ANNUAL ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION

Understanding the Annual Eligibility Determination for Early ACCESS Process

Annually, an IFSP team must review all areas of development to determine if the child continues to be eligible for Early ACCESS services. IFSP teams may have current and adequate assessment information available to them to make the determination; however, they may need to collect additional data to ensure all areas of development are sufficiently addressed. 

In preparation for the Annual IFSP meeting the team must review data to answer the question, "Is a child we are serving still eligible for Early ACCESS?”   

If the child has a diagnosed condition, the child continues to be eligible. No additional evaluation procedures are required.

The Annual Eligibility Determination Decision Flowchart-Early Intervention shows the decisions and actions needed to determine continuing eligibility for early intervention services.

Eligibility Criteria for Early ACCESS

If the child was eligible based on a 25% delay in at least one area of development, the team must review existing data to determine if additional information is needed to determine if the child continues to have the delay(s).

• If existing data suggests the child continues to have a 25% delay in at least one area of development, then the child continues to be eligible.
• If existing data suggests the child may no longer have a 25% delay in at least one area of development, the child must be reevaluated to verify that a 25% delay no longer is present. Prior to completing the reevaluation the team must obtain parent consent for evaluation and provide the parents with a Prior Written Notice.
• During the reevaluation, if a 25% delay is found in one or more areas, the child continues to be eligible and all other areas of development do not need to be evaluated. However, if a 25% delay is not found in the area(s) of concern, then all developmental areas must be evaluated to assure there is no 25% delay in any area prior to exiting Early ACCESS.

The IFSP Team must complete the evaluation prior to the annual IFSP meeting. The service coordinator will coordinate with the IFSP Team to ensure all evaluations and assessments are, or will be, completed prior to the IFSP meeting.