Michigan Early On to Preschool and Build Up: Family Guide

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

Michigan uses Early On and Build Up names

The Michigan Early On transition to preschool connects Early On, Build Up, and the district.

Michigan's Strong Start page identifies Early On for birth through age three and Build Up for children ages three through five who may need educational support. Record the local Intermediate School District, Early On contact, Build Up coordinator, district special education office, and any preschool or community program being considered. Confirm which office owns the next action.

Understand the evaluation change

Michigan's evaluation and IEP page explains that birth-to-three eligibility is documented in an IFSP. From age three, a multidisciplinary evaluation team evaluates the child. The IEP team determines eligibility and develops an IEP for an eligible student. Bring existing evidence and expect the district to follow its evaluation and consent process.

Build the age-three calendar

Use the third birthday to organize transition planning, district or Build Up contact, evaluation consent, assessments, eligibility and IEP meetings, preschool applications, program visits, transportation, communication supports, final Early On service, and receiving-service start. Federal Part C rules supply the transition framework. Current state, ISD, and district notices determine the family's actual dates and offices.

Fit school and clinical care into one week

Place school, transportation, ABA, speech, occupational or physical therapy, medical care, child care, family routines, meals, rest, and play on a realistic weekly calendar. An IEP does not authorize health-plan services, and a clinical recommendation does not decide the school program. Coordinating the calendars helps the family spot impossible travel, lost communication access, or excessive demands before committing to a schedule.

A fictional Michigan handoff

Ben's family tracks 11 receiving-system decisions and supports. Eight have a responsible office, written status, next date, and family contact, so control completeness is 8 of 11, or 72.7%. The IEP eligibility meeting, preschool placement response, and device-transport plan remain open. The family keeps those three items active after the Early On closing meeting.

Michigan questions to ask

Ask when Early On ends and which Build Up or district contact applies. Confirm the next evaluation and consent steps, the IEP decision date, and the preschool settings under consideration. Ask how family priorities enter the plan, how AAC and other supports will move, who arranges transportation, which community programs are separate, and where to raise a concern about a delayed or disputed action.

Connect Early On, Build Up, and district dates

Create one calendar that distinguishes a planned action from evidence that the action happened. For the Early On transition, use Michigan Department of Education, Early Intervention for a Strong Start, the family's IFSP, and current written notices together. Place the third birthday, Early On transition actions, Build Up or Intermediate School District contact, evaluation consent, multidisciplinary evaluation, eligibility and IEP meetings, preschool applications, visits, transportation, final Early On service, and receiving starts in one calendar. The Early On coordinator should be able to identify the present owner of every transition step, even when another office makes the final decision. Michigan Department of Education, Evaluations and IEPs can help the family verify current contacts and state-specific explanations.

Evidence fields make the calendar useful during a busy handoff. In Michigan, identify whether the Early On coordinator, education office, or receiving program owns the row. Give each row an action, responsible person or office, target date, actual date, source, current status, result, and next follow-up. Save the notice, consent, email, meeting note, evaluation, or plan that proves the result. A referral or scheduled meeting shows movement; the related eligibility, enrollment, transportation, or service-start decision stays open until the family receives it. Review the list weekly as the third birthday approaches and bring the unresolved rows to each meeting.

Preserve the authority of each Michigan receiving system

Compare the Build Up and local district special education route with community preschool, child care, ABA, other clinical therapies, and family-selected supports. Responsibility for multidisciplinary evaluation, eligibility, and IEP team decision belongs to the education system. Enrollment offices decide access to community programs, and health plans or Medicaid programs apply their own coverage rules to clinical services. Put every route on its own card with the decision-maker, eligibility or enrollment step, information requested, expected decision, proposed schedule, cost or coverage, transportation, and family contact.

For each Michigan option, describe the child's actual week using concrete details instead of a program label. Include location, hours, group size, communication support, health procedures, staff preparation, therapies, travel time, rest, meals, and care before or after the program. Then mark the decision as exploring, referred, consented, evaluated, offered, accepted, declined, wait-listed, or closed. This vocabulary helps a family explain progress accurately and keeps the Build Up and local district special education route visible beside every route that still lacks a decision.

