How to Qualify for PEP

[Anonymous]

Our son is newly diagnosed with autism and we're looking for a preschool option that has a small teacher ratio and experience with autistic kids (we were asked to withdraw from a traditional daycare center due to behavior issues). It was my understanding that we needed to get Child Find to recommend PEP in order to qualify for it, but our pediatrician told us she thinks it's a different process and we should be able to access it by right due to our diagnosis. I'll be talking with the PEP folks as soon as I can get a hold of them, but in the meantime thought I'd ask here. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

I assume this is MCPS? My understanding is that Child Find is how you get to PEP. I haven't heard of accessing PEP by right due to a diagnosis.

[Anonymous]

How old is your child?

Placement in PEP is made my the IEP team. You can’t skip the IEP process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How old is your child?

Placement in PEP is made my the IEP team. You can’t skip the IEP process.

Agree with this one. My autistic & adhd child was not qualified for PEP school after evaluation, but he was qualified for limited services 1:1 on speech for 2 hrs/week . He has no behavior issue. My another child with no diagnosis was qualified for PEP school half day because she has more speech developmental delays. She has no behavior issues. Both were not kicked out from private daycare.

Child find will determine the placement and services. Diagnosis does not mean much to them.

[Anonymous]

In general, I find that doctors generally have no clue how access to services work. I’ve found this with the developmental ped, regular ped, neurologist, neurosurgeon, neurooncologist and geneticist. But they all just say “I don’t do that.” A ped that is giving you actual misinformation seems like a bad fit.

[Anonymous]

OP here - yes, MCPS, and DS just turned 4. We got a Child Find evaluation before we received the autism diagnosis, and they found minimal delays and recommended no services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - yes, MCPS, and DS just turned 4. We got a Child Find evaluation before we received the autism diagnosis, and they found minimal delays and recommended no services.

Get an educational consultant.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think you need an educational consultant. Re-refer to Child Find, share any diagnostic reports for the team to consider, and share that his disability impacted his ability to access the general education preschool classroom (as he was kicked out). Do this in writing. If it has not been too long, ask the previous teacher to fill out the PreK teacher questionnaire on the Child Find website and ask them to be very honest about any challenges so you can get help. Include this in your referral aling with any written communication from the daycare about why your child was asked to leave. All of this goes a long way in documenting educational impact.

PPs are correct- physicians often don’t fully understand the process. You will need to go to Child Find again if your child doesn’t currently have a IEP and you are seeking to access services through MCPS. The new information should help show he needs support. If he is found eligible, services and placement (eg PEP) are an IEP team decision. Diagnosis alone does not guarantee services…there has to be an educational impact. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you need an educational consultant. Re-refer to Child Find, share any diagnostic reports for the team to consider, and share that his disability impacted his ability to access the general education preschool classroom (as he was kicked out). Do this in writing. If it has not been too long, ask the previous teacher to fill out the PreK teacher questionnaire on the Child Find website and ask them to be very honest about any challenges so you can get help. Include this in your referral aling with any written communication from the daycare about why your child was asked to leave. All of this goes a long way in documenting educational impact.

PPs are correct- physicians often don’t fully understand the process. You will need to go to Child Find again if your child doesn’t currently have a IEP and you are seeking to access services through MCPS. The new information should help show he needs support. If he is found eligible, services and placement (eg PEP) are an IEP team decision. Diagnosis alone does not guarantee services…there has to be an educational impact. Good luck!

If the child is bright, verbal and able to comply with directions Child Find might find them not eligible for services. It happened to us. Behavior was the only concern so they told us they couldn’t help. Our child now goes to an inclusive daycare with an ABA shadow covered by our insurance.

[Anonymous]

True, this can happen. It seems in the OP’s case the new information might make a more compelling case for needing services, as getting kicked out of preschool for behavior has a direct adverse educational impact. Hopefully OP can find the support they need, wherever that may come from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general, I find that doctors generally have no clue how access to services work. I’ve found this with the developmental ped, regular ped, neurologist, neurosurgeon, neurooncologist and geneticist. But they all just say “I don’t do that.” A ped that is giving you actual misinformation seems like a bad fit.

That's really true. They think things are much easier to access than they are and their understanding is limited because that is not their expertise. Their expertise is diagnosing.

[Anonymous]

The problem with PEP right now is that they cannot keep up with the demand. They don't have enough spaces in classes and enough staff. So they have to turn kids with significant needs away or give them minimal services.

[Anonymous]

Go through child find to see if eligible for an IEP. IEP team determines services.

Pediatricians and other medical providers are NOT familiar or experts in the educational model or educational law. As a school employee, families regularly share things their doctors said which are completely inaccurate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem with PEP right now is that they cannot keep up with the demand. They don't have enough spaces in classes and enough staff. So they have to turn kids with significant needs away or give them minimal services.

This is false. They cannot turn away kids with significant needs, and they do admin adjustments to make things work. In my child's PEP pilot class they had kids who should have been in classic but didn't have spots, and bumped the class size to 17 (was 12 pre-pandemic). The following year, they added 2 more sections of PEP and another PEP teacher. They know about the demand and are doing accordingly, it's not like year after year they are caught off guard. You may not get your choice of school geographically, but you get a placement if the child has legitimate needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think you need an educational consultant. Re-refer to Child Find, share any diagnostic reports for the team to consider, and share that his disability impacted his ability to access the general education preschool classroom (as he was kicked out). Do this in writing. If it has not been too long, ask the previous teacher to fill out the PreK teacher questionnaire on the Child Find website and ask them to be very honest about any challenges so you can get help. Include this in your referral aling with any written communication from the daycare about why your child was asked to leave. All of this goes a long way in documenting educational impact.

PPs are correct- physicians often don’t fully understand the process. You will need to go to Child Find again if your child doesn’t currently have a IEP and you are seeking to access services through MCPS. The new information should help show he needs support. If he is found eligible, services and placement (eg PEP) are an IEP team decision. Diagnosis alone does not guarantee services…there has to be an educational impact. Good luck!

If the child is bright, verbal and able to comply with directions Child Find might find them not eligible for services. It happened to us. Behavior was the only concern so they told us they couldn’t help. Our child now goes to an inclusive daycare with an ABA shadow covered by our insurance.

This is not entirely correct. They also look for social and pragmatic language delays, fine and gross motor skills, motor planning. A child can be bright and follow directions but unable to grab a pen or not interested in any peer interactions.