In This Issue:

How to Determine Benchmarks or Short-Term Objectives

How To Determine Resources Especially for Child Care Providers and Preschools

In the past, benchmarks or short-term objectives were required elements in every child’s IEP. No longer, however. Now, benchmarks or short-term objectives are required onlyfor children with disabilities who take alternate assessments aligned to alternate achievement standards.

IDEA’s Exact Words

Here’s the verbatim requirement for this component of the IEP.

(ii) For children with disabilities who take alternate assessments aligned to alternate achievement standards, a description of benchmarks or short-term objectives… §300.320(a)(2)(ii)

The Purpose of Benchmarks and Short-Term Objectives

One of the changes made by the 2004 Amendments to IDEA concerns the requirement for benchmarks or short-term objectives in IEPs. Previously, benchmarks or short-term objectives were required to be developed in correlation with a child’s annual IEP goals. While this requirement changed in the 2004 reauthorization, their general purpose has not.

Benchmarks indicate the interim steps a child will take to reach an annual goal. They also serve as a measurement gauge to monitor a child’s progress and determine if the child is making sufficient progress towards attaining an annual goal. Using a roadmap analogy, benchmarks and short-term objectives are used to divide the trip to the final destination into concrete, smaller steps.

An Example

Here’s an example of an annual goal with short-term objectives for a student named David. The IEP team developed David’s reading goal and objectives by looking at the information in his present level statement. Then they determined the skills that David needs to learn in order for him to be able to read at a 5th grade level.

Annual Goal: David will achieve a reading score at the 5th grade level or above, as measured by the Qualitative Reading Inventory (QRI).

Short-term Objectives

By October, when given a list of 20 unfamiliar words that contain short-vowel sounds, David will decode them with 90% accuracy on each of 5 trials.
By October, when given 20 unfamiliar words that contain long-vowel sounds, David will decode them with 90% accuracy on each of 5 trials.
By December, David will correctly pronounce 20 words with 90% accuracy on each of 5 trials to demonstrate understanding of the rule that where one vowel follows another, the first vowel is pronounced with a long sound and the second vowel is silent (ordeal, coast).
By December, David will correctly separate 20 words by syllables with 90% accuracy on each of 5 trials to demonstrate understanding of the rule that each syllable in a word must contain a vowel (les-son).

For Whom Are Benchmarks or Objectives Required?

As was said above, now benchmarks or short-term objectives are required only for children who take alternate assessments aligned to alternate achievement standards (e.g., an alternate, non-standard curriculum). Alternate assessments based on alternate academic achievement standards are intended for children with the most significant cognitive disabilities.

While this type of alternate assessment must be linked to grade-level content, it typically does not fully represent grade-level content, only a sampling of it. Moreover, this type of alternate assessment may be linked to “extended content standards” that a state develops, standards that may restrict or simplify grade-level content in order to make it accessible to children with the most significant cognitive disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, 2007, p. 18). The state may define these content standards in grade clusters (e.g., grades 3-5).

And for Other Children? At a State’s Discretion

Interestingly, states may still choose to use benchmarks with other children, but this is a matter left up to local discretion, as the Department of Education (2006) states:

Benchmarks and short-term objectives were specifically removed from…the Act. However, because benchmarks and short-term objectives were originally intended to assist parents in monitoring their child’s progress toward meeting the child’s annual goals, we believe a State could, if it chose to do so, determine the extent to which short-term objectives and benchmarks would be used. However, …a State that chooses to require benchmarks or short-term objectives in IEPs in that State would have to identify in writing to the LEAs located in the State and to the Secretary that such rule, regulation, or policy is a State-imposed requirement, which is not required by Part B of the Act or the Federal regulations. (71 Fed. Reg. at 46663)

To top

It’s a wonderful thing, to care for children, help them grow and change and learn, and keep them safe on their way. For those of you who help families and children every day by providing child care to the young ones or working in preschools, the rest of us say a profound “thank you.” What a job you do! And with our finest treasures, too—our children.

