Wyoming Child Find: How Schools Must Identify Students Who Need Special Education

Child Find is one of the most underused parent rights in Wyoming special education. Under federal IDEA and Wyoming Chapter 7 Rules, school districts have an active, ongoing obligation to identify, locate, and evaluate all children with disabilities who reside in their jurisdiction — including children who are not currently enrolled, children in private schools, and children as young as infancy. When a district fails to fulfill this obligation, it is not a minor procedural lapse. It is a denial of FAPE that can have lasting consequences for a child's development.

What the Child Find Obligation Means

Child Find is not passive. It is not enough for a school to have an evaluation process that parents can navigate if they figure out it exists. Under Wyoming Chapter 7, districts must take affirmative steps to identify children with suspected disabilities — through public awareness activities, systematic screening, and responding to referrals promptly.

In practice, this means:

• If a teacher suspects a student has a disability that is affecting their ability to benefit from education, that teacher should refer the student for evaluation.
• If a parent requests an evaluation and the school "suspects" a disability, the 60-calendar-day evaluation timeline must begin.
• If a child has been placed on a waiting list for intervention tiers rather than being evaluated, and there is a reason to suspect disability, that delay may violate Child Find.

Child Find applies to all children with disabilities from birth through age 21, and it covers children regardless of disability category — learning disabilities, autism, emotional and behavioral disorders, physical or health impairments, speech and language disorders, and developmental delays are all included.

The Referral Process in Wyoming

A Child Find referral in Wyoming can come from several sources:

Parent referral: A parent can refer their own child for a special education evaluation in writing. Once the district receives a written request, it must respond within a reasonable time to either initiate the evaluation (requiring your signed consent) or explain in writing why it is declining to evaluate.

School referral: Teachers, counselors, administrators, and other school staff can refer a student for evaluation if they have reason to believe the student may have a disability.

Agency referral: Public agencies — such as early intervention programs, pediatricians, or child welfare agencies — can also refer children for evaluation.

When you submit a written evaluation request, document the date you sent it and keep a copy. The written request is what starts the clock on district obligations.

What Happens After Referral

After the district receives your referral, it must:

1. Provide Prior Written Notice indicating whether it agrees to evaluate or refuses to evaluate, with the specific reasons for its decision.
2. Obtain your informed written consent before conducting the initial evaluation. (If the district agrees to evaluate but you haven't yet consented, the 60-day clock has not started.)
3. Complete the evaluation within 60 calendar days of receiving your consent.

The 60-day timeline is in calendar days — not school days. Weekends, holidays, and school breaks all count. This is a Wyoming-specific detail that matters, because it means districts cannot strategically delay consent just before summer and claim the evaluation period was suspended.

One of the most common Child Find violations is a district that suspects disability but delays the formal referral and consent process by keeping a child in RTI/MTSS tiers indefinitely. Wyoming Department of Education guidance and federal case law are clear: RTI cannot be used to delay or deny a special education evaluation when a disability is suspected. If your child has been in Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions for a year or more and you have not been offered a formal evaluation, you can trigger the process yourself with a written referral.

When Schools Fail Child Find

Districts fail Child Find in identifiable ways that you can document:

Ignoring teacher concerns. If a teacher has expressed concerns about your child's development in writing — on a report card, in an email, in a conference — and no referral was made, those teacher records are evidence of a Child Find failure.

Leaving children in RTI without evaluation. Keeping a struggling student in intervention tiers without ever formally considering whether a disability evaluation is warranted — particularly when the intervention is not producing progress — is a recognized Child Find violation.

Not evaluating children in private schools. Wyoming school districts have Child Find obligations for students enrolled in private schools within their boundaries. These students may receive "equitable services" even if they don't receive a full IEP. The district must still locate and evaluate them.

Not acting on developmental concerns in preschool or early childhood. Children ages 3–5 who have developmental delays are eligible for special education under Wyoming's early childhood provisions. If you raised concerns with your child's preschool program or pediatrician and no evaluation was offered, the district may have failed its Child Find obligation.

How to Use the Child Find Framework in Advocacy

If you believe your child should have been identified sooner — that the district knew or should have known your child had a disability and failed to act — the Child Find obligation is the legal hook. It supports:

• A written request for immediate evaluation (which cannot be legally refused without a compliant PWN)
• A WDE state complaint alleging failure to satisfy the Child Find obligation
• A compensatory education demand for the period during which the child did not receive services they should have been receiving

Filing a state complaint on Child Find grounds is particularly effective when there is a documented record of school staff expressing developmental concerns, intervention data showing persistent failure to respond, or formal records from pediatricians or therapists indicating early diagnosis that the school failed to act on.

The Wyoming IEP & 504 Advocacy Playbook includes evaluation request letters and WDE complaint templates structured to address Child Find violations and force the 60-calendar-day evaluation clock to begin.

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