Serving Children with Special Needs
As in any K-12 public school program, schools are required to provide services and programming to children with special needs. Children with special needs cannot be excluded from a public preschool program. Schools should work with their local Child Development Services (CDS) site to ensure the provision of Chapter 101, Maine Unified Special Education Regulation Birth to Age Twenty, for children birth through school-age five.
- Learn more about Maine's CDS program
- Early Childhood Settings Inclusion Toolkit. This toolkit was developed by the Maine Expanding Inclusive Opportunities Initiative. These resources may be useful for staff currently working in public preschool settings.
Serving English Learners
As in any K-12 public school program, Maine public preschools are also required to administer the Home Language Survey to all new enrollees to identify English learners (ELs), and schools must provide services and programming to all identified ELs. Schools should refer to the district’s Lau Action Plan and work with its English as a Second Language-endorsed teacher and Language Acquisition Committee to ensure that federal and State laws are properly implemented.