A free, plain-English handbook for parents raising a child with a disability in New York City — and two free tools to use alongside it.
Nobody hands you a map when this starts. So here's the map.
Start with the quick answers, or jump to your question.
Ask it the way you'd say it out loud. Nothing you type is saved.
Quick answers
Short answers, in the order they usually come up. Each one links to the fuller explanation if you want it.
Ask the school district for an evaluation, in writing, today.
That one letter starts a legal clock: once you sign consent, the district has 60 calendar days to complete the evaluation. Everything else — services, an IEP, funding — follows from it. Write the date you sent it on your own copy.
More in School and the IEP →No. You can ask for an evaluation without one.
Waiting for a diagnosis first is one of the most common ways families lose months. School eligibility is a separate decision from a medical diagnosis, and you can start the school process now.
More in School and the IEP →No. An evaluation by the school district is free to you.
The same is true of Early Intervention for children under 3. If someone is asking you to pay for an evaluation, that is a private evaluation — a different thing, and sometimes useful, but not the one the district owes you.
More in Paying for it →Put it in writing. A verbal request to a teacher is not a referral.
Write to the CSE or CPSE office that serves your district — a short letter saying who your child is and why you are asking. Keep a dated copy of everything you send. If you hand it in at the school, ask them to date-stamp your copy.
More in School and the IEP →Yes — and under federal law that's the starting point, not the exception.
Least Restrictive Environment means the question isn't whether your child has earned a general education classroom. It's whether anyone can justify moving her out of one. Most children with disabilities in this city attend their ordinary neighborhood school.
More in Placement →Not automatically. An autism classification by itself does not mean District 75.
D75 is one end of a continuum that starts with general education. The IEP team — which includes you — decides where on that continuum your child belongs, and the least restrictive appropriate option comes first.
More in Placement →You can ask for time to read it before you agree to anything.
You are a member of that committee, not a guest at it. Asking for a copy to review is normal and reasonable. If you are unsure about something in it, one of the free organizations at the bottom of this page will read it with you at no cost.
More in Get help →Yes. You can bring anyone you want — a friend, a relative, an advocate.
You do not need permission and you do not need to explain who they are. Many parents find that having a second person taking notes changes how the meeting goes.
Free advocates in Get help →Preschool services hand off to school-age services, and it is the most common place families lose ground.
New committee, different eligibility criteria, new paperwork. Watch for the notice between December and August — and if nothing has arrived by February 1, call the CSE for your home district yourself.
More in School and the IEP →Not for anything written on the IEP. That is the district's obligation, not a favor.
Evaluations, the services listed on the IEP, transportation when the IEP requires it, an interpreter — all free to you. Families routinely pay out of pocket for things they are already owed.
More in Paying for it →Many New York plans must — but it depends on one thing most parents have never been asked.
The state mandate applies to fully insured plans, not to self-funded employer plans. The card in your wallet looks the same either way. Call HR and ask: "Is our health plan fully insured or self-funded?"
More in Paying for it →Probably not. For a child living at home seeking HCBS Waiver enrollment, parental income is not counted.
Families rule themselves out of years of support based on an assumption nobody ever corrected. If you have never applied because you assumed your salary disqualified your child, that assumption is worth checking with the OPWDD Front Door.
More in OPWDD →Ask about an RSA before you start paying for it yourself.
When the district can't staff a service your child's IEP mandates, it can issue a Related Services Authorization — a voucher letting you find an independent provider at DOE expense. Ask your school's IEP team or your CSE office.
More in the decoder →Yes. An interpreter at meetings and a translated IEP are both rights, on request.
You should never be asked to bring your own interpreter, and your child should never be used as your interpreter. Request an interpreter in writing at least 72 hours before a meeting — there's a free letter tool on this page that writes it for you in nine languages.
Open the letter tool →Put your request in writing again, keep the date, and then call a free advocate.
Silence is common and it is not something you have to solve alone. Advocates for Children of New York does exactly this, at no cost, and they have been doing it in this city for decades.
Who to call in Get help →You have real options — an independent evaluation, mediation, or an impartial hearing.
You do not have to accept a decision you think is wrong, and you do not have to know which route to take before you ask for help. Call a free advocate before you sign anything you are unsure about.
