Project Child Find

Project Child Find

http://www.nj.gov/health/fhs/eis/

Project CHILD FIND is a service of the New Jersey State Department of Education to help identify unserved handicapped children from birth to 21 years of age. Project CHILD FIND is funded through a grant from the United States Department of Education. Information for children with potential disabilities or those with disabilities from birth to three is available through Project Child Find, (a service established by the N.J. Department of Education through I.D.E.A., Part B funds from the U.S. Department of Education) at 1-800-322-8174.

Notice of Child Find Activity 
Pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities 
Education Act and New Jersey Administrative Code, 
Title 6A:14, Special Education

Garfield Public School has a responsibility to locate, identify, and evaluate all resident students with disabilities who are in need of special education and related services, including students with disabilities attending nonpublic schools. The school district locates, identifies, and evaluates, where appropriate, the following: Children below school-entry age (3-5); school age children; children entering school for the first time; children enrolled in public and private schools; transfer pupils and school age children who are eligible to attend school but who are not attending school.

Use the following developmental checklist to help you determine if your child could benefit from a special education program and seek help early.

  • Does your child frequently rub his/her eyes or complain that their eyes hurt?
  • Does your child have reddened, watering or encrusted eyelids?
  • Does your child hold his/her head in a strained or awkward position (tilts head to either side, thrusts head forward or backward) when trying to look at a particular person or object?
  • Does your child sometimes or always cross one or both eyes? Yes No
  • Does your child have frequent earaches or ear discharge?
  • Does your child turn the same ear toward a sound he/she wishes to hear?
  • Does your child play near other children by age 3?
  • Does your child join other children briefly in play by age 3?
  • Does your child imitate adults doing routine chores by age 2 to 3?
  • Does your child enjoy playing alone with toys, pots and pans, sand, etc. by age 3?
  • Does your child share and take turns by age 5?
  • Does your child say his/her first and last name by age 3?
  • Does your child ask “what” or “where” questions by age 3?
  • Does your child repeat common rhymes or TV jingles by age 3?
  • Does your child talk in short sentences by age 4?
  • By age 5 can people outside your family understand your child?
  • Is your child able to kick a ball by age 3?
  • Can your child run by age 3?
  • Does your child walk up and down steps by age 3?
  • Is your child able to balance on one foot for short time by age 4?
  • Can your child throw a ball overhand and catch a large ball bounced to him/her by age 5?
  • Does your child understand simple directions by age 3?
  • Does your child associate functional use with familiar objects (as a spoon is for eating) by 3?
  • Does your child understand simple stories told or read to him/her by age 3?
  • Does your child give reasonable answers to such questions as “What do you do when you are sleepy?” or “What do you do when you are hungry?” by age 4?
  • Does your child seem to understand the meanings of the words “today,” “tomorrow,” and “yesterday” by age 5?

If you answered several items above “no” and have a child between the ages of 3 and 5 years of age whom you suspect may have a developmental delay, please contact your local school district’s child study team office or your county’s supervisor of child study.   The Bergen County Supervisor of Child Study is Brett Bersano.  Mr. Bersano's address is:

New Jersey Department of Education 
One Bergen County Plaza, 3rd Floor, Room 350 
Hackensack, NJ 07601-7076

Email:  [email protected] 
Tel:  201-336-6877 
Fax: 201-336-6880

Child Find Flier