Chicago is Cook County's biggest city, and its Early Intervention system is split across four regional Child and Family Connections offices, assigned by your ZIP code, while every school-age referral runs through a single district — Chicago Public Schools, the fourth-largest school system in the country. That scale is an asset once you know which door to knock on, and a maze until then.

Illinois also runs its long-term disability supports, autism insurance mandate, and Medicaid ABA benefit the same way statewide, so most of what's below applies to any Illinois family — this page just spells out what changes once you're inside Chicago's city limits: which CFC office, which CPS office, which hospital programs are actually reachable from here.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Illinois page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Chicago (Cook County).

Early intervention under 3: Illinois Early Intervention (Part C)

Illinois Early Intervention serves children from birth to age 3, and as of July 1, 2026 it's led by a newly created state agency, the Illinois Department of Early Childhood (IDEC), taking over from the Department of Human Services. Referrals go through one of 25 regional Child and Family Connections (CFC) offices statewide, and Chicago proper is divided among four of them by ZIP code: CFC 8 (Southwest, run by Easterseals Metropolitan Chicago, 773-233-1799), CFC 9 (Central/West, Hektoen Institute, 773-830-5200), CFC 10 (Southeast, La Rabida Children's Hospital, 773-324-7434), and CFC 11 (North, 312-942-7800). Any parent, doctor, or caregiver can make the referral, and no diagnosis is required before a free evaluation. If you're not sure which CFC covers your address, the statewide help line sorts it out.

• Illinois Early Intervention (Part C)
• Referral phone: 1-800-843-6154 (statewide CFC locator, Voice/TTY)

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

School districts and special education

Illinois law makes every district responsible for Child Find — locating and evaluating children from birth through 21 who might need special education — and Chicago Public Schools runs that process through one citywide office rather than separate neighborhood districts. Put your evaluation request in writing; ISBE's statewide rule gives the district 14 school days to decide whether to proceed, and once you give written consent, up to 60 school days to finish the evaluation and hold an eligibility meeting. CPS also runs a separate Child Find screening track for children ages 0 through 5 years 11 months who aren't yet enrolled in a CPS school.

• Chicago Public Schools — Office for Students with Disabilities — 773-553-1800, osd@cps.edu, 42 W. Madison St.; submit evaluation requests in writing or by email; free walk-in developmental screening for ages 0–5.11 via cpschildfind@cps.edu
• Chicago Public Schools — School Networks — day-to-day school administration is split across 18 geographic networks (13 elementary, 4 high school, plus an Options network) — e.g. Network 1 covers Far North Side elementary schools (773-534-1108) and Network 15 covers Near West/Southwest Side schools (773-535-8232) — though special education referrals are handled citywide through OSD, not network by network

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Chicago

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.

• Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital — Division of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics — diagnostic evaluation for autism, developmental delays, Down syndrome, and related conditions by developmental pediatricians, nurse practitioners, psychologists, and therapists; a diagnostic service rather than an ongoing-therapy provider — the division refers out for ABA and speech therapy after evaluation · 1-800-543-7362 (main scheduling) · 312-227-6720 (clinic line) · Lurie's own site warns "there may be a significant waiting period before your visit with a developmental provider," while noting a child may qualify for other help before the evaluation happens
• Rush University Medical Center — AARTS Center (Autism Assessment, Research, Treatment & Services) — diagnostic evaluation across a 3–4 appointment process (intake, testing, feedback), plus treatment including CBT, social skills groups, medication management, and school consultation; one of the few Illinois health systems that also evaluates teens and adults, not just young children · 312-942-0819

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: IDHS Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD)

Illinois funds long-term disability supports through Medicaid waivers, and the gateway to all of them is a statewide database called PUNS (Prioritization for Urgency of Need for Services) rather than a Cook County office. An Independent Service Coordination (ISC) agency determines eligibility and conducts the PUNS interview — a child as young as 2.5 years old with a likely developmental disability can be entered. PUNS has two tracks, Seeking Services and Planning for Services, and for adults, selection is based on total time spent in the Seeking Services category. Under the ongoing Ligas Consent Decree, the state's plan is that an adult in that category waits no longer than five years before being selected. Selection unlocks Medicaid waiver funding, including the Support Waiver for Children and Young Adults with Developmental Disabilities (ages 3–21, for kids living at home).

• IDHS Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD)
• Phone: 1-888-DD-PLANS (1-888-337-5267) · 1-866-376-8446 (TTY)

Local organizations that help Chicago families

• Chicago Park District — Special Recreation Programs — sports and recreation programming for residents with disabilities, including intellectual and developmental disabilities, across the park system; 312-745-1298, special.recreation@chicagoparkdistrict.com
• Family Resource Center on Disabilities (FRCD) — IEP support and special-education parent training across Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties; 312-939-3513
• Family Matters Parent Training and Information Center — as of October 2025, the only federally funded Parent Training and Information Center serving all of Illinois, including one-on-one coaching and IEP review; 1-866-436-7842
• Equip for Equality — Illinois' federally mandated Protection & Advocacy agency; Chicago office 312-341-0022, statewide helpline 800-537-2632
• The Arc of Illinois — Family Advocate and Family Support Network programs — help navigating PUNS, waiver funding, and disability services statewide; 708-331-7370, Spanish helpline 708-218-1958

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.

• Illinois' federally funded Parent Training and Information Center role moved from the Chicago-area Family Resource Center on Disabilities to Family Matters PTIC on October 1, 2025, which now covers the whole state rather than just the Chicago metro area. (source)
• Illinois Medicaid widened its autism benefit on October 1, 2021, moving beyond ABA billed alone into a broader Adaptive Behavior Support (ABS) service framework for children with an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. (source)
• Under the ongoing Ligas Consent Decree, Illinois' Division of Developmental Disabilities has set a target that an adult sitting in PUNS' Seeking Services category is selected for waiver funding no more than five years after enrolling. (source)
• As of July 1, 2026, a newly created cabinet agency, the Illinois Department of Early Childhood, became the lead agency over Early Intervention statewide, a role the Department of Human Services previously held. (source)
• Whichever of Chicago's four CFC offices takes the referral, Illinois Early Intervention's rule is the same: the evaluation and the initial IFSP meeting must both be finished within 45 days. (source)
• Illinois' $36,000 annual cap on autism coverage binds only state-regulated plans, leaving self-funded employer plans, common at large Chicago-based employers, outside the mandate altogether. (source)