The services provided by
CDS/Cumberland are intended to
bridge the gap between where your child should be for his or her age
and development and where he is located currently .
The services are know as early intervention services and are funded by
the Department of Education in the State of Maine.
We use several screening tools
to identify if your child has a developmental delay or a
disability. The screening is performed by a Child
& Family Specialist.
If the specialist
suspects that your child may have a delay or a disability they will
want to gather more information from an evaluating therapist.
They will make a referral for an evaluation and the agency will fund
the evaluation. The evaluator will perform one of several
standardized tests on your child to determine if they indeed have a
significant delay or whether or not they will probably "catch up" in
their own time. The evaluator will make recommendations.
The Child & Family Specialist will schedule a meeting known as an
Early Childhood Team (ECT) meeting. The meeting will consist of
parents, evaluator, other interested parties and the Child & Family
Specialist. The team will discuss the recommendations and set
forth a plan with goals and objectives to work bridging the gap with
the developmental delay.
