Colorado Early Intervention to Preschool: Family Transition Guide

Editorial approval scope: The team checked current source fidelity, scope boundaries, dates, arithmetic, reader usefulness, practical workflow, and general-information limitations.

Map the Part C entity and administrative unit

Colorado's side-by-side roles document separates the local Part C entity from the special education administrative unit, often called the AU. The Part C team identifies children who may be eligible, addresses notification and transition steps, and coordinates the conference. The AU owns the Part B evaluation, eligibility, and IEP work. Ask for the names of both organizations because a service coordinator, school district, BOCES, and administrative unit can appear in the same conversation while holding different responsibilities.

Build the calendar from the third birthday

Start between 27 and 30 months by confirming whether the child is considered potentially eligible for preschool special education. Put AU notification, family opt-out information, transition plan, conference, evaluation consent, evaluation, eligibility, IEP, and first-service dates on one calendar. A child entering EI within 45 days of the third birthday follows a shorter direct-referral route, so the family should request the exact route and receiving contact in writing. The federal Part C transition rule supplies the national baseline. The state's effective sources and the family's written notices determine the working dates for this child.

Keep each decision with its real owner

The Colorado Early Intervention transition can touch early intervention, preschool special education, child care, Head Start, health-plan services, private clinicians, and community programs. The early intervention team coordinates its transition duties. A school team decides school eligibility and services. Each community program decides its enrollment. A clinician makes recommendations within scope. A payer decides coverage under the applicable plan. Keep these decisions in separate tracker rows so one approval is never used as evidence for another.

Compare the child's actual day

Within the Colorado handoff, ask what arrival, learning, play, meals, toileting, rest, transportation, therapy, and departure would look like in each proposed setting. Put the weekly schedule beside caregiver work, siblings, medical appointments, travel, and the child's need for recovery time. Visit when possible. Record the supports the program can provide, the evidence still needed, and who can resolve a gap. A program name says little about the child's daily access or the family's workable routine.

Prepare one controlled information packet

For the Colorado family packet, gather the current IFSP, recent evaluations, progress information, family priorities, health and safety information needed for the next setting, and a plain-language description of communication. Include speech, sign, gesture, movement, AAC, backup communication, partner response, and wait time. Add equipment, sensory, mobility, feeding, toileting, medication, allergy, and transportation information when relevant. Index what the family agreed to share, the recipient, the date sent, and confirmation of receipt.

Protect participation during evaluation and transition

During Colorado evaluations and visits, use the communication tools, interpreters, visual access, mobility supports, sensory accommodations, and ordinary health protections the child needs. Ask how the child can accept, decline, pause, request help, and show discomfort. Preserve food, water, bathroom access, mobility, communication, prescribed care, and emergency help throughout the process. Record any access failure as a system issue rather than a child-skill result.

Check the Extended Part C window by birthday

EI Colorado's current family page publishes the 2027 option for a child who turns three between May 1, 2027, and the beginning of the 2027 school year and meets the listed eligibility conditions. The family may choose preschool special education at age three or the extension when eligible. Treat this as a one-time, year-specific election. Confirm the child's exact birthday window, Part B determination, IEP, consent date, service calendar, and exit effect from current written guidance before choosing.

A fictional Colorado transition

Camila's family tracks 16 controls. Thirteen have a source, owner, due date, and current status, so control completeness is 13 of 16, or 81.3%. The IEP service location, extended-option election, and AAC backup plan remain open. The family reviews the three items separately because a timely eligibility decision does not settle the summer service route or communication access.

Questions for the next meeting

Which organization is our Part C entity? Which AU owns the evaluation? Was notification sent, and what opt-out rule applied? Which existing assessments will the AU review? When will eligibility and the IEP be decided? Does the current Extended Part C window cover this birthday? What changes if we choose it? Who confirms transportation, AAC, health supports, and the first day? Which Part C or Part B dispute route fits a missed step?

A final family checklist

For the next Colorado transition event, confirm the third birthday, sending-program contact, receiving-program contact, transition steps, notification, family choices, consent, records, evaluation, eligibility or enrollment, proposed plan, setting, schedule, communication access, health and safety supports, transportation, final current-service date, first receiving-service date, open issues, escalation route, and post-start check-in. Give every unresolved item an owner and a date. Keep counts beside percentages so unfinished work remains visible.

