Child Find assists parents and schools in the early identification of children who are at risk of developing special or unique needs and who are not being served in a public school. The target is birth through 21 years with primary emphasis on children birth to 5 years of age. (Scroll down to the bottom of this page for information on early childhood development and red flags for concerns.)

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Referring a Child

To refer a child online, click here: Web-based Referral

Child Find Flyer Referral Form Web-based Referral Form Permission to Screen Form Release of Information Form Developmental Red Flags Frequently Asked Questions Typical Language Development

Contact us at 386-329-3811 to speak with one of our Child Find Specialists or click here to email FDLRS Child Find (Please include contact information in your email.)

• Kathy Baker (Serving Baker, Putnam Counties)
• Joanne Gore (Serving Bradford, Flagler, Union Counties)
• Vivian Wilson (Serving St. Johns County)

If you have concerns about a child's speaking, understanding, moving or playing, seeing, hearing, getting along with other children, learning or self-help skills, Child Find provides developmental screening FREE OF CHARGE in the areas of communication, motor development, vision, hearing, and preschool readiness skills and assistance with evaluation and service planning if needed.

Child Find provides information about community programs and professional consultation for parents and providers. Awareness and outreach activities insure that the public receives ongoing, consistent information about Child Find and how to access services for children with special needs and/or other early intervention services. Information is provided on an individual basis or though community presentations and events.

Early Childhood Development

Cognitive

• Brain Connection - This website offers a multitude of information on cognitive and brain development, and readers can sign up for a free bi-weekly newsletter about the brain.
• Cognitive Milestones - a thorough checklist that includes information on memory, means-end, object concept, and pre-academic skills.
• Stages of Cognitive Development - Based on the work of Jean Piaget, information is presented in an easy to read chart and includes a section devoted to how parents can increase their child's cognitive development through play.
• Learning Readiness for Kindergarten - This National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) site details the basics of learning readiness for kindergarten. The hournal describes different activities parents, caregaivers and professionals can do to develop cognitive skills.

Communication

• Signing With Your Baby - this website gives information on the advantages of signing, and provides resources, news, updates, products and videos.
• Language Milestones - provides a chart listing language skills from 6 months to 8 years, as well as links to more detailed information about each stage.
• Improving Your Baby's Communication Skills - gives parents eight easy ways to improve their infant's language skills.
• Vocal Development - provides information about early speech development, examples of speech sounds that children produce before they say words on a regular basis, and easy interventions parents and professionals can use to increase communication skills.

Language

• Oral Language Development - this article describes oral language development in young children and offers parents and teachers suggestions to foster communication.
• Language Milestone Chart - this site offers a language milestone chart for children birth to age 6, and includes activities and strategies to encourage language development.
• Stimulating Language Development - Dr. Alice Honig offers "Twenty Tips to Caregivers" on stimulating language development.
• Talking Milestones - discusses toddlers' use of language and presents activities for encouraging language development and pre-reading skills.
• Age-by-Age Insights - Learn how to talk to kids of any age and listen through your children's ears. Discover how much of your conversation kids really understand -- and why they don't seem to pay attention when you want them to.

Motor

• Preschool Kids Do Better When They Talk To Themselves - According to a recent study, parents shouldn't worry about young children talking to themselves, in fact 5 year olds perform better on motor tasks!
• Dad University - this article lists ideas for games Dads can play with their young children to improve gross motor skills.
• Motor Milestones Checklist - provides information on gross and fine motor development for birth to age 6 in a checklist format useful for parents and early childhood professionals.
• Fine Motor Activities - Activities for increasing fine motor skills are presented and are easily adaptable for an early education setting.
• Gross Motor Activities - Activities to help children develop fitness and body/spatial awareness are presented along with a chart that focuses on promoting locomotion, manipulation and stabilization.
• Understanding Motor Development - Written from the child's point of view, this site gives information about fine and gross motor development for 1-3 year olds.

Physical

• Child Physical Development - this site describes how to help a young child's physical development at school, home, and in the community and also provides a list of motor activities.
• Quick Reference Guide - physical development chart that is broken down in months beginning with birth then in years from 1 to 5 years of age.
• Encouraging Physical Development of Toddlers - fine and gross motor activities are discussed along with developmental milestones and suggestions for parents.
• Role of Exercise - stresses the importance of physical development and exercise, provides activity ideas, and discusses the role of the adult.
• Does Size Really Matter? - Everyone talks about how tall -- or short -- a child is; this article discusses whether size really matters.
• See How They Grow - discusses how to tell whether your child is growing properly and provides information on how to help your child achieve optimum growth.

Self-Help

• Teaching Self-Care Skills - this article and resource site on teaching self-care skills to children includes information on toileting skills, guides to healthy eating habits, and developmental delays.
• Self-Help Milestones - from a child's viewpoint, provides information on eating, dressing, grooming, and household skills for ages 1 to 3 and includes activities to facilitate development.
• Teaching Your Young Child Specific Self-Help Skills - this article gives fun interactive ways to teach self-help skills using picture cues, rhymes and song, and motor activities.
• Adaptive Milestones Checklist - provides self-help milestones for ages birth to 6 and includes information on eating, drinking and dressing.
• Tips for Fostering Self-Help Skills - this article defines self-help skills and offers parents of preschoolers activities and suggestions for developing those skills.
• The Right Time to Start Toilet Training: Children's Readiness - this article informs parents what they need to learn about the signs and signals that indicate children are ready to begin toilet training.

