ECSE- Early Childhood Special Education

You’ve just found out that your young child has special needs. Now what? Don’t let panic set in. Fortunately for you, there is ECSE. Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) is available to all families in Minnesota who have young children with special needs and is provided at no cost by the school district.
ECSE services are specifically designed to support children ages birth to kindergarten, and their families, who are dealing with the challenge of special needs. Screening and assessments are completed by a physician or ECSE intake specialist and a course of action is determined. Depending on the age of the child and the developmental concern, intervention may take place at either the child’s location or an education site provided by the district.
Some special needs are automatically eligible for services at birth. Among these are Cerebral Palsy, Deaf/Blind, Down’s syndrome, Sickle Cell and other at-birth conditions. Children who are later diagnosed with Autism, speech processing disorders, cognitive delays, and more can be eligible for services too. Often, when no concrete diagnosis of a special need is present, children would have to be assessed at 2 years behind developmentally in order to qualify for services. Assessment for these cases is typically conducted by ECSE staff at a district site.
If ECSE determines that your family is eligible for services you have options for what to do next. Many working parents find it difficult to take time off of work to take children to and from the classes or be home for at home visits. Fortunately, there are options to deal with this challenge. Children ages 3 and older can be picked up using district transportation and taken to the district site. Children younger than 3 need to have a home visit. All ECSE programs will transport or visit your child at any location with in their school district’s service area. If a family lives in one district and has an established childcare provider in another district, Minnesota’s open enrollment policy allows the child to be “transferred” into the ECSE program where the child would physically located.
Services provided by ECSE are not only for the children. Parents have access to resources, support groups and parent/child classes as well. Teachers and assessors work hard to ensure that an open line of communication is there for families as well. Parent support is crucial in effective handling of a child’s special educational needs.
If your family, or a family you know, has need of ECSE services, please do not wait. The more proactive parents are and the sooner the child receives assistance the greater the results will be. To find out more about ECSE the St Paul district has great information or contact your school district for specific questions.