Child Find
“Child Find” is a requirement of both federal and state law. It mandates that each school district will locate, identify and evaluate, at no cost to the family, all students, from birth to 21, who are suspected of having a disability.
The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) list and defines thirteen disabilities - autism, deaf-blindness, auditory impairment, emotional disturbance, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, other health impairment, learning disability, speech impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment and non-categorical early childhood.
In 2019, the 86th Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 139 (SB 139), which requires Texas local education agencies (LEAs) to distribute the following notice to parents:
TEA Resources for Special Education can provide more information regarding the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Dyslexia, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973
Compensatory Services information can be found in the following notices:
These notices contain the following information: changes made from 2016 to 2017 in reporting requirements for LEAs regarding special education enrollment in the Performance Based Monitoring Analysis System; the rights of a child regarding the provision of special education services under both state and federal law; the process and procedures for initiating a referral for evaluation for special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and TEC Sec. 29.004; where to find local policies and procedures related to initiating a referral for evaluation under IDEA.