Special-education help for Kansas families.

Kansas's IDEA Part C program — known statewide as tiny-k and administered by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment — gives free developmental evaluation and services (speech, occupational, physical, and developmental therapy) to any child birth to 3 with a delay or qualifying condition. Services are delivered in your home or community by your local tiny-k network. There is no income test and no diagnosis required. This is the single best first call for a baby or toddler.

tiny-k is delivered by 37 local networks that together cover every county in Kansas. Use the Infant Toddler Services of Kansas locator to find the network serving your county, or call 2-1-1. They come to you.

Kansas's federally funded Parent Training and Information Center gives free, one-to-one help understanding your rights, the evaluation, and the IEP/504 process — with Spanish-language support. Trained parent specialists who've been through it themselves staff offices across the state. Call before you pay any private advocate.

Beyond the IEP, Families Together helps parents navigate transition planning, Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS), and connecting to adult and disability services — free, statewide, and family-led.

Kansas'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.

Kansas Rehabilitation Services — part of the Department for Children and Families — provides free help for students with disabilities (ages 14–21) to prepare for work, college, and independent living through Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS): job exploration, self-advocacy and counseling, work-based learning, and assistive technology. KRS has placed transition specialists in local VR offices statewide. Ask your VR counselor to join your child's transition IEP meetings.

Kansas runs its Medicaid (KanCare) Home and Community Based Services waivers through the Department for Aging and Disability Services. The Autism waiver serves children ages 0–5 (respite, family adjustment counseling, parent support); the Intellectual/Developmental Disability (I/DD) waiver serves ages 5 and up (day supports, respite, personal care, supported employment, equipment). All of these waivers count only the child's income, not the family's — so eligibility is based on the child's needs. The waiting lists run years long, so the single most important move is to get on every list TODAY. Call 2-1-1 or your local Community Developmental Disability Organization (CDDO) to add your child's name.

Important: Kansas does NOT have a TEFRA/Katie Beckett state-plan option. Instead, Kansas serves children with significant disabilities through HCBS 1915(c) waivers — the Autism waiver, the Intellectual/Developmental Disability (I/DD) waiver, and others — where eligibility is based on the child's needs, not parent income. These waivers can pay for therapies, respite, and services, but the waiting lists run for years, so the single most important move is to get your child's name on every applicable waiver list TODAY. Apply through KanCare and ask which waivers fit your child.

You can ask your school district in writing for an initial special-education evaluation at any time. Once you sign written consent, Kansas schools must complete the evaluation, hold the eligibility meeting, and — if your child qualifies — put the IEP in place within 60 school days. Put the request in writing and date it: the clock starts when the school receives your signed consent. You have the right to everything in your language, to bring anyone to the meeting, 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, formal complaint, or due process). Your PTI above explains all of it for free.

The Kansas State Department of Education's Special Education and Title Services team sets the rules every district must follow, runs the formal-complaint, mediation, and due-process systems, and publishes the Kansas Special Education Process Handbook and the state's dyslexia guidance (Kansas requires dyslexia screening and structured-literacy support). Start here to know exactly 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 metro'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 Kansas — vital for rural families on the western plains. 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.