably believes a child brought to him or her for services is a child with a disability has a legal duty to report the child to the school district in which the child resides. Before referring the child, the person making the referral must inform the child's parent that the referral will be made. The referral must be in writing and include the reason why the person believes the child is a child with a disability. Others who reasonably believe a child is a child with a disability may also refer the child to the local PESD school in which the child resides.
Phoenix Elementary School District #1 maintains pupil records, including information from screening and special education referral. All records directly related to a student and maintained by the school district are pupil records. They include records maintained in any way including, but not limited to, computer storage media, video and audiotape, film, microfilm, and microfiche. Records maintained for personal use by a teacher and not available to others and records available to only persons involved in the psychological treatment of a child are not pupil records.