Student Services Office
20 W. Walnut
Canton, IL 61520
(309) 647-1418
Ruth Schoof, Secretary
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Cheley Martin, Director of Student Services
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- Preschool Screening/ Child Find
- Special Education Programs
- 504 Services
- Homebound Services
Preschool Screening/ Child Find
The school district provides an annual screening of all children between the ages of 3-5, hearing and vision screening at regular intervals, speech and language screening upon initial enrollment in school, and ongoing annual screening by teachers and other professional personnel for referral of those children who exhibit problems which interfere with their educational progress and /or their adjustment to the educational setting. Referral for preliminary evaluation in may be made by school district personnel, the parents of the child, community service agencies, persons having primary care and custody, other professional persons having knowledge of the child’s problems, the child, or the State Board of Education when there is reason to believe that the child may require special education services.
Special Education Programs
Canton Union School District #66 provides for its special education services by membership in the West Central Illinois Special Education Cooperative. www.wcisec.org Canton Schools offer a free and appropriate education to all children. Any child, ages 3- 21, whose parents or legal guardians reside in the school district is eligible for special education if the child’s impairment is determined to interfere with his or her education progress as determined by a multidisciplinary team. The kinds of impairments for which services can be provided are visual, hearing, physical, speech/language, specific learning disability, emotional/behavioral, health impaired, autism, traumatic brain injury and intellectual disability.
Parent Referrals
Any parent with concern regarding their child may refer that child for an evaluation. Such referrals should be made in writing to the building Principal. The Principal should then sign and forward the request to the Special Education Director, including any comments or additional information to assist in processing the request.
Upon receipt of the parent’s request, the Special Education Director will provide the Parent with an Explanation of Procedural Safeguards Available to Parents/Guardians of Students with Disabilities (Form 34-57 J) along with a Parent Request for Special Education Evaluation form to gather additional information regarding concerns.
A Parent request for evaluation may result in referral to the Problem Solving Team for building based intervention and data collection, in the scheduling of a domain meeting to discuss as a team the need for additional information, or denial of the request. Upon this determination, the Decision Regarding Referral- Form ISBE 34-57A will be sent to the student’s Teacher, Parent, and building Principal by the Special Education Director with information including the rationale for accepting or denying the request.
Problem Solving Team (PST)/ Case Study Referral Procedure
1. The referring teacher completes the Problem Solving Team (PST) Conference Request Form and gives it to the Student Assistance Team Leader.
2. The Problem Solving Team Leader or Principal sends a letter to the Parent/Guardian to inform them of the referral.
3. The referring teacher meets with the Problem Solving Team, including parent.
4. The Team discusses the concerns and selects an area for intervention. The Team will analyze data, develop strategies to be used, determine how long to implement, how frequently to measure and when to review progress. This information is recorded on the PST Conference Summary Form.
5. After multiple interventions have been attempted, the team may reach a consensus that the child is not responding to the interventions and that a special education case study evaluation is warranted.
6. If the team decides that a case study evaluation is appropriate, the referring teacher completes the Referral for Case Study Form* and gives it to the Principal for approval. The Referral for Case Study Form must be complete (no blanks), and include copies of PST information as well as data demonstrating the effectiveness of interventions used. Referrals approved by the Principal will be sent to the Special Education Director.
*Referral for Case Study Forms are available from your principal, any special education teacher or can be sent electronically by request to the Special Education Director.
7. The Special Education Director will review the referral and may consult with the School Psychologist, Social Worker or other individuals to determine if the referral should result in an evaluation. Additional information may be collected as needed. When a decision has been made, the Decision Regarding Referral- Form ISBE 34-57A will be sent to the student's Teacher, Parent and building Principal by the Special Education Director. A copy of this form should be placed in the students file.
8. If an evaluation is appropriate, the Special Education Director, or designee, schedules a Domain Meeting to begin the assessment process. Parents and appropriate staff are invited to this meeting.
9. At the Domain Meeting, the Multidisciplinary team shall review and evaluate existing information about the child, decide relevancy in each of the eight domain areas, and determine if additional information is needed and from what sources it can be obtained.
10. Parent/Guardian Consent for Evaluation (Form 34-57B) is obtained to either review existing data or gather additional data as specified on the Domain Page. The date of consent begins the 60 day time line for completion of the evaluation.
11. When all components of the assessment have been completed, the Special Education Director, or designee, schedules a meeting to review the case study components. Eligibility is determined at this time. If appropriate and upon parental agreement, an Individual Education Plan (IEP) will be developed for eligible students within 30 days.