Social / Emotional

• Stages of Social Development - this site describes social development in twelve stages and information is presented in a parent friendly manner. Activities that can be performed at home are included which not only improve social development, but language as well.
• Emotional Development - describes the social and emotional development for different ages. Each file is easy to read for parents and caregivers about what to expect and when to seek help.
• Developing Social Competence - this site offers research articles on assessing social competence, developing social competence, and peer relationships and conflicts with children. Also, the home page offers various aspects of parenting.
• Social Story Intervention - this site offers social story intervention materials. The website allows a teacher to customize stories using a child's name, likeness and situations. Also, there is information and suggestions for activities to help build social skills.
• Social Skills Milestones - provides a thorough checklist of the development of social skills from birth to age 6.
• Boostkids - this site is aimed at boosting children's self confidence, self esteem and self worth by teaching people skills and building character
• Promoting Social Emotional Development - Here you will find tips and tools that will help you promote social emotional development in infants and toddlers, as well as a link to Zero to Three's most popular resources.
  

Early Childhood Information

• Ear Infections and Language Development
• Common Vocabulary / Concepts from Speech-Language
• Grow to 5 Modules - Bilingual training materials for teachers and caregivers
• Infant-Toddler Social/Emotional Well Being
• Personalized Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule
• Positive Solutions for Families of Young Children with Challenging Behaviors
• Voluntary Pre-K Summer Program
• Welcome to the World - Overview of Your Growing Child Booklet
• What Should I Expect from My Three-year Old
• What Should I Expect from My Four-year Old
• What Should I Expect from My Five-year Old
• Reading Readiness for Kindergarten
• Helping Parents Promote Literacy Skills
• Linking Social Development and Behavior to School Readiness
• Just Read, Florida!'s Brochure about the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading
• Hearing Loss Fact Sheet
• Vision Loss Fact Sheet

Early Education Web Links

• About Our Kids - New York University Child Study Center for awareness of child and adolescent psychiatric disorders and research for prevention, identification, and treatment on a national scale
• Center for Early Literacy Learning (CELL) - Promotes evidence-based early literacy learning practices by early childhood intervention practitioners, parents, and other caregivers
• Center for Evidenced Based Practices in Early Learning - Promotes the use of evidence-based practice to meet the needs of young children who have, or are at risk for, problem behavior
• Children's Forum - Private, not-for-profit organization committed to improving the quality, affordability, and availability of child care and early education through programs, services, and publications
• Children's Medical Services - FL Dept. of Health program serving children with special health care needs
• CIERA - Center for the improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA) is a national center for research on early reading,
• Early Learning Coalitions in Florida
• Early Learning Coalition of Flagler & Volusia
• Early Learning Coalition of Putnam & St. Johns Counties
• Early Learning Coalition of Florida's Gateway, Inc (Columbia, Hamilton, Lafayette, Suwannee, Union Counties
• Florida School for the Deaf and Blind Parent-Infant Program - Intervention in a family's natural environment and daily routines.
• Kindergarten: Should I hold my child back? - Research from NAEYC
• Office of Early Learning - Florida Department of Education administering the VPK program
• National Assoc. for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) - Focus on quality educational and developmental services for all children from birth through age 8
• National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities (NICHCY) - Information on disabilities, IDEA, and No Child Left Behind (as it relates to children with disabilities)
• National Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (NECTAC) - funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education
• Recognition and Response for Young Children - Resources to help early educators address the needs of 3 to 5 year-olds who show signs that they may not be learning in an expected manner
• Science Daily - The source for the latest research news
• Technical Assistance and Training System (TATS) - Supports programs serving Pre-K children with disabilities through training and technical assistance
• Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) Education Program - Office of Early Learning VPK fact sheets for families, performance standards, early literacy training and more
• Zero to Three - National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families resources on development, school readiness, and more.
• Florida Legislation on Statewide Kindergarten Screening - Information on kindergarten readiness screening for children who participated in the Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program
• New Reading Assessments for the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS) - This flyer outlines changes as a result of the new Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading
• Florida Department of Education - Building a Strong Foundation for Florida's Children - The Bright Beginnings Web site offers information for early success in reading and math and it covers expectations, instruction, assessment, and parent resouces
• Information on the VPK Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rate - Provides resources for parents to check on their child's provider's readiness rate
• Early Childhood Information from the Florida Parental Information & Resource Center (PIRC) - this site provides parental information and resources on a variety of topics related to parents improtant role in their children's academic achievement
• Florida Response to Intervention (RtI) - this site provides RtI news and includes a parent brochure

Resources for Special Needs

Autism

• Autism Information Center - Center for Disease Control and Intervention - Articles, Updates, FAQs and more
• The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) this UF site provides assistance and support, professional training programs, public education activities, and information on CARD service regions and local support groups for families and professionals.
• National Autism Association - this site provides a variety of resources for families, educators, providers, and ASD individuals
• Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) - this site provides signs and symptoms and more
• Asperger's Syndrome - this site provides signs and symptoms and more

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders - a resource on the characteristics and frequently asked questions related to fetal alcohol syndrome.
• Signs and Symptoms of FAS - comprehensive overview covers symptoms, causes, and prevention of these preventable birth defects

Language Impairment

• Language Development in Internationally Adopted Children - this site covers the difficulties in language development for children who are adopted and speak another language. The site offers information on what to do if delays are suspected as well as typical language development and milestones.
• Concerns for Language Delays - this site offers information for parents who suspect there may be developmental delays with language and other areas
• Speechville - this site offers information related to language delays, online help, and lists resources for parents and teachers