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Transition from Preschool to School-Age Services

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For any parent, preparing to send a child to kindergarten, while exciting, can also be anxiety-provoking. For parents of children on the autism spectrum, transitioning to school-age special education can be particularly confusing and frustrating. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and most states set specific rules to help make the transition process less stressful and to ensure that the special education programs of young children with disabilities are not interrupted when they transition from preschool to school-age programs.

The year before your child becomes eligible for kindergarten, your child's preschool Individualized Education Program (IEP) must include a transition plan. The transition plan will detail steps to prepare your child for school-age services, including activities to help with the adjustment to going to school in a new setting. For example, the plan may include visits to the new school building and/or the making of a social story on what the new school experience will be like, including pictures of the entry to the school, the halls, classroom, auditorium, etc., which may help your child picture him or herself in the new space. The plan should also include how and when information will be shared between the current preschool service provider and the school district that will provide services the following school year.

Additionally, the transition plan will include a transition meeting with administrators from your school district and representatives from your child's preschool special education team. It is important that the preschool team representatives are present so that they can help explain your child's current program and services, and how it supports your child. In Pennsylvania and most states, transition meetings should occur by the end of the February prior to the Fall when your child is eligible to attend kindergarten. At the initial transition meeting, you will be given timelines and other information about your child's transition to the school-age system.

During the transition process, you and your child's school district will decide whether or not your child's IEP is still appropriate for school-age services. You may agree to continue the current IEP in whole or in part. If you and the school district choose to keep the current IEP with or without revisions, there is no need for your child to be reevaluated before beginning school-age services. (If your child is due for a reevaluation at the time of transition, you may waive the reevaluation in writing or choose to go forward with the re-evaluation.) Alternatively, either you or the district can request a reevaluation of your child.

In order for your child to be reevaluated, you will need to sign a Permission to Reevaluate form. Within 60 calendar days from receipt of your consent for the evaluation (not including summer days), the school district must provide you with a copy of the Reevaluation Report. The Reevaluation Report is similar to an Evaluation Report, and you should be given the opportunity to contribute information to it. The report will determine whether your child remains eligible for special education and will include the results of the latest testing and service needs of your child. Within 30 calendar days of the Reevaluation Report or within a reasonable amount of time to assure a smooth transition to school-age programs, an IEP meeting will be held to develop programming for elementary school.

In states and districts where children are eligible to remain in Preschool Special Education until they are old enough for first grade, many parents use the preliminary transition process to take the pulse of their district. Based on the initial meetings, some families decide to stay in the Preschool Special Education system an extra year, which then gives them more time to consider decisions for their children.

It is a benefit to those families who can keep their options open to the last moment. Many families choose to plan for both possibilities: their child remaining in the preschool program as well as their child moving on to kindergarten.

In either case, it is imperative to consider the strengths and needs of the child. In particular, you may want to think about:

  • How will transitioning or remaining in preschool affect your child's social development (your child will be with same age peers in kindergarten vs. younger children in a preschool program)?
  • Is your child ready to receive a kindergarten educational curriculum?
  • Will kindergarten hours be longer? Will the school week be longer?

Additional Resources

The Center for Autism Research and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia do not endorse or recommend any specific person or organization or form of treatment. The information included within the CAR Autism Roadmap™ and CAR Resource Directory™ should not be considered medical advice and should serve only as a guide to resources publicly and privately available. Choosing a treatment, course of action, and/or a resource is a personal decision, which should take into account each individual's and family's particular circumstances.