Who to call in Get help →Every question, on its own page →
Do one thing this week: write to your CSE or CPSE office asking for an evaluation, and keep a dated copy. That single letter starts the clock that everything else depends on.
Then call Advocates for Children of New York. It's free, it's what they do, and you do not need to have your questions organized before you call.
You are not behind. This system is genuinely confusing, and nobody hands you instructions.
Everything in this system runs on your child's age. Which committee handles them, what they're entitled to, and who to call all change at three and again at five. Pick the age that fits.
The one part of the system that isn't run by the Department of Education. Free, and services can happen at home or wherever your child already spends the day.
Children already in Early Intervention should be referred for a preschool evaluation about four months before becoming eligible for preschool services. Don't wait for someone to bring it up.
Your CPSE is assigned by where your child lives. There are eleven CSE/CPSE offices across the city, each covering three or four districts.
Start dates run on a calendar: turning 3 between January 1 and June 30 means services can begin January 2; between July 1 and December 31 means July 1.
The handoff from preschool to school-age special education, and the single most common place we see families lose services. New committee, new criteria, new paperwork, on a deadline nobody explains.
The hard deadline: the first school-age IEP must be finalized by the fifth birthday. Every delay upstream eats into that. This is why February matters.
School-age special education runs to 21 or high school completion. You're generally assigned to the CSE where your child goes to school — unless they're homeschooled, attend school outside the city, or aren't attending, in which case it's where you live.
If your child attends a private, parochial, or charter school in NYC, or is homeschooled, your case sits with a CSE/CPSE office rather than a school-based team.
Source: NYC Public Schools — Special Education, and NYSED Commissioner's Regulations Part 200. schools.nyc.gov/learning/special-educationnot yet verified
The most common question we hear, and the honest answer starts before the school list. Placement in New York is a continuum, and the law says you start at the least restrictive end and only move along it when there's a documented reason.
A regular class with related services and supports written into the IEP. Most children with disabilities attend their ordinary neighborhood school.
One general education teacher and one special education teacher in the same room, serving students with and without IEPs.
A smaller self-contained class inside a regular school building. Programs like ASD Nest and ASD Horizon sit around here.
The citywide district for students with the most significant disabilities. Small ratios, built-in therapy, roughly 23,000 students across dozens of schools.
An autism classification does not by itself mean District 75. Most students with disabilities are served in ordinary NYC public schools. D75 is one end of a continuum, not the default destination for a diagnosis — and the IEP team, which includes you, decides where on that continuum your child belongs.
What people say: "He's autistic, so he'll go to District 75."
What's actually true: the team recommends a setting based on your child's needs, and the least restrictive appropriate option comes first. Some District 75 students spend part of their day in general education classes with their peers. Some autistic children never go near D75. Both are normal.
What people say: "There's a list of autism schools I should apply to."
What's actually true: it doesn't work like admissions. Placement follows the IEP. If a District 75 program is recommended, the school team or the CSE refers your child, generally within your borough as close to home as possible. There are specialized programs worth asking about by name — ASD Nest, ASD Horizon, AIMS — but you ask the IEP team, you don't apply.
Source: NYC Public Schools — District 75 and specialized programs. schools.nyc.gov · District 75not yet verified
Here's what each of these people actually does. We're describing the roles — which one your child needs is a question for your pediatrician and your child's evaluation team, not for a website.
Communication — speech sounds, understanding and using language, and for some children, communication devices and systems.
The work of daily life at your child's age: fine motor skills, handwriting, dressing, feeding, sensory processing, self-care.
Gross motor — walking, balance, coordination, strength, moving safely through a school building.
Applies behavior analysis to assess and address behavior. In New York this is a licensed health profession with its own credential.
In-depth testing of thinking, learning, attention, and memory. Often the evaluation that produces a diagnosis or explains a puzzling learning profile.
A physician specializing in development. Frequently the doctor who makes or confirms an autism diagnosis.
A preschool special education teacher who comes to your child's classroom or home rather than your child going to a special class.
Helps you prepare for and navigate IEP meetings and disputes with the district. Several organizations below do this at no charge.
