Special-education help for Iowa families.

Early ACCESS is Iowa's free early-intervention system for any child birth to 3 who isn't developing as expected or has a condition likely to cause delay — speech, occupational, physical, and developmental services delivered right in your home or child care. It is run by Iowa's Area Education Agencies (AEAs) together with HHS. There is no income test and no diagnosis required. This is the single best first call for a baby or toddler.

You can start an Early ACCESS referral from anywhere in Iowa through the Iowa Family Support Network — one phone number connects you to the AEA team serving your county. Any parent can refer their own child; you don't need a doctor to do it for you.

Iowa's federally funded Parent Training and Information Center gives free, one-to-one help understanding your rights, the evaluation, and the IEP/504 process — from parent specialists, many of whom have raised a child with a disability themselves. They prep you for meetings and decode the paperwork. Call before you pay any private advocate.

Iowa IDEA Information explains the state's evaluation, eligibility, IEP, and procedural-safeguard rules in plain language — a free, reliable reference when you want to check exactly what your school is required to do.

Iowa's federally mandated protection & advocacy agency provides free legal information and advocacy when a child's special-education rights are being denied — including help with disputes, restraint/seclusion, and discipline. A powerful no-cost resource before you hire a lawyer.

Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services (IVRS) provides free help for students with disabilities — Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) for ages 14 to 21 — to prepare for work, college, and independent living through job exploration, counseling, training, and assistive technology. IVRS counselors are assigned to Iowa high schools, so ask your counselor to join your child's transition IEP meetings.

Iowa's Home- and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Medicaid waivers — the Children's Mental Health waiver, the Health & Disability waiver, and the Intellectual Disability waiver — can pay for therapies, respite, and in-home support for a child with significant needs, and eligibility looks at the child's needs, not just family income. (Iowa is consolidating these into a new Children and Youth waiver, ages 0–21.) The waiting lists are long, so the single most important move is to get your child's name on every interest/waiting list TODAY. Call Iowa HHS or your local Medicaid intake to start.

The Katie Beckett pathway — born right here in Iowa in the 1980s — lets a child with significant disabilities qualify for Medicaid based on the child's own needs rather than the parents' income, opening the door to therapies and services your private insurance won't cover. Iowa administers this through Medicaid/HCBS; ask Iowa HHS specifically about Katie Beckett eligibility when you call. Apply even if you think you earn too much.

You can ask your school district or AEA in writing for a full special-education evaluation at any time. Once you sign informed consent, Iowa requires the team to complete the evaluation and hold the eligibility-determination meeting within 60 calendar days. Put your request in writing and date it — that's what starts the clock. You also have the right to receive the evaluation reports at least 3 days before the IEP meeting, to everything in your language, to bring anyone you want, and to disagree.

Under IDEA you have the right to a free, appropriate public education (FAPE), to a full evaluation at no cost, to be an equal member of the IEP team, to an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) if you disagree, and to dispute-resolution (mediation/due process). Your PTI above explains all of it for free.

The Iowa Department of Education's Special Education team sets the rules every district and Area Education Agency must follow, runs the state complaint and due-process systems, and publishes Iowa's dyslexia guidance and screening requirements. Start here to know what the state requires of your school.

Use the ZIP finder to pull the nearest evaluators, therapists, and special-education schools to your address, plus your area's full directory — and these statewide free programs are always shown, no matter how rural your town.

Several reputable practices provide autism/ADHD evaluation and speech/OT/ABA by telehealth across Iowa — vital for rural families far from a clinic. Nationally, COPAA (advocates/attorneys), the Academy of Orton-Gillingham (dyslexia), ABPP (board-certified evaluators), BHCOE (ABA), and Bookshare (free accessible books) round out your options.