Most children (75 percent or more) can do these things by 2 months.

Most children (75 percent or more) can do these things by 4 months.

Most children (75 percent or more) can do these things by 6 months.

Most children (75 percent or more) can do these things by 9 months.

Most children (75 percent or more) can do these things by 12 months.

Most children (75 percent or more) can do these things by 15 months.

Most children (75 percent or more) can do these things by 18 months.

Most children (75 percent or more) can do these things by 2 years.

Most children (75 percent or more) can do these things by 30 months.

Most children (75 percent or more) can do these things by 3 years.

The written plan for your child and family. It lists how your child is doing now, the outcomes your family wants, the services that will help, and how often and where they happen. It is reviewed at least every six months and rewritten every year.

The official in your county government who is responsible for the Early Intervention Program. The Early Intervention Official, or their designee (EIOD), authorizes services and approves the IFSP.

The ISC helps you from referral through the first IFSP. The OSC takes over from there and stays with you until your child turns three.

New York State's program for children from birth to age three who have, or are suspected of having, a developmental delay or disability. It comes from Part C of the federal IDEA law and is run in New York by the Department of Health through each county.

The person your county puts in day-to-day charge of your child's case. The Early Intervention Official is the county official legally responsible for the program; the Designee is who actually reviews referrals, assigns service coordinators and authorizes the services on your IFSP. In practice this is the person your coordinator deals with most.

An Early Intervention service in its own right under New York's regulations. A behavior analyst works out what a behavior accomplishes for your child and teaches a more useful way to accomplish the same thing. Provided by a Licensed Behavior Analyst, or an assistant under one's supervision. There is a fuller explanation on our Services page.

The plan that replaces the IFSP if your child moves into preschool special education at age three. The CPSE writes it. The two differ in an important way: the IFSP is a plan for your family, and the IEP is a plan for your child's education. The family outcomes, the home visits and the service coordinator do not carry over.

A visit where your provider works with you, another caregiver, or your child's day care staff, rather than directly with your child. It is a real service written on the IFSP, not a substitute for one, and it is often where the biggest changes come from, because you are with your child the other one hundred and sixty hours of the week. New York treats it as one of the five delivery models at 10 NYCRR 69-4.10(a)(1).

The way a service reaches your child, as opposed to what the service is. New York lists five: a home and community based individual or collateral visit, a facility based individual or collateral visit, a parent-child group, group developmental intervention, and a family or caregiver support group. Each service on your IFSP is written with one of these. If a provider wants to change the model, that is an IFSP change and you have a say in it.

A group made up of parents or caregivers, their children, and at least one qualified Early Intervention provider, held at a provider's site or somewhere in the community. You stay and take part rather than dropping your child off. Families often find the other parents as useful as the session.

Early Intervention delivered to a group of eligible children by qualified providers, at an approved site or in a community setting where young children typically are. The group is allowed to include children who do not have delays, which is what makes it a natural environment. The Group Developmental Model programs in our counties run on this model.

A group for the adults and siblings around the child: parents, foster parents, day care staff. Its purpose in the regulation is twofold: to build their ability to care for and support the child's development, and to give those people education, guidance and support of their own. It is a service on the IFSP, not an extra.

A visit that happens at the provider's own approved site rather than in your home or community. It is sometimes the only way to reach a particular specialist. If the IFSP calls for it and getting there is a problem, say so, because transportation is itself a service the plan can include.

A group service where children receive Early Intervention alongside peers, often with a caregiver taking part. Written on the IFSP and authorized by your EIO like any other service.

Physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and special instruction: the four services families hear about most. See Early Intervention Services for what each one actually does.

Your home, or places where children your child's age usually spend time, like a child care program or a playground. Federal and state rules call for services to happen there whenever it is appropriate for your child, rather than in a clinic.

An evaluation by at least two professionals from different fields. It looks at all five areas of development: physical, cognitive, communication, social and emotional, and adaptive (everyday self-help skills).

The school district committee that takes over when Early Intervention ends. If your child still needs services, the CPSE decides what your child receives. We help you prepare well in advance.

An integrated classroom includes children with disabilities and children without. A non-integrated classroom (sometimes called a special class) includes only children with disabilities. Both options may come up during the CPSE transition.

The written notice you must receive a reasonable time before anything about your child's evaluation, eligibility, or services is changed or refused, so you have time to agree or object.

New York's Early Intervention data system, which replaced the older NYEIS system. Your county, your providers, and your service coordinator use it for your child's record, service authorizations, provider assignments, and billing. Your child has an EI Hub ID number that stays with their case.

Everyone who builds and reviews your child's plan, starting with you. You are the most important member of the team.

