IDEA Requirements for Coordinated Services
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and its regulations provide guidance for the coordination of services for young children, birth through five, with disabilities and their families.
The Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities Program (Part C of the Act)
requires the Development of a "statewide, comprehensive, coordinated,
multidisciplinary, interagency system" of services
(20 U.S.C.§ 631(b))
(PDF: 95kb) . The Part C regulations for IDEA 2004 are pending.
The current regulations (PDF: 224kb) provide:
- Coordination of child find activities with all other agencies engaged in child find for young children with disabilities, including Part B of IDEA (34 CFR§ 303.321 and 34 CFR§ 300.125(c)(1-3).
- Development of interagency agreements with other agencies that provide services to young children with disabilities (34 CFR§ 303.523).
- Appointment of Interagency Coordinating Councils by the Governor of the State, for the purpose of advising and assisting the state agency responsible for Part C, the Lead Agency, in implementation of that program (34 CFR§§ 303.600-303.654). Contact information for state ICC Chairs is maintained on the NECTAC Web site.
- An assigned service coordinator for each family to assist them in accessing services from multiple agencies and to assist agencies in communicating about and providing services to children and families (34 CFR§ 303.23)
- A coordinated transition of the child at age three from the Part C Program to the Part B, Section 619 Preschool Program or to other appropriate community services (34 CFR§ 303.148 and 34 CFR§ 300.132)
Regulations have been promulgated for Part B of IDEA 2004. The 2004
Regulations (PDF: 1,466kb) for Part B
contain these requirements for coordination:
- child find (34 CFR§ 300.111),
- transition from Part C (34 CFR§ 300.124),
- coordination of services for all Indian children with disabilities residing on reservations (34 CFR§ 300.713),
- coordination of early intervening services (34 CFR§ 300.226(e)).
Although not explicit in the regulations, there is a need for the Preschool Program to coordinate with other programs, especially at the Local Education Agency level, as three and four year old children often receive special education and related services from the school in programs outside the local school system, such as Head Start, Child Care, and other inclusive preschool settings.
Part B regulations require Local Education Agencies to:
- "develop and implement a statewide coordinated services system designed to improve results for children and families, including children with disabilities and their families". Activities to implement this system may include (1) improving the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery; (2) service coordination and case management; (3) developing and implementing interagency financing strategies; and (4) interagency personnel development. (34 CFR§ 300.244)
- "ensure that an interagency agreement or other mechanism for interagency coordination is in effect between each noneducational public agency and the SEA." The agreement mechanism must include agency financial responsibility, conditions and terms of reimbursement, procedures for resolving interagency disputes, and policies and procedures for agencies to determine and identify the interagency coordination responsibilities of each agency (34 CFR§ 300.154(a))
Interagency Coordination data from the Section 619 Profile, 16th edition (2008)