Special Needs Preschool

Special Needs Preschool, also known as SEARCh (Seeking Educationally At Risk Children) to Serve, conducts Child Find activities within the WESD. The purpose of Child Find is to locate and evaluate children aged two years and nine months to five years old (or kinder eligible) who are suspected of having a disability. If the disability impacts their learning or educational performance, special education and/or related services may be recommended. Special needs preschool is available at select schools and students are placed based on their individual needs.

The WESD offers a Special Needs Preschool Program designed for children identified through the Child Find Process. This program is:

• a free program intended for children two years and nine months old to five years old (or kinder eligible) with an identified disability,
• for children who live within the WESD boundaries,
• staffed with a WESD Early Childhood Special Education teacher and one or more teaching assistants,
• designed with in-class therapies (speech, language, occupational and physical therapy) for two and a half hours a day, four days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday), and
• a language rich, play-based program that provides developmentally appropriate instruction guided by Arizona State Early Learning Standards.