Before you hire anyone in New York, you can check their license yourself through the NYSED Office of the Professions. It takes a minute and it's worth doing.
Source: NYSED Office of the Professions — licensure requirements by profession. op.nysed.govnot yet verified
Families spend thousands on services their district already owes them, and rule themselves out of state funding they'd qualify for. There are three different money systems, and they don't talk to each other. Sort your question first.
Anything about your child's education. An obligation, not a benefit — provided at no cost to you.
Medical and therapeutic treatment outside school. New York law requires many plans to cover autism treatment.
Long-term supports funded through the state. The one families most often don't know exists.
Many New York plans must — but whether yours does depends on one thing most parents have never been asked.
New York's autism insurance law requires state-regulated health plans to cover the screening, diagnosis, and treatment of autism spectrum disorder. Treatment explicitly includes applied behavior analysis, therapeutic care from licensed speech, occupational, and physical therapists, and assistive communication devices.
The mandate applies to fully insured, New York State–regulated plans. It generally does not apply to self-funded employer plans governed by federal ERISA law.
The card in your wallet looks identical either way. Large employers are the most likely to self-fund, so a parent with a good job at a big company can have weaker autism coverage than a neighbor on a marketplace plan.
Call HR and ask: "Is our health plan fully insured or self-funded?"Sources: NYS Department of Financial Services (insurance mandate); NYC Public Schools (district obligations). The mandate's enactment year, hour caps, and age caps are deliberately not stated here — sources conflicted.not yet verified
The Office for People With Developmental Disabilities funds long-term supports across a lifetime. Autism can qualify. Getting in has a specific order, and doing it out of order costs months.
For a child living at home seeking enrollment in the HCBS Waiver, parental income and resources are not counted. The waiver looks at the child, not the household.
Families rule themselves out of years of support based on an assumption nobody ever corrected.
Careful with this one: the rule is specific to children living at home seeking HCBS Waiver enrollment. Other OPWDD services have different cost-of-care rules. Confirm your own situation with the Front Door — don't take a website's word for it, including this one.
Eligibility generally rests on documentation of substantial functional limitations, and an evaluation without adaptive behavior testing often can't establish that. If it's missing, the process stalls while you go back and get it.
Tell the evaluator up front the report may be used for an OPWDD eligibility determination. Costs nothing to ask; can save months.
Source: NYS Office for People With Developmental Disabilities. opwdd.ny.gov/get-startednot yet verified
Not more reading. Two things you fill in and walk away holding. Nothing you type is sent anywhere or saved — it stays on your phone, and closing this page erases it.
Fill in four boxes and print a letter in your language and English, requesting an interpreter for your child's IEP meeting and a translated copy of the IEP. Hand it in at least 72 hours before the meeting and keep a dated copy. You should never be asked to bring your own interpreter, and your child should never be used as one.
Nothing here is sent anywhere. It never leaves your phone and nothing is saved.
Every deadline in this system runs off two dates: when your child was born, and when you signed consent. Enter them and get your own timeline. This is a calendar, not an assessment — it knows nothing about your child beyond an age.
Enter your child's date of birth to see your dates.
Nothing here is sent anywhere either. Same rule: it stays on your phone.
Knowing you have a right and knowing how to say it out loud are two different things. These are sentences you can use exactly as written. Say them plainly — you are not being difficult, you are being a member of the committee.
They hand you a document and wait for you to sign.
"I'd like to take this home and read it before I agree to anything. When do you need it back?"
Asking for time is normal. The second sentence keeps it collaborative rather than a refusal.
The meeting is moving faster than you can follow.
"Can we slow down? I want to make sure I understand this part before we move on."
Nobody will offer you this. You have to ask, and you are allowed to ask more than once.
Someone uses a term you don't know.
"What does that mean, in plain words?"
Not knowing the acronym is not a failure on your part. Everyone in that room learned it at work.
A special class or District 75 is recommended.
"What supports would make general education work for her? I'd like those considered first."
This is the Least Restrictive Environment question, asked out loud. It puts the burden where the law puts it.
You want the reasoning on the record.
"Can you help me understand what was tried in the general education setting, and what happened?"
