Referral

If a child is suspected of a) having a disability that adversely affects educational performance and, b) needing special education and related services, a referral may be made at any time to the LEA. An evaluation, in the child’s preferred language or other mode of communication, must occur before the provision of special education and related services. Special education referrals may be made for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, academic and/or behavioral concerns. The parent(s) of a child, LEA staff, or any individual with relevant knowledge of the child may initiate the referral process by requesting an evaluation to determine if the child is a child with a disability. A referral is to be made in writing through the completion of the required Special Education Referral form and provided to the principal or designee of the school in which the child is enrolled. When the referral originates from a parent, an individual not associated with the school, or other agency personnel; an employee of the local educational agency where the child is enrolled must complete the Special Education Referral Form in cooperation with the person making the referral and forward it to the principal or designee of the school.

• ADE Referral Process documentation can be found https://arksped.ade.arkansas.gov/documents/paperwork-reduction/sped-process-guide.pdf

Completing a Referral Document

• Select Referral from Create New Document dropdown and click Go. Add a label (optional) and click New.

• The Student Information section of the document will pre-populate data and is read-only. The student’s age as of the date of the referral will populate once the Date of Referral is selected.

• Select the Native Language/Mode of Communication. When Other is selected, a required text box appears. Type the language.

• Indicate Interpreter Needed by selecting Yes or No (required field). 

• Use the look-up or non-lookup feature to select the Name of the person who has referred the student for Special Education.

• Enter the Date of Referral (required field). The date of referral will flow to the student’s Referral profile.

• The Name and Address of the Parent/Guardian are auto-populated from the Student Contacts profile.  (Contacts with “Receives Mail” selected in eSchoolPLUS Registration labels will appear in the document as read only. To refresh the parent/guardian names from the Student Contacts profile, click the More menu, Update Document from Student Profile.) The name of the person will flow to the student’s Referral profile.

• Complete text entry for the following (required fields): 

  • Describe academic/developmental and/or behavioral performance that prompted referral.

  • Describe the child’s strength.

  • Summarize and/or attach any additional information that would assist in determining the nature of the child's developmental/learning problems.

• Complete the following (required fields): 

  • Has the student repeated a Grade? Select Yes or No. If Yes, select the repeated grade.

  • Days absent this school year. Enter 0 if there are no days absent.

  • Has the student been suspended or expelled this school year? Select Yes or No. If yes, specify how many days (numeric values only) in the text box.

  • Has the student previously been referred for a Special Education evaluation? Select Yes or No.  If yes, provide information, if available.

• For District Staff Only: Use the date pickerTh or type the date value for Date of vision screening and Hearing screening. (The date value must be prior to today’s date.)

• Use the lookup feature to select the name of a Public Agency Official/Designee Receiving Referral. The lookup option will display the names from the Staff table.

• Click Save, Done Editing.

Office Use Only Section

This section captures the Delivery status and response status of the Special Education Referral Document. When the Referral is finalized, the date and mode of delivery will flow to the student’s Document Delivery profile.

• Use the drop-down list to select the Mode of delivery.

• Use the datepicker to select a Date of delivery.

• Click Save, Done Editing.

Once the Referral document is completed, the document must be finalized. The finalization process will flow applicable data to the student’s profiles as well as locking the document where it can no longer be edited.