Child development

How Early Intervention Works in Delaware

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Birth to Three is Delaware's version of the federal Part C mandate for infants and toddlers with developmental delays or diagnosed conditions. This guide explains how a family can self-refer, Delaware's specific eligibility thresholds, what the evaluation and IFSP timeline looks like, why the program costs so little, what services an IFSP can include, and how the transition to preschool special education works at age three.

Last updated: July 2026

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Self-Referral to Delaware's Birth to Three Program

A family in Delaware can request a Part C evaluation directly, without a pediatrician's referral or a completed diagnosis. Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act guarantees infants and toddlers, birth through age two, with a disability or delay the right to evaluation and services in the settings a family already uses 1.

Delaware's Part C lead agency is the Department of Health and Social Services, which has delegated day-to-day responsibility for Birth to Three to its Division of Public Health 2. A parent, relative, child-care provider, or physician can refer a child, and as a parent, you do not need anyone else's referral to start the process. A family can refer its own child directly 3. Once a referral is logged, a service coordinator is assigned to guide the family through evaluation, eligibility, and, if the child qualifies, the IFSP process, and stays the family's point of contact for as long as the child is enrolled.

Delaware's Eligibility Standard: 25 Percent Delay, 1.5 Standard Deviations, or a Qualifying Diagnosis

Delaware sets eligibility using two overlapping ways to measure a delay: a child qualifies with a delay of 25 percent below the expected level, or with a score 1.5 standard deviations below the mean, in one or more developmental areas, whichever standard fits the evaluation tool used. A child also qualifies with a diagnosed physical or mental condition known to carry a high probability of delay, such as Down syndrome, without needing to demonstrate the delay has appeared yet.

Stating the threshold two ways, as a percentage and as a standard deviation, reflects how the underlying developmental tests are actually scored; a family reading an evaluation report will likely see the standard-deviation figure even though the percentage framing is more common in plain-language explanations of the rule. The evaluation that produces those scores usually involves more than one discipline, often a developmental specialist working alongside a speech-language pathologist, physical therapist, or occupational therapist, chosen to match whatever concerns the family raised at referral.

What Happens After You Refer: Evaluation and the IFSP Meeting

Once Birth to Three receives a referral, the program generally has 45 days to complete the evaluation and hold the first meeting to write the Individualized Family Service Plan, the document naming the family's priorities, the services intended to meet them, and how often each service will happen 4.

A family that disagrees with an eligibility decision has the same procedural rights every Part C system provides, including the right to request mediation or a due process hearing. These protections apply regardless of how quickly, or slowly, a particular evaluation moves. Once a child is enrolled, Delaware reviews the IFSP at least every six months, and a family can ask for an earlier review if a child's needs change or a new concern comes up.

What Birth to Three Costs Delaware Families

Birth to Three is provided to Delaware families at little or no cost, regardless of household income or insurance status. Evaluation, service coordination, and the services written into an IFSP are not gated behind a family fee schedule the way they are in some other states.

That makes Delaware one of the more straightforward states in this group for a family to plan around financially: there is no income calculation to complete and no sliding-scale fee notice to expect before services begin. State and federal Part C funding, together with Medicaid reimbursement for eligible children, covers the cost of the program instead of passing it through to families, which is part of why Delaware can keep the low-cost policy simple and predictable. A family moving to Delaware from a state that runs a sliding-scale fee should not expect a comparable bill once the child is enrolled in Birth to Three.

Who's on the IFSP Team and What Services Look Like

An IFSP written for a Delaware family can include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, developmental therapy, service coordination, and family training, chosen to match the outcomes the family and evaluation team set together 4. Speech-language pathologists often play a leading role when a family's central concern is a child's communication or social interaction, since screening and treating those delays is part of their training 5.

Consistent with Part C's design, most Birth to Three services happen at home or wherever a family already spends its day, rather than requiring travel to a clinic for every visit 1. Many providers use a coaching approach, showing a parent or caregiver how to fold a specific goal into an everyday routine like mealtime or playtime, so practice continues between visits rather than being limited to the time a therapist is in the room.

