AMCAB Marquette Head Start schools offer disability screenings

If you’re the parent of a preschool-aged child, it may be time to look at enrolling your child in a Head Start program. Each year, school districts perform a ‘child find’ where they seek out three- and four-year-olds with disabilities.

“Head Start, of course, is doing their annual enrollment for their next year programs,” AMCAB Marquette Head Start disabilities coordinator Jennifer Boyer DeWitt said. “We put the two together, so people can apply to Head Start and also receive a screening for possible disability through the public schools and have hearing and vision completed by the health departments.”

At the moment, not very many children have enrolled. Enrollment runs through the summer, but the screenings only occur in April.

“Early intervention is really the key for detecting disabilities that could be caught at three and four and possibly be given intervention and not have to receive special ed through school age,” DeWitt said.

Today’s kindergartners face higher expectations than in years past, so having two years of preschool is a great help and disability screenings help reduce struggles later on for the child. If you’d like to complete an application or you have questions about the screenings, you can call AMCAB at (906) 228-6522.