Special Services

CHILD FIND INFORMATIONAL LETTER
 
New Jersey recognizes the importance of providing services to children with special needs through its Project Child Find efforts. Local school districts can provide evaluation for children three to 21 years of age who appear to have problems in communication, motor, social-emotional, or learning areas. The evaluation is available to preschoolers; to highly mobile students with disabilities, such as migrant and homeless students; and to students who may be disabled even though they are advancing from grade to grade. Children found to be eligible for special education and related services are entitled to free and appropriate special education programming and related services. Information is provided to parents of children from birth through three years of age regarding early intervention services.

If you know of children who appear to have one or more of the following signs, please ask their parents to call the Department of Special Services at 908-889-0100: significant delays in acquiring language or significant speech problems; significant difficulty walking, running, or manipulating small objects; frequent health problems or disabilities present from birth; consistent trouble seeing or hearing; tendency toward temper tantrums or excessive anxiety or shyness; significant difficulty playing appropriately with other children; and/or significant problems paying attention and listening.

All information about such requests will be kept confidential. Thank you for helping to disseminate this important information. 

The Blue Envelope Program provides drivers with Autism Spectrum Disorder a tool to communicate essential information with a police officer and/or emergency responder.  Visit the link for full details.  

The Special Education Medicaid Initiative (SEMI) program is an important source of funding for school districts to help offset the cost of some related services for students with IEPs.  This is a program that is mandatory for school districts to participate in.  Your child's case manager will be contacting you to ask for your written consent allowing us to send information to Medicaid and the Department of Treasury to apply for reimbursement for services such as speech, occupational therapy, counseling, and/or physical therapy.  This program does NOT affect personal insurance, even if you are a medicaid recipient.  You do not have to have Medicaid for us to get reimbursement.  This is a program established by the federal government to help school districts fund services.  The school district is required to get parents to sign the form, however parents can check the box that states they do not consent.  Giving your consent will assist the district in receiving funds to support related service programs.  If you have any questions, please reach out to your case manager or call the Department of Special Services.