A Little Rock parent of a toddler starts with First Connections, Arkansas's statewide Part C early intervention program run through the Department of Human Services' Division of Developmental Disabilities Services (DDS). Once a child turns 3, the door changes to Little Rock School District's own evaluation process under federal Child Find duties, and a family weighing long-term disability supports and the Community and Employment Supports (CES) Medicaid waiver works through DDS directly.

Below are the phone numbers and pages that are publicly documented for each of those three systems, along with the district contacts a Little Rock or North Little Rock family would use.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Arkansas page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Little Rock (Pulaski County).

Early intervention under 3: First Connections — Arkansas's Part C Early Intervention Program

First Connections is Arkansas's statewide early intervention program for infants and toddlers under 3, administered by the Department of Human Services through the Division of Developmental Disabilities Services. A parent, pediatrician, or child care provider can start a referral by phone or through the online form; no diagnosis is required, only a concern about how a child is developing. From there a service coordinator arranges an evaluation and, if a child qualifies, an Individualized Family Service Plan built around the family's routines and priorities.

• First Connections — Arkansas's Part C Early Intervention Program
• Referral phone: 800-643-8258

New to early intervention? Read the plain-language guide first.

School districts and special education

Arkansas public school districts carry a federal Child Find duty to locate, identify, and evaluate children with a suspected disability from birth through 21, at no cost to families. Put your evaluation request in writing to your child's school or the district's special education office to start the clock; ages 3 through 5 typically route through a district's early childhood special education program before kindergarten entry.

• Little Rock School District — Division of Special Programs, 810 W. Markham St., 501-447-1033
• North Little Rock School District — Special Services Department, 501-771-8033, serving the city across the river from downtown Little Rock

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Little Rock

These are hospital and university programs with public intake information. Listing here is informational — it is not a recommendation, and it is not medical advice. Public school evaluation is free and does not require any of these.

• UAMS James L. Dennis Developmental Center — outpatient interdisciplinary evaluation for children from birth through 13, including autism spectrum disorder diagnostic assessment, run through the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences · 501-364-1830

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: Arkansas DDS — Community and Employment Supports (CES) Waiver

Longer-term disability supports in Arkansas run through the Department of Human Services' Division of Developmental Disabilities Services (DDS), the same division that oversees First Connections. Families pursuing home- and community-based Medicaid services call DDS Intake and Referral to be assigned a specialist, complete a clinical review, and be placed on the waitlist for a CES Waiver slot; slots are assigned by waitlist position as they open. A child does not need to be off the First Connections waitlist to start this separate DDS process, and Medicaid-eligible children can access some services, like Early Intervention Day Treatment, while waiting for a waiver slot.

• Arkansas DDS — Community and Employment Supports (CES) Waiver
• Phone: 501-683-5687

Local organizations that help Little Rock families

• The Center for Exceptional Families (Arkansas's Parent Training and Information Center) — 888-360-9654; a project of the Arkansas Disability Coalition offering free help with IEPs, evaluations, and advocacy for families statewide
• Disability Rights Arkansas — Arkansas's federally designated Protection and Advocacy agency; publishes a free parent's guide to special education and takes cases involving denied services
• Arkansas 211 — dial 211; a United Way-run referral line with a database of local disability and family resources

Documented waits and access notes

Wait times change. Each note below links to the public source it came from — confirm current status directly with the program.

• Little Rock School District's evaluation clock, per Arkansas's statewide process guide, runs 60 calendar days from signed parental consent to finished testing, and a separate Evaluation Programming Conference to decide eligibility is supposed to follow within 30 days of that. (source)
• A Pulaski County family who calls First Connections should see the referral-to-IFSP process close out within 45 calendar days, the deadline Arkansas's DDS rules set for finishing evaluation and holding the first plan meeting. (source)