Early intervention evaluations

What happens in an evaluation?

Our evaluations take place in your home. Two or more professionals look at how your child is growing. This is called a multidisciplinary evaluation.

The evaluation gives your family the information to decide what help your child needs.

The evaluation, step by step

• Referral: call 311, or send us a referral and a staff member calls you back to start.
• Service coordinator: your family is assigned a service coordinator, who explains the program and helps you choose an evaluation agency.
• Evaluation: two or more professionals look at your child. One does an overall developmental assessment, and at least one more looks at the area of concern.
• Eligibility: the evaluation decides if your child is eligible for Early Intervention. Most evaluations are finished within a few weeks.
• Plan: if your child is eligible, you and the team write an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). It lists the services your child will get.

What happens after the evaluation?

If your child is eligible for early intervention services, one of our many qualified, licensed providers may be assigned to your child.

Where we work

We provide evaluations for children from birth to age 3 across New York City. Services take place in your child’s natural environment, usually at home, at daycare, or in another community setting. For eligible children, services are at no cost to your family.