Newly diagnosed pathwayFederal law · state process varies
Step 8 of 8

Free and low-cost help — free first

There is a federally funded advice service in your state that most parents have never heard of, and it costs nothing.

Start with your state's Parent Training and Information Center. IDEA requires the US Department of Education to make at least one award to a parent organization in each state to run one, and there are nearly 100 PTIs and Community Parent Resource Centers across the states and territories. They exist specifically to help families understand this process -- and, unlike a private advocate, they are free.
  • Parent Training and Information Centers (PTIs) — federally funded under IDEA Part D, at least one per state. Training, information and resources on evaluations, IEPs, and your rights. Find yours through the Center for Parent Information and Resources directory.
  • Community Parent Resource Centers (CPRCs) — the same function, funded to reach underserved communities specifically. Listed in the same directory.
  • Protection and Advocacy (P&A) agencies — the federally mandated legal advocacy system, with an agency in every state and territory plus one serving the Native American population in the Four Corners region. Collectively the largest provider of legally based advocacy services to people with disabilities in the US. Each P&A sets its own case priorities, so ask early whether your situation fits.
  • COPAA — the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, a nonprofit whose members are attorneys, advocates and parents working on behalf of children with disabilities. It publishes a public directory of member attorneys and advocates by location.
One honest distinction: PTIs and P&As are free. COPAA's directory helps you find a specialist, but its members are largely private attorneys and advocates who charge -- it is a way to find the right professional, not a way to avoid paying one. Try the free routes first; they cover a great deal of the same ground, including reviewing school records and preparing for an IEP meeting.
If you do file a due process complaint, the district is required to tell you about free or low-cost legal services in your area -- and it must also do so any time you simply ask. Asking is free and puts the obligation on them.
What a PTI actually offers (one state's center, as an example)

The Federation for Children with Special Needs is the Parent Training and Information Center for Massachusetts. Its PTI workshops are open to the public and free to attend, its information center takes calls and intake forms from families, and where a phone call is not enough it refers parents on to consultants or advocates who can review school records and evaluations or attend an IEP team meeting. Every state's center is structured a little differently, but that mix -- free workshops, a call line, and help understanding your own paperwork -- is the pattern.

Read nextFree help, and what each network actually covers →The same two federally funded networks, with more detail on which one to take which problem to -- P&A rather than a PTI for Medicaid denials and waiver problems, since those fall outside what a school-focused parent center handles.Medicaid, EPSDT, waivers and CHIP →The funding side of everything in this pathway: what Medicaid must cover for an enrolled child under 21, what to do when your income is judged too high, and how CHIP fills the gap above Medicaid.
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