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Wherever you work, children come to you with gifts, curiosity, challenges, and needs. They are small wonders, to be sure, and as full of diversity as society itself. And because disability is a natural part of life, it’s also likely that some of your little ones may have a disability or a developmental delay that can impact their learning and growth.

As a child care provider or preschool teacher, you may even be among the first to notice a child’s difficulties or special needs. That’s why, quite often, child care providers and preschool teachers play a key role in recognizing that a child may need special help and in connecting families with the systems of that help that address children’s developmental and disability-related needs.

This page is dedicated to helping child care providers and preschool staff do just that. Here, at the CPIR, you can learn more about disabilities, how to address the needs of wee ones with challenges, and create an inclusive and empowering environment where all children can flourish.

About Developmental Delays and Disabilities

Recognizing that a child may have a developmental delay or disability is not necessarily an easy matter. Often, it’s downright hard to say, because children develop at their own pace and the range of “normal” development is broad. Cultural and linguistic diversity can also add an extra dimension to the question. Does a child have trouble understanding or speaking because of a disability, for example, or because his or her native language is not English? Two resources that shed light on the nature of disability and delay are:

Developmental milestones | Explore the typical developmental stages and milestones that pediatricians and others use to monitor children’s growth and progress over time. Learn about the sequence and timing of a typical child’s earliest development and access resources to learn yet more.

Developmental delay | Find out how “developmental delay” is defined and the role that evaluation plays in identifying children with developmental delays.

Of course, sometimes the disability or delay is known, and as a child care provider you’d like to learn more about the nature of the disability and how you can support the child in your care. The CPIR can be very helpful in this regard, because we have a lot of information on specific disabilities. If you’re looking for information about a disability, we encourage you to investigate the Categories of Disability under IDEA. There, you can connect with multiple fact sheets on specific disabilities.

Legal Issues and Questions

A frequent area of concern for child care providers and preschool programs is what they must do legally, when it comes to including children with disabilities in their programs. Here are several salient resources on the subject.

Commonly Asked Questions About Child Care Centers and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
This 13-page publication explains how the requirements of the ADA apply to child care centers. The document also describes some of the Department of Justice’s ongoing enforcement efforts in the child care area and provides a resource list on sources of information on the ADA.
https://www.ada.gov/childqanda.htm

Child Care Law Center.
The Child Care Law Center uses legal tools toward making high-quality, affordable child care available to every child, family, and community, while focusing particular attention to low-income families, families and children with disabilities and other special needs, and other families who face barriers in securing and maintaining quality care. Want a quick reference to the ADA for child care providers? Want to know when a child care program is required under the ADA to admit a child with a disability? Visit the Child Care Law Center and find handy information.
https://www.childcarelaw.org/

Approaching Families

When you’re a child care provider or preschool teacher, and you suspect that a child in your care may have a disability or delay, you might hesitate over how to bring your concerns to the attention of the child’s parents. It’s naturally difficult and scary for parents to hear that there may be cause for action or concern with respect to their little one. We have a few suggestions that may help you approach the matter.

For child care providers and private preschools

Know that there are systems of help.
Each state must have a system by which it identifies and helps children who may have a disability or developmental delay, even the youngest baby, toddler, or preschooler. This system is called “Child Find” and it is responsible for doing precisely that. So parents have a place to turn to, to have their child screened and/or evaluated free of charge to see if there is, indeed, a disability or delay. If you talk to parents about your concerns, you’ll want to share this information with them (see the next paragraph), so they know where to go and especially that that screening and evaluation of children are provided free of charge to families.

Watch Me! Celebrating Milestones and Sharing Concerns.
Concerned about the development of a child in your care? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers a FREE, 1-hour online continuing education course, Watch Me! Celebrating Milestones and Sharing Concerns, to provide early care and education providers tools and best practices for them to work with families to monitor every young child’s development and help children with developmental delays get the early support they need.

Find the contact info for the local Child Find office. Wondering how to find where Child Find is? Call your local hospital (the neo-natal unit or maternity), and ask for the contact info for the Child Find office in the community in which the child lives. That’s the information you share with parents.

