Montgomery County Public Schools' Child Find process helps to identify potential special education needs and educate the community about Child Find. The importance of Child Find in early intervention for children who may need services is critical. Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) will maintain an active and continuing child find program designed to identify, locate, and evaluate children residing in this jurisdiction who are two through 21 years of age, inclusively, who are in need of special education and related services. These shall include the following:

• Children who are highly mobile, such as migrant and unhoused

• Children who are wards of the state

• Children who attend private schools, including children who are home instructed or home-tutored

• Children who are suspected of being in need of special education and related services, though they are advancing from grade to grade; and

• Children who are under age 18 who are suspected of having a disability

• Children who are under age 18 and need special education and related services

• Children who are incarcerated in a regional or local jail in this jurisdiction for 10 or more days

• Children who are living in nursing homes

MCPS will coordinate Child Find activities for infants and toddlers (birth to age two, inclusively) with the Part C local interagency coordinating council.

MCPS conducts a public awareness campaign to inform the community of all persons, ages birth to 21 inclusively, of their rights to a free and appropriate public education and the availability of special education services.

Each local school division shall locate, identify and evaluate children with disabilities who are enrolled by their parents in private, including religious, elementary schools and secondary schools.

Please refer children who may need to be considered for special education services to their home school’s Building Administrator.  If you have any more questions, please contact the Special Education Department at 540.382.5100.

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) provides information on services for students with hearing and vision impairments at its website. The following links to information and resources are excerpted from the VDOE’s website: Special Education-Specific Disabilities-Sensory Disabilities.

Guidance Documents

• Guidelines for Working With Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in Virginia Public Schools

• Guidelines for Working With Students Who are Blind or Visually Impaired in Virginia Public Schools

• Superintendent's Memo #198-16: Implementation of Unified English Braille for Students Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

• Unified English Braille Implementation Plan for Virginia Public Schools (Updated September 2019) 

• Services for Students Identified as Hearing or Visually Impaired

• Memo 294-20 Resources for Serving Students with Sensory Disabilities-2020

Statewide Resources

• The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind (VSDB) - The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind is located in Staunton, Virginia and provides a day program and outreach services, as well as a residential setting exclusively to students who are deaf or hard of hearing, blind or visually impaired, or deaf-blind. The VSDB Outreach Services assist early intervention providers, local school divisions, and families in meeting the needs of children in the Commonwealth. The VSDB’s admissions policy is available at the above Website.

• The Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (VDDHH) - The Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing provides standards for educational interpreting services and other services to reduce the communication barriers between persons who are deaf or hard of hearing and their families and the professionals who serve them.

• The Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired (DBVI) - The Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired primarily assists Virginians who are blind in achieving quality employment outcomes. Vocational evaluation, job training, job development, placement, follow-up, and other services are provided to assist consumers in obtaining jobs in the public and private sectors. The DBVI’s education services program provides services to early intervention providers, school personnel, and families to help children to be successful in school and the community, and to prepare for the future. The Virginia Rehabilitation Center for the Blind and Vision Impaired offers training in the skills of blindness to blind and vision-impaired Virginians and encourages people to develop positive attitudes about blindness. The Library and Resource Center provides services to local school divisions to support the education of children who are blind or visually impaired. Library services are also offered to persons who are print disabled.

• The Virginia Project for Children and Young Adults With Deaf-Blindness - The Virginia Project for Children and Young Adults With Deaf-Blindness provides technical assistance, training, distance education and networking information to families, service providers, and individuals who are deaf-blind/dual sensory impaired.

• The Technical Assistance Center for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and VNOC – The Technical Assistance Center for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing provides training and technical assistance in the areas of deafness and hardness of hearing. Assistance is available to local public school divisions as well as early intervention and preschool programs through the Virginia Network of Consultants for Professionals Working with Children Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (VNOC).

• The Accessible Instructional Materials Center-Virginia (AIM-VA) - The Accessible Instructional Materials Center-Virginia’s extensive library has developed an alternative system of providing accessible educational media under standards set by federal law (NIMAS) to students who meet the federal requirements for print disabilities and who are eligible for accessing educational media under an Individualized Education Program (IEP) as required under Part B of IDEA. The AIM-VA, in conjunction with partnering agencies, provides required accessible educational materials to students with an IEP and training for staff, at no cost to Local Educational Agencies.