Mason-Lake-Oceana Great Start Collaborative (GSC)

The Mason-Lake-Oceana Great Start Collaborative is a partnership of parents, child care providers, service providers, businesses, and other community leaders who are committed to giving every child in our three county region a great start in life. Click here to learn more and get involved!

Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP)

GSRP is Michigan's state-funded preschool program for four-year-old children with factors that may place them at risk of educational failure. The program is administered by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). Parents incur no cost for the program.

Research on preschool programs and specific research on GSRP indicates that children provided with a high-quality preschool experience show significant positive developmental differences when compared to children from the same backgrounds who did not attend a high-quality preschool program.

Early On

When a baby is born, every parent hopes that he/she will have a healthy baby. Sometimes, however, things don't go as planned. The baby may be ill or may seem slow in doing things such as smiling, sitting up or speaking.

If you have a concern about a baby's health or development, Early On serves infants and toddlers from birth to 36 months with developmental delay or conditions that could lead to such delay. It has been well established that early intervention is an effective way to prevent or reduce problems for children at a later age

Early Childhood Special Education  

Young children ages three through five who have a disability as defined by one of the categories listed below could potentially be eligible for early childhood special education preschool.

In Michigan, the categories of eligibility include: Speech/Language Impairment, Specific Learning Disability, Cognitive Impairment, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Emotional Impairment, Traumatic Brain Injury, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Visual Impairment, Physical Impairment, Early Childhood Developmental Delay, Severe Multiple Impairment, or Other Health Impairment.

Early Childhood Teacher Consultation Service

Early childhood teacher specialists work with educators, parents, and/or agencies by consulting about children with special needs (age birth through five years of age).

They collaborate with the Early On Coordinator to help transition students from Early On to preschool, and assist students with transitioning from a preschool setting to Kindergarten.

The early childhood teacher specialist is required to have an endorsement in both early childhood and special education with a full approval from the Michigan Department of Education or a ZS endorsement (early childhood general and special education).