Committee on Preschool Special Education

CPSE Chairperson - Erin Power e.power@wi.k12.ny.us 

Preschool student with a disability is a preschool child as defined in section 4410(1)(i) of Education Law who is eligible to receive preschool programs and services, is not entitled to attend the public schools of the school district of residence pursuant to section 3202 of the Education Law and who, because of mental, physical, or emotional reasons, has been identified as having a disability and can receive appropriate educational opportunities from special programs and services approved by the department. Eligibility as a preschool student with a disability shall be based on the results of an individual evaluation which is provided in the student's native language, not dependent on a single procedure, and administered by a multidisciplinary team.

To be eligible as a Preschool student with a disability, the student must:

• exhibit a significant delay or disorder in one or more functional areas related to cognitive, language and communicative, adaptive, socioemotional or motor development which adversely affects the student's ability to learn. Such delay or disorder shall be documented by the results of the individual evaluation which includes but is not limited to information in all functional areas obtained from a structured observation of a student's performance and behavior, a parental interview and other individually administered assessment procedures, and, when reviewed in combination and compared to accepted milestones for child development, indicate:
  • 12-month delay in one or more functional area(s); or
  • 33 percent delay in one functional area, or a 25 percent delay in each of two functional areas; or
  • a score of 2.0 standard deviations below the mean in one functional area, or a score of 1.5 standard deviations below the mean in each of two functional areas