Turning Three in Delaware: The Move to Part B

Birth to Three eligibility ends at a child's third birthday. Before that date, the IFSP team holds a transition conference to plan the move to Part B preschool special education, run through the local school district, which requires its own eligibility determination rather than continuing services automatically 6. Reading about how an IFSP becomes an IEP ahead of that conference helps a family know what to ask. Bringing the current IFSP and recent evaluation reports to that conference generally helps the school district's team move faster, since they can build on Birth to Three's existing paperwork instead of starting from nothing.

A family relocating should expect to start over: Part C eligibility does not transfer automatically between states. A family that used early intervention in California, early intervention in Colorado, early intervention in Connecticut, early intervention in Florida, or early intervention in Georgia and then moves to Delaware will need a new referral to Birth to Three, since each state sets its own eligibility rule, cost structure, and lead agency under IDEA Part C 2.

Common questions

No. Delaware's eligibility standard is a developmental delay, measured as 25 percent below expected or 1.5 standard deviations below the mean, or a diagnosed condition with a high probability of delay, not an autism diagnosis specifically. A toddler with communication or social delays can be referred and evaluated well before, or separately from, any autism evaluation.

Little or nothing. Delaware does not run an income-based sliding-scale fee for Birth to Three the way some states do. Evaluation, service coordination, and the services listed on an IFSP are generally provided to families at no cost, regardless of income or insurance.

It's a statistical way of expressing how far behind a child scores on a developmental test compared with same-age peers, roughly equivalent to Delaware's 25 percent delay standard. An evaluator applies whichever measure fits the specific test used and will explain the result in plain terms during the eligibility meeting.

Yes. A parent can contact Birth to Three directly and request an evaluation without a pediatrician's note or a completed diagnosis. Relatives, child-care providers, and physicians can also make a referral with the family's knowledge, but none of them has to sign off first.

Birth to Three ends at the third birthday. The IFSP team holds a transition conference beforehand to plan the move to Part B preschool special education through the local school district, where eligibility is assessed again under separate criteria than Birth to Three used.

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When a developmental concern shouldn't wait on a program timeline

  • —Loss of previously gained words, gestures, or social responses at any age
  • —No evaluation scheduled well beyond the 45-day window after Birth to Three logs the referral
  • —A child not yet referred by around 30 months, since planning the move to Part B preschool takes additional lead time

This article explains how Delaware's public early intervention system works. It is general education, not medical or legal advice, and cannot determine whether a specific child is eligible.

References

  1. 1.U.S. Department of Education (2024). IDEA Early Intervention Program for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities (Part C). U.S. Department of Education. link ✓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.
  2. 2.Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (federally funded) (2024). Part C of IDEA. ECTA Center. link ✓That each state designates its own Part C lead agency responsible for the statewide early-intervention system, applied to Delaware's Department of Health and Social Services.
  3. 3.Center for Parent Information and Resources (OSEP-funded) (2023). Part C of IDEA: Early Intervention for Babies and Toddlers. Center for Parent Information and Resources. link ✓That a family can refer its own child for a Part C evaluation directly, without a professional initiating the referral.
  4. 4.U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (2024). Part 303 (Part C) — Early Intervention Program For Infants And Toddlers With Disabilities. IDEA — sites.ed.gov/idea. link ✓The federal regulatory requirement of a timely evaluation and IFSP after referral, and what early intervention services under an IFSP can include.
  5. 5.American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2024). Autism (Practice Portal). ASHA Practice Portal — Clinical Topics. link ✓The role of speech-language pathologists in screening, assessing, and treating social communication and language delays in young children.
  6. 6.U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (2024). IDEA Part C: Early Learning and Early Childhood. IDEA — sites.ed.gov/idea. link ✓The transition from Part C (birth-3) services toward Part B preschool special education at age 3.

6 sources, numbered by first appearance. General health information, not medical advice. AI-assisted editorial content — every citation independently verified. Editorial policy

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