Early Childhood Services and Supports

The Butler County Board of MRDD provides services for young children from birth through three years of age.  Services include Center Based Programs and Home Based Services and involve working with families to educate them to be their child’s best teacher.

Early Childhood Services

The Butler County Board of MRDD, in partnership with Help Me Grow and local school districts, provides Early Intervention and Preschool services to young children in Butler County. 

Butler County MRDD believes that young children are best served in their natural environments such as their own home, day care, or places where any family would spend time.  Every family of an eligible child is given the opportunity to learn to help their child grow and develop so they are ready to enter school in their own neighborhood. 

Eligibility for MRDD Early Intervention Services for children age birth to three is established through Help Me Grow. Contact Help Me Grow at 513-867-5008, explain your concerns and ask for a visit by a Help Me Grow Service Coordinator.

When the Help Me Grow Service Coordinator comes to your home he or she will assess your child’s developmental skills and talk to you about your concerns.

To be eligible for the Part C Federal Program, your child must be showing a delay in one of the following areas:

• problem solving
• social skills
• motor skills
• communication skills
• self help skills
• behavioral or emotional skills
•  a medical condition that may affect growth and development

The next step, if you agree, is to assign an MRDD Early Intervention Specialist to the team who will help your family and child determine how to access a variety of services provided through Butler County Board of MRDD Early Intervention Services. Service delivery in the following areas: development of individualized curriculum, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, and specialized groups are all recommended based on the need of the child.

From this point MRDD becomes your Program Provider and Help Me Grow remains as your partner in Program Coordination.

Butler County MRDD and the Help Me Grow systems will work hand in hand to make sure that your child and family’s needs are met until your child turns three.

If it is determined that your child will need special help after the age of three, Butler County MRDD will help in  transitioning your child to their local school district. Eligibility requirements are different for a child to receive preschool services from the school district, but the Butler County MRDD Early Intervention Specialist and school district personnel will work with each parent to make sure the transition process is understood. All information, including test results, is shared with the school district, and the Early Intervention staff attends all meetings to discuss any future preschool planning and education.  Parents are supported throughout the entire transition from the Individual Family Service Plan to the development of the Individualized Education Plan.

Help Me Grow and Butler County MRDD work cooperatively with school districts to make sure that any child transitioning to preschool is given every opportunity to succeed.

Butler County MRDD is very proud of the relationships we have with our 10 local school districts and we work very closely with them to ensure that every child has a smooth transition from Early Intervention to their school district’s preschool services.