Jefferson Early Childhood's Diagnostic Team

The Wheaton Warrenville Education Association would like to introduce our Jefferson Diagnostic Team. Jefferson Early Childhood Center, is a public school serving students ages three to five within CUSD 200. Jefferson provides a tuition-based early childhood program for typically developing students as well as specialized programs for children with disabilities. For some of our families at Jefferson, the first experience with CUSD 200 and public education is with Jefferson’s Diagnostic Team. The Diagnostic Team at Jefferson provides information to families regarding developmental expectations at various age levels and consults with other community preschools when a specialist’s viewpoint is requested. The Diagnostic Team also functions as an intake clinic of sorts, completing screenings of children from birth to age 5 and evaluations for children aged 3 to 5 years of age. The Jefferson Diagnostic Team completes 130 individual evaluations of children each school year. Many of the evaluations involve children who have already been receiving services through the Early Intervention system (Birth to age 3). The District is required to provide services for those children starting on their third birthday if they meet school district-based eligibility criteria. Other comprehensive evaluations occur as a result of Child Find activities.

Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, each District must engage in Child Find activities to reach out to those who may be eligible for special education services. At Jefferson the Diagnostic Team is responsible for carrying out screenings to identify children in the community who may have a disability or developmental delay. The screening process is:

1. Families are asked to complete the Ages and Stages Questionnaire online by visiting the Jefferson website, clicking on the Student Services tab, and selecting Developmental Screenings from the drop down menu.
2. The parents are then contacted by a member of the Diagnostic Team to determine if the child needs a face-to-face screening. At Jefferson, these screenings are play-based and conducted by a multi-disciplinary team. In some cases the child may be screened by an observation at a preschool site rather than coming to the traditional screening at Jefferson.
3. After the screening, the team sits down as a group to discuss their observations and complete an outcome summary sheet of each child’s abilities in the different domains of development. The team then decides if follow-up is warranted. If areas of concern are noted, possible recommendations include consultation with parent or preschool teacher to provide ideas for programming, referral to community resources, additional observation, re-screening in 6 months to a year to monitor progress, or comprehensive evaluation to determine possible eligibility for special education services.

Comprehensive evaluations are conducted with the parents and child and usually take about two hours. Some members of the team conduct a play-based evaluation with the child, while others interview the parent. In addition to this data, the team may have observational data from a community preschool, reports from therapists, personal contact with therapists via phone, and rating scale results. After the evaluation, each team member is responsible for writing a report on the child’s level of functioning in the developmental domain in which they specialize. If the child has a delay or disability then team members must write goals and create an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The family meets with the diagnostic team for about two hours to discuss the evaluation results, determine if the child is eligible for special education and complete an individualized educational plan if appropriate.

The Jefferson Diagnostic team is pleased with their positive working relationships with other community preschools and agencies. Consultation and collaboration have resulted in great outcomes for the children in the community.

In many ways, Jefferson’s Diagnostic Team is the face of early childhood education in CUSD 200. They are a family’s first impression of the District and of Jefferson. They assist families in understanding their child’s developmental level, and when needed, they can be the first step for families in understanding their child’s disability. They help build the relationship between new families and their assigned classroom team. They are the backbone of Jefferson and your Jefferson family thanks you for the countless hours of report writing, support of our families, and your expertise.

Jefferson Diagnostic Team members:

Becky Rosenthal, School Psychologist, has 32 years of experience as a school psychologist with 13 years at Jefferson on the diagnostic team

Nancy Swanson, Early Childhood Special Education Teacher, has been at Jefferson for 22 years and on the diagnostic team for 12 years

Sara Kud, Speech and Language Pathologist, has worked in CUSD 200 for 14 years with 8 years at Jefferson and six of those years on the diagnostic team

Kim Grimes, Occupational Therapist, has been an OT at Jefferson for 5 years and has served 2 years on diagnostic team.

Sue Simnick, Physical Therapist, has 33 years of experience in pediatric physical therapy and has been at Jefferson serving on the diagnostic team for 9 years

Rachael Anderson, Social Worker, has been on the diagnostic team for 9 years

Terri Donahue, School Nurse, has been a registered nurse for 37 years and has been at Jefferson for 18 years

Mary Cortes, Social Worker, has been on the Diagnostic Team for 3 years

Jackie Corso, School Nurse, has been on the Diagnostic Team for 4 years

Joanne Metoyer has been the intake coordinator for 12 years