Along with the family, the team includes the Early Intervention Official's Designee (EIOD), who represents the county and authorizes services, and who in many cases was your initial service coordinator; your ongoing service coordinator, who is sometimes a county representative but is more often part of an approved outside agency like ours; the evaluators who assessed your child; and the providers who deliver the therapies. Providers are full members of the team and are always invited to the IFSP meeting, although scheduling means they cannot always be in the room. You may also invite anyone else you want there: a partner, a grandparent, a friend, an advocate.

The small things a therapist asks you to do between sessions: a way of holding a cup, a sound to practice at bath time, a stretch, a game played a particular way.

Therapy happens for an hour or so a week, but your child learns all week long. That is why carryover matters so much. A good therapist will show you what to do, watch you try it, and fit it into something you already do, so it does not add to your day. If an activity does not fit your week, say so and ask for one that does.

Therapy or service coordination delivered by secure video instead of in person. The session is live, with a qualified provider coaching you and your child in real time, not a recording.

You may decline telehealth, as you may decline any service, and the rest of your child's plan stays the same. Where local providers are hard to find, starting by video can mean your child begins services sooner while we keep looking for an in-person provider. If you try it and it does not work for your family, tell us.

In New York, a child qualifies with a 12-month delay in one area, or a 33 percent delay in one area, or a 25 percent delay in two areas, or a score of at least 2 standard deviations below the mean in one area, or at least 1.5 standard deviations below the mean in each of two areas. A diagnosed condition with a high probability of delay also qualifies.

Nothing. Evaluation, service coordination, and Early Intervention services are provided at no cost to families in New York State. There is no fee, no copay, and no deductible for you to pay, and your family is never billed.

You will be asked for your insurance information, including Medicaid, and New York requires families to provide it. That is so the program can bill where it is allowed to, never so that you can be charged. Two protections sit behind that: your insurance cannot be billed at all if doing so would cost your family anything, unless you give informed consent first, and Early Intervention payments cannot be counted against an annual or lifetime limit on your policy.

Parents can refer their own child, and so can doctors, child care providers, and other professionals. You do not need a diagnosis or a doctor's note. In New York, certain professionals must refer a child they suspect has a developmental delay, unless the parent objects. Every referral goes to the county Early Intervention Program, not to an agency. If you are worried about a grandchild or a neighbor's child, call us and we will help the family make that call.

No. A concern is enough. The evaluation is how you find out whether there is a delay and whether your child is eligible.

Speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, special instruction, and a good deal more: audiology, vision services, nutrition, nursing, psychological and social work services, assistive technology, family training, respite, and transportation. See Early Intervention Services for what each one is.

It depends on what the evaluation finds and what your family needs, and you have a say in it. Every service is written with a frequency, a length, whether it is individual or group, and a location, and it is reviewed at least every six months.

In your home or your child's natural environment whenever possible. That is what the law prefers, and it is what the program is built around. When meeting in person is hard, we can also coordinate by secure, HIPAA-compliant video. Video is always your choice.

Yes. You choose, and you can change your choice later. If you want Early Start Coordination, give your Early Intervention Official's Designee (EIOD) our name and our NYS DOH ID number, 2224626.

Yes. Choosing who coordinates your child's services is your right, and so is changing that choice. You do not have to give a reason, and your child's services continue while the change is made.

Tell your Early Intervention Official's Designee (EIOD) which agency you want. The EIOD is the county representative who authorizes changes to your child's plan. You can also call us, and we will walk you through it. The same goes for any provider on your child's plan: if it is not a good fit, you can ask for a different one. Asking will not put your child's services at risk.

Yes. We coordinate directly in English and Spanish, and our written materials are available in both.

We work with qualified translators so that documents you are asked to sign, such as consent forms, notices, and the IFSP, are given to you in your language before you sign. We arrange this at no cost to your family, in any language, without you having to ask.

You also have a legal right to an interpreter and to written notices in your native language.

Yes. That is part of our job. Food, heat, health coverage, child care, housing, and respite. See Help Beyond Therapy, and just ask us.

Early Intervention usually ends at age three, and children who still need support move to the Committee on Preschool Special Education at your school district. If your child is found eligible for CPSE before turning three, you can ask for Early Intervention to continue until September 1 or January 2 depending on the birthday, and for the later date your child must already be receiving services. A child cannot receive both at the same time. We begin transition planning months in advance, arrange the meetings, send the records with your consent, and explain your options, including what an integrated and a non-integrated classroom mean.

See Counties We Serve for the current list. We continue to expand across New York State, so if yours is not listed yet, call and ask.

We are a Christ-centered agency, and our values shape how we treat every family. The Early Intervention services we coordinate are publicly funded and strictly secular, as federal and state rules require. We welcome children of any race, color, national and ethnic origin, and religion, on equal terms.