Northern Neck Regional Special Education Program  Lancaster County | Northumberland County | Richmond County | Town of Colonial Beach   The Colonial Beach, Lancaster County, Northumberland County, and Richmond County School Systems offer a variety of free special education programs serving children from age 2 through 21. To locate those who are suspected of having a disability, the school systems conduct annual Child Find Campaigns. Children with disabilities who turn two on or before September 30 and who have not reached their 22nd birthday by that date can be considered for these programs. Disabilities which may adversely affect a child’s educational progress include the following: Developmental delay among children ages 2 through 8 who experience a significant delay in physical, cognitive, communication, social, emotional, or adaptive development; Autism, a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social integration, generally evident before age 3. Other characteristics are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or changes in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences; Deaf-blindness; Deafness so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification; Hearing impairment, whether permanent or fluctuating; Mental retardation or significant subaverage general intellectual functioning with deficits in adaptive behavior; Multiple disabilities, including two or more impairments at the same time; Orthopedic impairment; including those caused by congenital anomaly, disease, or other causes such as cerebral palsy; Other health impairments, such as limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems; Emotional disturbance, with one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree: An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors; an inability to build and maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; inappropriate behavior or feelings; a pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted unless other serious emotional disturbances exist; Specific learning disability, a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language, spoken or written, that may manifest in an imperfect ability to listen, write, spell, or do math calculations; Speech and language impairment, a communication disorder, such as stuttering or impaired articulation, language, or voice; Severe disability, a primary disability that severely impairs cognitive abilities, adaptive abilities, and life functioning; Traumatic brain injury, an injury to the brain caused by an external physical force resulting in total or partial functional disability, psycho-social impairment, or both. This can apply to head injuries that are congenital, degenerative, or brain injuries induced by birth trauma; and Visual impairment. Early warning signs of these disabilities include delays in reaching developmental milestones in early childhood, such as trouble sitting, standing, walking, talking, seeing, hearing, learning or paying attention. Early intervention helps children with disabilities have a better chance to develop. Special services for identifying and treating children suspected of having disabilities are free and available through the county public schools. In order to identify and place a child with a disability, the county follows an evaluation process. A child can be referred by a teacher, parent, physician, or outside agency to a special education administrator and/or child study committee, which then gathers information about the child from teachers and the person who made the referral. The committee reviews the information and determines if there is a need to have a formal evaluation; if so, written consent is needed from the parent/guardian. Parents are informed of their rights and procedural safeguards, including due process. A formal evaluation, which is free to the parents, may include educational and psychological assessments, medical and social histories, vision and hearing screenings, and speech and language screenings. A committee, including parents and school personnel, meet to consider the results of the evaluations. If a child meets eligibility criteria, then a free appropriate public education of special services is provided. Those who think they may know a child with a disability should phone one of the following people: Amy Wells at Colonial Beach: (804) 224-9898 Diane Carter at Richmond County: (804) 435-3183 Judith Haynie at Northumberland County: (804) 529-6134 Beverly Oliver at Lancaster County: (804) 435-1681                                                             Telephone (804) 529-5840 Postal address P.O. Box 338, Lottsburg, Va. 22511 Electronic mail General Information: sadams@nnrsep.org