How Early Intervention Works in Arizona

How to Start: Self-Referral Through Arizona's Department of Economic Security

A family in Arizona can refer a child for early intervention directly, without a doctor's referral or a completed diagnosis. Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guarantees this system nationwide for infants and toddlers, birth through age two, with a disability or delay, delivered in the settings where a family already spends its day 1Ref 1U.S. Department of Education (2024).IDEA Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C).That IDEA Part C provides early intervention services to children birth through age 2 with disabilities or developmental delay and their families, delivered in natural environments..

In Arizona, that system is AzEIP, the Arizona Early Intervention Program, housed inside the Department of Economic Security's Division of Developmental Disabilities as the state's Part C lead agency 2Ref 2Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (federally funded) (2024).Part C of IDEA.That each state designates its own Part C lead agency responsible for the statewide early-intervention system, applied to Arizona's Department of Economic Security.. A parent, grandparent, child-care provider, or pediatrician can submit a referral through AzEIP's website or by phone, and no diagnosis, insurance card, or doctor's note is required to start the clock. Families can also self-refer without waiting for a well-child visit to raise a concern first 3Ref 3Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2024).Accessing Services for Autism Spectrum Disorder.That families can access early intervention (Part C, birth to 3) without waiting for a formal diagnosis.. A designated service coordinator is assigned early in the process, often before the evaluation is even complete, and stays the family's single point of contact through eligibility, the IFSP meeting, and any changes in services later on.

AzEIP's Delay Threshold Is Higher Than Most States'

Arizona sets its eligibility bar differently than many states: a child qualifies for AzEIP with a delay of 50 percent below the expected level in one or more developmental areas, such as motor skills, communication, thinking, social-emotional development, or self-help skills, or with a diagnosed physical or mental condition that carries a high probability of delay, such as Down syndrome or a genetic disorder. Many other states set that threshold at 25 percent, so a child who would qualify elsewhere is not guaranteed to qualify in Arizona on delay alone.

That gap matters most for a child with a mild or emerging delay. A toddler who is a little behind on words but not dramatically so may not meet AzEIP's percentage cutoff even though the same profile clears the bar in a neighboring state. In that situation, an established diagnosis, informed clinical opinion from the evaluation team, or a later referral to the local school district's Child Find process closer to age three can still open a path to services.

AzEIP's evaluation typically draws on more than one standardized tool, since a single test rarely captures every domain accurately, and the team's informed clinical opinion sits alongside the test scores rather than being overridden by them. A child who scores close to, but not quite at, the 50 percent line is exactly the case where that clinical judgment tends to carry the most weight.

What Happens After You Refer: Evaluation and the IFSP

Once AzEIP receives a referral, the program generally has 45 days to complete a multidisciplinary evaluation and, for a child who is found eligible, hold a meeting to write the Individualized Family Service Plan, the document that names the outcomes a family wants, which services will help reach them, and how often each service happens 4Ref 4U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (2024).Part 303 (Part C) — Early Intervention Program For Infants And Toddlers With Disabilities.The federal regulatory requirement of a timely evaluation and IFSP after referral, and what an IFSP and early intervention services can include..

The evaluation itself usually involves more than one discipline, often a developmental specialist alongside a speech-language pathologist, physical therapist, or occupational therapist, chosen based on the concerns a family raises at referral. Once services begin, Arizona reviews the IFSP at least every six months, and a family can request a review sooner if a child's needs change. A family that disagrees with an eligibility decision has procedural rights under Part C, including the right to request mediation or a due process hearing. These protections exist in every state, regardless of how Arizona structures its own program.

Family Cost Participation: What Arizona Families Actually Pay

AzEIP itself is free: evaluation, eligibility determination, service coordination, and the IFSP meeting cost a family nothing. What can carry a cost is Family Cost Participation, Arizona's sliding-scale program for certain direct services. A family whose income sits at or above 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline for its size can be asked to share a portion of the cost of services like therapy visits; a family below that line generally is not. In practice, many Arizona families who do participate pay a small percentage, not the full cost of care.

Cost-sharing is not the same as a bill for services never received, and it never applies to evaluation or service coordination. A family unsure where it falls on the scale can ask AzEIP directly for its current fee schedule and family-size calculation before services begin. That 200 percent threshold moves with the federal poverty guidelines each year, which is one reason AzEIP recalculates a family's share annually rather than setting it once at enrollment; a change in household size or income, a new job or a second child, can shift where a family lands on the scale, so it is worth updating AzEIP if circumstances change mid-year.

What an IFSP Can Include Once a Child Qualifies

An Individualized Family Service Plan built under Part C can include speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, developmental therapy, hearing and vision services, service coordination, and family training, matched to the outcomes the family and evaluation team identify together 4Ref 4U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (2024).Part 303 (Part C) — Early Intervention Program For Infants And Toddlers With Disabilities.The federal regulatory requirement of a timely evaluation and IFSP after referral, and what an IFSP and early intervention services can include.. Speech-language pathologists are trained to screen, assess, and treat the social-communication and language delays common in young children later found to be autistic, and they often anchor the team when communication is the family's central concern 5Ref 5American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2024).Autism (Practice Portal).The role of speech-language pathologists in screening, assessing, and treating social communication and language delays in young children..

Because Part C is built around natural environments, services usually happen at home or at the child-care setting a family already uses, rather than in a clinic the family has to travel to for every visit 1Ref 1U.S. Department of Education (2024).IDEA Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C).That IDEA Part C provides early intervention services to children birth through age 2 with disabilities or developmental delay and their families, delivered in natural environments.. Many AzEIP providers use a coaching model, teaching a parent or caregiver how to build a skill into an everyday routine like mealtime or bath time, rather than delivering therapy only as a stand-alone session the child attends alone.

Aging Out of AzEIP: The Move to Preschool at Three

AzEIP eligibility ends at a child's third birthday. Before that date, the IFSP team holds a transition conference to plan the move from Part C to Part B, the special-education system that runs through the local school district starting at age three, and eligibility has to be reconsidered under Part B's own criteria rather than carried over automatically 6Ref 6U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (2024).IDEA Part C: Early Learning and Early Childhood.The transition from Part C (birth-3) services toward Part B preschool special education at age 3.. Understanding how an IFSP becomes an IEP, the Individualized Education Program that governs services after three, is worth doing before that conference, not during it. Bringing the child's current IFSP, recent evaluation reports, and a specific list of concerns to that conference generally speeds up the Part B eligibility process, since the school district's team can start from AzEIP's existing paperwork rather than from nothing.

Families relocating add another layer: Part C eligibility does not transfer automatically across state lines. A family that used early intervention in Kentucky, early intervention in Louisiana, early intervention in Maine, early intervention in Maryland, early intervention in Massachusetts, early intervention in South Carolina, or early intervention in South Dakota and then moves to Arizona will need to submit a new referral to AzEIP, since each state runs its own IDEA Part C system with its own eligibility standard and cost rules 2Ref 2Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (federally funded) (2024).Part C of IDEA.That each state designates its own Part C lead agency responsible for the statewide early-intervention system, applied to Arizona's Department of Economic Security..