A more restrictive placement is supposed to follow a documented reason. This asks for it without accusing anyone.
Someone says they'll take care of it.
"That sounds good — can we write that into the IEP?"
The single most useful sentence on this page. A promise in the room is not enforceable. A line in the IEP is.
You want to know what happens if it doesn't get delivered.
"If this service doesn't start on time, who should I contact, and by when?"
Asking in advance is far easier than chasing later, and it tells the room you'll be following up.
English isn't your preferred language.
"I need an interpreter in [your language] for this meeting, and a translated copy of the IEP."
Both are rights, on request. Put it in writing at least 72 hours ahead — there's a free letter tool on this page.
A service on the IEP isn't happening.
"The IEP mandates speech twice a week and it hasn't started. Can we discuss an RSA?"
Naming the mechanism shows you know it exists, which often changes how the conversation goes.
You disagree and want it noted.
"I don't agree with that recommendation, and I'd like my disagreement noted in the minutes."
You can disagree without ending the meeting. Getting it on record preserves your options later.
Bring a second person. A friend, a relative, anyone. You don't need permission and you don't have to explain who they are. Having someone taking notes changes how a meeting runs.
Write down what was agreed, in the room. Then send a short email afterward: "Thank you for meeting. My understanding is that we agreed to X and Y." That email is now a dated record, and it costs you five minutes.
The words they use in the meeting. Nobody explains these and everybody assumes you know them. You're not behind — the vocabulary is genuinely opaque.
Free Appropriate Public Education. The core promise of federal special education law: your child is entitled to an education suited to their needs, at no cost to you.
Least Restrictive Environment. Your child should be educated with non-disabled peers to the greatest extent appropriate, and moved to a more separate setting only when the disability makes that necessary. This is the legal reason a general education classroom is the starting point of the conversation, not a special class.
An IFSP is what Early Intervention writes for children under 3, and it supports the family, not only the child. An IEP is what CPSE and CSE write from age 3 up, focused on the child's education.
Related Services Authorization. When the district can't staff a service your child's IEP mandates, it can issue an RSA letting you find an independent provider at DOE expense. If the IEP says speech twice a week and none has happened since September, this is the mechanism to ask your IEP team or CSE office about.
ICT is integrated co-teaching — two teachers, one room, mixed group. SETSS is special education teacher support services, delivered in or out of the classroom. The numbers — 12:1:1, 8:1:1, 6:1:1, 12:1:4 — are students to teacher to paraprofessional. Smaller first number, more adult attention.
The formal written notice the district must send when it proposes or refuses to change your child's identification, evaluation, placement, or services. Keep every one.
After you sign consent for an initial evaluation, the district has 60 calendar days to complete it. Write the consent date on your own calendar. It is the single most useful date you will hold.
All free. All doing this in New York for decades. We don't get anything if you contact them, and we'd rather you called them than guessed.
Free advice and advocacy for NYC families, strongest on disputes and children's education rights. Their written guides are the best plain-language material in the city.
advocatesforchildren.orgHelp center, trainings, and guides for NYC families of young people with disabilities, birth to 26.
includenyc.orgFree legal and advocacy services for people with disabilities across the state.
drny.orgFor questions about D75 programs, including kindergarten placement. Main office 212-802-1500; placement 212-802-1578.
schools.nyc.gov · District 75Official source for CSE/CPSE office contacts, referral addresses, and program descriptions. Find your district's office and save the number.
schools.nyc.gov · special educationEverything on this page explains how the system works — the law, the committees, the deadlines, the vocabulary, who does what job, where the money comes from. That's public information, and it should have been handed to you already.
What we don't do is tell you what your particular child needs. We're not therapists, evaluators, advocates, or benefits counselors, and a website answering that question about a child it has never met would be doing you harm dressed up as help. For that, call the organizations above.
Every fact on this page traces to a public source, listed below. We would rather you checked us than trusted us — and if you find something here that is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
Why every line says “not yet verified”: this page is a draft. Nothing here has been confirmed against a primary source by a person who works in this system. When that review happens, each line will carry the name of who checked it and the date. Until then, treat this as a map drawn from public documents — useful for orientation, not a substitute for calling your CSE office.