Step 3 of 8
Turning 3: the handover to the school system
The single most-missed deadline in the whole process, and why it should be on your calendar before your child turns 2 years 9 months.
At 3, responsibility moves from the Part C early intervention program to your local school district under IDEA Part B. This is a handover between two different agencies, and it is where children most often fall through a gap -- services stop on the third birthday and the school's equivalent has not started.
- Not fewer than 90 days before your child's third birthday, the Part C lead agency must notify the local school district that your child may be eligible for preschool special education.
- A transition conference must be convened not fewer than 90 days -- and, if everyone agrees, up to 9 months -- before the third birthday, to plan what comes next.
- Within 30 days of a determination that your child needs special education and related services, the district must hold a meeting to develop an IEP.
Put a reminder in your calendar for your child's second birthday to ask your service coordinator: "what is the transition plan, and when is the transition conference?" If you hear nothing by 90 days before the third birthday, ask in writing. The obligation is the agency's, but the consequence of it slipping lands on your child.
Being eligible for Part C does not automatically make a child eligible for Part B -- they are separate determinations under separate criteria, and the district will normally evaluate. If the district says your child no longer qualifies, that is a decision you can challenge (step 6).