Build an evaluation packet that shows participation

Assemble two layers. The record layer contains plans, evaluations, progress information, health and safety documents, and formal notices. The participation layer explains what the child enjoys, how the child communicates acceptance or distress, which routines are easy or difficult, what supports increase access, and what family priorities should shape the next setting. Use the IFSP and existing evaluations as background for the district's process, then add family priorities, daily participation examples, communication and AAC access, sensory or mobility supports, health needs, and equipment. A routing sheet should show what Early On, Build Up, the district, and each community program received.

During every Michigan assessment, confirm the language, communication system, AAC, sensory accommodations, mobility access, visual or processing supports, breaks, and familiar-partner information needed for the child to show current skills. Note when an assessment condition differs from ordinary life and ask how the team will interpret that difference. Afterward, request the report, check factual errors, add missing context in writing, and keep the family's correction with the transition record. Families can also ask which existing evidence the team responsible for multidisciplinary evaluation, eligibility, and IEP team decision considered and which new question required additional assessment.

Stress-test the Michigan weekly schedule

Walk through district attendance, transportation, ABA, speech, occupational or physical therapy, medical care, child care, meals, rest, play, AAC or device transport, and family travel capacity. Name the adult responsible at every handoff and the method for reaching that person. Confirm that staff can access the child's communication system, understand essential health and safety information, and carry out the supports expected at arrival. A visit or rehearsal should use the same entrance, approximate time, equipment, and communication method planned for the first day whenever the setting permits it.

A Michigan rehearsal becomes more valuable when the family records the result. Write down the travel duration, waiting time, inaccessible step, missing material, communication breakdown, fatigue signal, and question that emerged. Give each correction an owner and retest the parts that affect safe access. Prepare a simple fallback for a late ride, absent trained staff member, unavailable AAC device, schedule change, or delayed program start. The fallback should preserve a usable way for the child to communicate, a safe care arrangement, and a named person who can authorize the next step.

Respond when a transition date or decision slips

When an expected date passes, send a concise written recap: the child and action, the source or notice that supplied the date, what the family completed, what remains pending, the impact on the transition, and the response requested. Direct Early On closure questions to Early On, Build Up navigation questions to the appropriate coordinator, evaluation and IEP questions to the district, and clinical authorization questions to the provider or payer. Record each answer without merging their authority. Ask for the current procedural-safeguard, complaint, mediation, or review information from the system responsible for the concern. The appropriate route depends on whether the issue involves Part C, school special education, enrollment, coverage, privacy, or clinical care.

Route clarity also improves Michigan contingency planning. Identify the care and support available while an evaluation, placement, transportation, authorization, or enrollment decision remains unresolved. Ask Early On and each proposed provider to state its own end or start date in writing. Treat every system's duration and funding as a separate fact to verify. If accounts conflict, keep both records, ask the responsible offices to reconcile them, and document the family decision using the best confirmed information available at that time.

Review the first ten and thirty days

Ben's family can continue the existing tracker after the formal transition meeting. The IEP eligibility meeting, preschool placement response, and device-transport plan remain named rows until each has a decision and implementation evidence. During the first ten days, the family reviews whether the district plan and placement response match the written decisions, whether the device moves safely with Ben, and whether the combined school and clinical week leaves enough time for ordinary family life. Observations should describe the setting, support, response, and impact so the team can distinguish an isolated adjustment from a repeated access problem.

At the Michigan thirty-day review, compare the actual week with the accepted plan. Check service start dates, attendance, transportation, communication access, health and safety steps, equipment, provider coordination, family workload, and the child's participation or recovery after the day. Record any gap between the written plan and delivered support, assign it to the office that can act, and set a follow-up date. Keep strengths in the review as well: a successful routine, effective communication partner, or helpful accommodation tells the Early On coordinator and receiving team what to preserve.

Limits of this guide and immediate next steps

This guide organizes a Michigan transition; it cannot determine an individual child's eligibility, placement, coverage, rights, or deadline. Those decisions depend on current law, the child's record, written notices, the responsible agency or payer, and family consent. State materials may also change. Verify local contacts and dates with the Early On coordinator, the education office, and any receiving program. Seek qualified legal, clinical, educational, or benefits advice when a disputed or high-impact question requires it.

Next, place the third birthday and final Early On date on a calendar, list every receiving route, mark the decision owner for each route, and gather the packet the family is comfortable sharing. Schedule the closest unresolved consent, evaluation, visit, transportation, or meeting action. Before closing the tracker, require a written result, a usable first-day plan, and a named follow-up contact. The transition is ready for review when the family can see both completed evidence and every remaining uncertainty.