Step 2 of 8

If your child is under 3: early intervention

IDEA Part C — the birth-to-three system, how to get in, and the one federal deadline that applies everywhere.

Children under 3 are served by IDEA Part C, the early intervention system, not by the school district. Every state and territory runs one. It is a different program with a different plan (an IFSP -- Individualized Family Service Plan) and different people from the school system you will meet later.

You can refer your own child. The CDC's own instruction is to call your state or territory's early intervention program and say: "I have concerns about my child's development and I would like to have my child evaluated." A doctor's referral is not necessary -- you do not need to wait for anyone to make the call for you.

45 days: from the day the program receives the referral, the evaluation, the assessments, and the initial IFSP meeting must all be completed. This is a federal deadline and it applies in every state (34 CFR 303.310), with narrow exceptions for documented exceptional family circumstances or where consent has not yet been given.
What Part C can cover: speech-language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, special instruction, service coordination, family training and home visits, audiology, vision services, psychological and social work services, assistive technology, transportation -- and the federal list explicitly is not exhaustive.
Always free, everywhere: child find, the evaluation and assessments, service coordination, developing and reviewing the IFSP, and procedural safeguards. No state may charge for these (34 CFR 303.521(b)).

Check your state on two things the federal rules deliberately leave open. First, eligibility: each state writes its own definition of developmental delay, and whether "at-risk" infants qualify at all is a state choice -- so the bar genuinely differs across state lines. Second, cost: beyond the always-free list above, states are allowed to run a system of payments with sliding-scale family fees, and many do. Ask your program directly what its eligibility criteria and fee policy are; it is a fair first question.

Which agency runs it where you live?

There is no single national answer. States designate their own Part C lead agency, and it sits in different departments depending on the state -- health in some, public health, education, or human services in others, and a few states co-lead across two agencies. The ECTA Center keeps the current state-by-state list of lead agencies and contacts, linked below.

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