- Evaluation providers have an agreement with the NYS Department of Health to provide evaluation services to children. Service coordinators are required to ensure that parents are able to select an evaluation provider that meets their needs.
Improving Transition for Families Between the Health Department and the NYC Department of Education
Document Transfer System (DTS)
In partnership with Health Department, the Department of Education introduced the Document Transfer System in summer 2020. It is a secure, web-based system that allows Early Intervention service coordinators to upload and transmit transition documents electronically to the Department of Education. The system eliminates the need for paper faxes and a fax machine.
The Document Transfer System makes the transition from Early Intervention to the Committee on Preschool Special Education more fluid. It provides child and family information to the Department of Education in a way that better facilitates the agency's outreach to families. By securely transferring documents digitally, this system also minimizes the loss of information and increases accountability between agencies.
Beginning August 3, 2020, all service coordinators will exclusively use the Document Transfer System to submit transition documents to the Department of Education.
- Guide to the Document Transfer System
- Watch: Service Coordinator Training Video
- Watch: Agency Administrator Training Video
For questions about the information in these resources, email preschoolSPEDsystemshelp@schools.nyc.gov.
Helping Families — Moving to Preschool
The Department of Education’s preschool special education services can support children ages three to five with disabilities or delays in development. These services are provided free of charge to families. Preschool services can help support a child’s learning, speech and language, physical development, social-emotional skills, and other areas.
EI Transition Team
Helpline: 646-389-7171
The Transition from the Early Intervention Program: Supporting Families (Five Contact Hours) is a training created to provide background, information and tools needed to effectively support families through the transition process from the early intervention program
How to Become a Provider of Early Intervention Services
To provide Early Intervention services in New York City, you must have a Provider Agreement with the NYS Department of Health to provide service coordination, evaluation or services. You may provide Early Intervention services in a family’s home or community, or in a facility, as approved by the State.
For information on how agencies and individuals can get a Provider Agreement, email bei@health.state.ny.us.
After you receive an Appendix Provider Agreement from the State, email EITA@health.nyc.gov for information on how to get started providing services in NYC.
Child Care Programs
Child care providers should make referrals by calling 311 and asking for Early Intervention, or by filling out the Early Intervention Program Referral Form (PDF) and faxing it to the citywide Early Intervention Referral Unit at 347-396-8801.
The Health Department's Early Help Matters: Linking Infants and Toddlers in Child Care to Early Intervention (PDF) toolkit provides up-to-date information on Early Intervention referrals and services in child care settings.
- Watch: Observing Development in Child Care Settings and Making Referrals to Early Intervention
Health Care Providers
Health care providers should make referrals by calling 311 and asking for Early Intervention, or by filling out the Early Intervention Program Referral Form (PDF) and faxing it to the citywide Early Intervention Referral Unit at 347-396-8801. The Health Department's Early Help Matters: Supporting Family Access to the New York City Early Intervention Program toolkit provides information to help providers connect patients to Early Intervention.
Employees of the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), or agencies contracted with ACS, must call the Citywide ACS Referral Hotline at 877-885-KIDZ (877-885-5439) to make a referral to the Early Intervention Program.
More Information
- Early Intervention: Main Page
- Early Intervention: Public Health Action Kit