There are also disability-specific resources.
Early awareness and intervention for young children are two essentials in addressing the child’s individual learning and developmental needs. Are you concerned about….autism? hearing loss? an intellectual disability? a visual impairment? something else? There are specific systems and resources to access for a range of common disabilities in children. We highly recommend accessing these resources, for they are founts of info, support, and guidance.

While taking the time to check these out might be beyond your duties as a child care provider, there may be an appropriate time to tell parents more about the scope of help that’s out there. These resources fall in that category! One webpage in particular will take you (or the parents) into the heart of things, and that’s:

Early Identification of Specific Disabilities and Children At-Risk, at the ECTA Center (the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center).
https://ectacenter.org/

For preschool teachers in public schools

If you’re teaching preschool in a public school, and you suspect that a child in your classroom has a disability or delay, you’ll want to take a bit different action. Talk to the person at your school (or school district) who is in charge of special education services for children with disabilities. Find out your school’s policies regarding referring children for evaluation under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Being well-acquainted with local policies will be extremely helpful in determining the next steps you should take with respect to the child, his or her parents, and the school system itself.

Working with Diverse Families

Without a doubt, we are a diverse people! Your work as a child care provider most likely brings you into close contact with a spectrum of cultures, ethnicities, and languages. It’s important to realize that cultures do not necessarily view disabilities in children in the same manner we might, and it’s very helpful to have some handy materials on disabilities in other languages. To that end, might these resources help?

En español.
For Spanish-speaking families.

https://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/parabebes/ (For children under the age of 3)
https://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/paraninos/ (For school-aged children, including preschoolers)

Birth to six prescreen chart for vision, hearing and development…in Ampheric Ethiopian, Cambodian, Chinese, Farsi, Hmong, Hungarian, Korean, Laotian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Available from CLAS, Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services. Listed under the category “Child Find Materials.”
https://www.clas.uiuc.edu/special/childfind/index.html

About disability help…in Hmong.
https://www.pacer.org/premium-publications/hmongseasian.asp

About disability help…in Somalian.
https://www.pacer.org/premium-publications/somali.asp

Early intervention is critical.
Available in languages: Arabic, Chinese, Hmong, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Yiddish
This brochure from the state of New York is dedicated to raising public awareness of early intervention. It describes available services and how parents could ask for help.
Individual links to the brochure in the different languages are available at CLAS, under “Child Find Materials,” at:
https://www.clas.uiuc.edu/special/childfind/index.html

Helping Children Transition to Next Settings

As children leave your care and head off to new settings, you may wish to work with families to make the transition a smooth one. A lot is known about how to do just that, especially if the transition is from early intervention care to preschool or school-based services. Here are two resources that will help you prepare children with disabilities to move on.

Transition from early intervention to preschool.
A full page here on the subject.
https://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/transitionpreschool/

Video on early childhood transition.
This 8-minute video provides an overview of the desirable outcomes of transition, research identifying effective transition practices, as well as the legal requirements of early childhood transition.
https://community.fpg.unc.edu/connect-modules/resources

Resources of Information on Early Childhood Care

There’s a lot of expertise out there with respect to early childhood settings and care, some specializing in disability issues and others not. Here is a mini-list of centers and groups to consult to learn more about all manner of things child-care.

Child Care resources.
The USA.gov website can connect you with the Child Care Finder, child care licensure regulations (by state), the locator for Head Start programs, tips on childproofing your home, and tips on choosing child care for your baby or young child.
https://www.usa.gov/Topics/Parents-Care.shtml

Child Care Aware.
https://www.childcareaware.org/

Healthy Kids, Healthy Care.
This website was developed by the National Resource Center for Health in Child Care and Early Education.
https://healthykids.us/

National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education.
This organization addresses the issues of safety and health in child care and early education settings. They also provide licensure regulations from 50 states and DC. Lots of info in Spanish, too!
https://nrckids.org/

National Network for Child Care.
https://www.nncc.org/homepage.html

Office of Child Care.
The Office of Child Care, a program of the Administration for Families and Children, supports low-income working families through child care financial assistance and promotes children’s learning by improving the quality of early care and education and afterschool programs.
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ccb/

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