Head Start Collaboration Project
Services for Children with Disabilities

The NYS Head Start Collaboration Project is working with staff of the Region II Technical Assistance (TA) Network and the Migrant Head Start program to revise the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the NYS Education Department on the Preschool Special Education Program. The MOU serves to clarify working relationships between Head Start programs and state and local Early Intervention and Preschool Special Education programs and administrative agencies. It includes descriptions of responsibilities for ensuring that quality services are provided to children with disabilities and delays participating in Head Start programs and processes for resolving conflicts. Drafts of the MOU have been completed and have been reviewed by people working in Head Start and Early Head Start programs across the state to ensure that they address current issues. Once approved and signed, the MOU will be made available to all Head Start programs and school districts in the state.

At that time, efforts will begin to develop a similar agreement with the NYS Health Department regarding the Early Intervention program. Recently, representatives of the Collaboration Project, State Education Department, and the TA Network presented a workshop on state and federal efforts to support working with children with disabilities in Head Start programs at a Head Start conference.