Virginia Infant and Toddler Connection to Preschool: Family Guide

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

Compare the age-two and age-three routes

Virginia's system overview says EI services are available until the third birthday and includes transition in the IFSP pathway. Virginia also allows a qualifying two-year-old to enter Part B under the state's age rule. Ask the local EI system and school division to explain eligibility, the school calendar, service setting, consent, and the practical effect of each start date. A possible earlier entry should support an informed family choice rather than create pressure to leave EI.

Build the calendar from the third birthday

The 2026 Virginia practice manual provides the current operational source for transition steps, community-option conferences, documentation, and late referrals. Track the IFSP plan, Part B notification, family conference approval, school evaluation consent, assessments, eligibility, IEP, community contacts, final EI date, and first receiving service. When a child is referred late, ask which abbreviated state procedure applies and who now owns the referral. 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 Virginia Infant and Toddler Connection 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 Virginia 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 Virginia 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 Virginia 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.

Include community options even when Part B is unlikely

Virginia's manual addresses a family-approved conference with community programs when a child is not considered potentially eligible for Part B. Families can invite Head Start, child care, preschool, library or recreation programs, private clinicians, and other useful supports. Record which program can actually accept the child, which accommodation or enrollment step remains open, and who will follow up. Community exploration should remain individualized rather than a generic referral list.

A fictional Virginia transition

Lena's family compares three start routes: Part B at age two, Part B at age three, and a community preschool with private therapy. Two have complete schedules, eligibility or enrollment evidence, transportation, and communication plans. Route evidence is 2 of 3, or 66.7%. The earlier Part B route remains open pending a service-setting proposal, so the family waits for that information before choosing.

Questions for the next meeting

Does Virginia's age-two Part B rule apply to this child? What changes under an earlier start? When are IFSP steps and the conference due? Has the school division received the referral? Which evaluation and consent are needed? What community programs should join the discussion? How will AAC, health, sensory, and transportation supports work? Which Part C or school dispute route applies to the exact decision we question?

A final family checklist

For the next Virginia 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.

Compare Virginia start dates as complete plans

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. Infant and Toddler Connection of Virginia, 2026 Practice Manual supplies the state framework for this Virginia transition. Build separate records for Part B at age two, Part B at age three, and a community route when each applies. Show eligibility or enrollment, service setting, school calendar, IFSP exit, IEP start, transportation, communication, health supports, family consent, and the source for every proposed date. 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 Virginia handoff record should name one contact for the local Infant and Toddler Connection system and another for the local school division or selected community program. Ask the receiving contact to identify unreadable pages, missing attachments, stale health information, or additional evaluation questions while there is still time to respond.

Rehearse the Virginia route before the family elects it

Walk through the school-division or community setting, earlier or later start date, transportation, AAC and health supports, preschool and private-therapy hours, family work, school-calendar gaps, and the final local EI service. 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 Virginia fallback, prepare a community care and therapy schedule that remains usable if the selected school setting, transportation, or early Part B start is still pending. 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 Virginia 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. The local EI system owns IFSP transition steps and the family-approved conference. The school division owns Part B evaluation, eligibility, IEP, setting, and start. Community programs make their enrollment decisions. Use Virginia's current practice manual to identify the late-referral or age-two route that fits the child. 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 Infant and Toddler Connection system, local school division or selected community program, 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 Virginia

Lena's 2 of 3 receiving routes have complete decision and access evidence; the earlier Part B service-setting proposal stay open until the family has both a decision and implementation evidence. During the first ten days, review whether the selected start date matches the actual setting and calendar, Lena's communication and health supports are available, and any community services fit around the chosen school route. 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 Virginia 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 local school division or selected community program 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 Virginia 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 Infant and Toddler Connection system and local school division or selected community program; 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.