Part C of IDEA: Early Intervention for Babies and Toddlers

Early intervention services for infants and toddlers with disabilities (birth-3) have been a part of IDEA since 1986. This section of the law is commonly known as Part C of IDEA.**

• Regulations for Part C
• What’s changed? | OSEP’s non-regulatory summary
• Model IFSP form
• Training module 1 | The Basics of Early Intervention (new!)
• How to find early intervention services in your community

 
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Regulations for Part C | New in 2011!

On September 28, 2011, the U.S. Department of Education published final regulations for the Part C program. Find the new regs at:
http://idea.ed.gov/part-c/search/new

It’s been a long time since new regulations for the Infant and Toddlers program have been published—1999, to be exact. Yes, you read that right. That was the last time that full and detailed regulations for Part C were finalized.

So you can understand the excitement in the field to have shiny new regulations after such a long time.

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What’s Changed? | OSEP’s Non-Regulatory Summary

Published in November 2011, this guidance from the horse’s mouth (the Office of Special Education Programs) provides parents, early intervention service (EIS) providers, State lead agencies, and other interested parties with detailed information about the some of the changes made to the Part C regulations of IDEA. The guidance summarizes where changes have been made to the following topics:

• family engagement;
• child find/evaluations/assessments/eligibility/initial IFSP;
• IFSP development, implementation, and review;
• transition from Part C to other programs (including services under Part B); and
• coordination with Head Start/Early Head Start, early education, and child care programs.

Find OSEP’s summary and non-regulatory guidance at: http://tinyurl.com/chuk2cj

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Model IFSP Form

When the Part C regulations were published in the Federal Register on September 28, 2011, the U.S. Department of Education also published a Model IFSP Form to help States develop their own forms for the Individualized Family Service Plan. The Part C regulations specify the procedures that State Lead Agencies and early intervention service providers must follow to develop, review, and revise an IFSP for each child. The Model IFSP Form sets out the IFSP content that those regulations require. Find the Model IFSP Form at:
http://www.parentcenterhub.org/wp-content/uploads/repo_items/model.ifsp.form.pdf

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Training Modules on Part C

The U.S. Department of Education asked NICHCY to create a training curriculum based on the final Part C regulations released in September 2011. Each module in the curriculum includes a slideshow, a trainer’s guide, and handouts for participants. Have a look at what’s available to use in training others on Part C, at:
http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/legacy-partc/

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How To Find Early Intervention Services in Your Community

To find out more about how to access services for infants and toddlers with disabilities or developmental delays, please visit the section of our site called “Babies and Toddlers.”
 
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** Many years ago, this part of the law was called Part H, just to really confuse you! But you might also hear or read that term used to describe IDEA’s Infants and Toddlers Program, so….we mention it.

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