Monitoring, Screening and Referral

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires State Part C lead agencies to have a comprehensive child find system. The child find system must have referral procedures in place so that parents; health care providers, such as pediatricians; social services agencies; early childhood educators; and other individuals can refer children to IDEA Part C if there are concerns about their development. As part of their work with young children, these providers and programs regularly use developmental monitoring and conduct developmental screenings to assess if children are meeting developmental milestones.