Make the Colorado Part C-to-AU handoff verifiable

Treat a record as handed off only when the family can identify what moved, why it moved, who sent it, who received it, and what action follows. Colorado Department of Education, Part C and Part B Transition Roles supplies the state framework for this Colorado transition. The Part C entity should document notification and the transition conference, while the AU should document its evaluation, eligibility, and IEP actions. If the family is considering the 2027 Extended Part C option, add the birthday window, eligibility decision, completed IEP, family election, and service calendar as separate evidence fields. A receipt, dated email, signed form, evaluation report, or written plan gives the tracker stronger evidence than a general statement that the teams are coordinating.

Version control matters when several offices use the same packet. Put the child's name, document title, author, date, family permission, recipient, sent date, receipt date, and missing follow-up in the index. Keep older versions when they explain a decision, then mark the version currently in use. The Colorado handoff record should name one contact for the local Part C entity and another for the special education administrative unit. Ask the receiving contact to identify unreadable pages, missing attachments, stale health information, or additional evaluation questions while there is still time to respond.

Test the Colorado preschool or extended-service start

Walk through the AU program location, transportation, school calendar, AAC and equipment transfer, health supports, child care, and the spring or summer service schedule under the route the family actually selects. Use the location and approximate time planned for the real first day whenever a visit is available. Confirm who meets the child, who can use the child's communication system, where equipment goes, how health or safety information reaches the responsible staff, and how the family receives a same-day update. A program offer becomes usable only after these connections have owners.

For the Colorado fallback, prepare a written comparison of the preschool start and any eligible extended-service period, including the office responsible for services on every date. Record the travel duration, waiting time, inaccessible step, missing supply, communication breakdown, fatigue signal, and unresolved question from any rehearsal. Assign every correction to the office able to act and test the high-impact part again. The backup should preserve safe care, a reliable communication method, necessary equipment, and one person authorized to coordinate the next move.

Respond to a late or conflicting Colorado decision

When a target date passes, write a short factual recap with the pending action, source for the expected date, family actions already completed, current impact, requested response, and next follow-up. Send Part C notification, opt-out, or conference questions to the local Part C entity. Send evaluation, eligibility, IEP, location, and Part B start questions to the AU. An Extended Part C election needs both systems' records aligned before the family treats the schedule as confirmed. Request the current procedural-safeguard, complaint, mediation, or review information from the system responsible for the exact concern. Preserve call notes and conflicting answers until the responsible offices reconcile them in writing.

Keep contingency planning separate from a legal conclusion about continued services. Ask the local Part C entity, special education administrative unit, community program, clinician, and payer to state their own end date, start date, and interim responsibility. Map the care, communication, transportation, and family schedule that can operate while a decision remains open. If a gap remains, show its first affected date and owner. That makes the problem concrete for the next meeting without implying that one system automatically extends or funds another.

Review the first ten and thirty days in Colorado

Camila's 13 of 16 controls have complete decision evidence; the IEP service location, 2027 extended-option election, and AAC backup plan stay open until the family has both a decision and implementation evidence. During the first ten days, review whether the service setting matches the selected route, the AU and Part C calendars agree, and Camila can communicate during transportation and every receiving routine. Write observations with the routine, support, child's response, and practical impact. This format helps the receiving team preserve successful supports and investigate repeated access problems.

At the Colorado day-thirty review, compare the actual week with the accepted IFSP, IEP, enrollment plan, authorization, or family schedule. Check attendance, delivered services, setting, transportation, communication access, equipment, health and safety procedures, provider coordination, family workload, and the child's participation or recovery after the day. Record any difference between the written plan and what happened, give it to the special education administrative unit or other office that can correct it, and set a response date. A strength, such as an effective partner or routine, belongs in the review beside every gap.

Limits and next steps for this Colorado guide

This draft is an organizer. It cannot decide an individual child's eligibility, placement, services, coverage, rights, or deadline. Current law, the child's record, responsible agency or payer, written notices, and family consent control those decisions. State options and local contacts can change, especially a year-specific extension, an age-based route, or a program affected by funding. Verify the current rule and contact with the local Part C entity and special education administrative unit; seek qualified educational, legal, clinical, or benefits advice for disputed or high-impact questions.

Next, place the third birthday and final current-service date on the family calendar. Identify every school, community, and clinical route under consideration, then name its decision owner. Choose the closest unresolved consent, evaluation, meeting, visit, transportation, record, or start action and request its date in writing. Before closing the transition tracker, require a confirmed receiving plan, a workable first-day test, and a post-start review date. Keep each remaining uncertainty visible until its own evidence arrives.