The First Step
If you have concerns about your child's development or would like information, please call Early On® Oakland at (248) 209-2084 or toll-free at (866) 456-2084.
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools' Early Intervention evaluation team provides a comprehensive multidisciplinary developmental evaluation for children 0-3 years of age residing within Walled Lake Consolidated School District to determine eligibility for Special Education/Early On services.
Primary members of our team include a speech and language pathologist and school social worker with the support of an occupational therapist and physical therapist. Other professionals may also serve on the team as needed. Evaluations are completed in the child's natural environment. The family, guardian and/or caregiver are present for the evaluation.
What is a Multidisciplinary Evaluation?
The law IDEA requires that your child receive a timely, comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation and assessment. The purposes of the evaluation is to find out: the nature of your child’s strengths, delays, or difficulties, and whether or not your child is eligible for early intervention services.
Multidisciplinary means that the evaluation group is made up of qualified people who have different areas of training and experience. Together, they know about children’s speech and language skills, physical abilities, hearing and vision, and other important areas of development. They know how to work with children, even very young ones, to discover if a child has a problem or is developing within normal ranges. Evaluation team members may evaluate your child together or individually.
Evaluation refers to the procedures used by these professionals to find out if your child is eligible for Special Education. As part of the evaluation, the team will observe your child, play with your child; ask your child to do things, talk to you and your child, and use other methods to gather information. These procedures will help the team find out how your child functions in several areas of development including: cognitive development, physical development, communication, social-emotional development, and adaptive development.
With your consent, your family’s needs will also be identified. This process, which is family-directed, is intended to identify the resources, priorities, and concerns of your family. It also identifies the supports and services you may need to enhance your family’s capacity to meet your child’s developmental needs. The family assessment is usually conducted through an interview with you, the parents. When conducting the evaluation, team members may get information from some or all of the following: doctor’s reports; results from developmental tests and performance assessments given to your child; your child’s medical and developmental history; direct observations and feedback from members of the multidisciplinary team, including you, the parents; interviews with you and other family members or caretakers; and any other important observations, records, and/or reports about your child.
Following your child’s evaluation, you and a team of professionals will meet and review all of the data, results, and reports. The people on the team will talk with you about whether your child meets the criteria under IDEA and state policy for having a developmental delay, a diagnosed physical or mental condition, or being at risk for having a substantial delay. If so, your child is generally found to be eligible for services. At that time, an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) will be developed. An IFSP is your family's plan of action.
