Early Childhood Special Education is a state-mandated preschool program for three- and four-year old children with special needs. The Lake Havasu Unified School District provides screening and/or identification of three- and four- and non-kindergarten eligible five-year old children with suspected disabilities. The Developmental Preschool is designed to address the educational needs of developmentally delayed preschool children. AZ Find Developmental Screening identifies possible learning disabilities and is available to all children residing within District boundaries. Screening is also offered to infants (0-3 years) through the Arizona Early Intervention Program.
The Lake Havasu Developmental Preschool is a reverse mainstream program where children with differing abilities and disabilities play and learn together in the same classroom. The program is designed to serve special needs and typically developing preschoolers three to five years old (not eligible age for kindergarten). We are here to encourage self-control, self-esteem, and respect for all children and adults. Children are learning how to have a good relationship with others and how to be a friend. Children are not born with these skills. Children are taught social and emotional skills. Children with special needs may be challenged in one or more ways by impairment of speech/language, hearing, or vision impairment or by developmental delay. Developmental delay 3 may affect cognitive, motor, and/or sensory abilities; psychomotor and/or language skills; and/or adaptive behavior. Services are free to qualifying children. Typically developing children pay tuition to attend the program and come from the school community. A waiting list for typically developing preschoolers will be established if the number applying exceeds the number of spaces available. First Things First has provided a grant to provide free preschool to students who meet eligibility under the Quality First Scholarship Program.
The Developmental Preschool is a mixed service model that includes students with special needs, tuition paying students, and students on a scholarship.