Newly diagnosed? Start here.
A short, guided walkthrough of what happens after an autism diagnosis in the US -- built to move through quickly, not read start to finish in one sitting. 8 steps, come back any time.
Federal law, state process -- check your state on the details. The rights in this pathway come from IDEA, a federal statute that applies everywhere in the US. But IDEA is run by your state education agency and your local school district, and a lot of what you will actually deal with -- how long an evaluation may take, who qualifies for early intervention, how you file a complaint -- is set by your state, not by Washington. Where that is true, each step says so rather than giving you one state's answer as if it were the national one. Massachusetts appears in two steps as a labelled worked example only.
- 1After diagnosis
- 2Under 3
- 3Turning 3
- 4Request an evaluation
- 5The IEP
- 6If it goes wrong
- 7Funded placement
- 8Get support