Bowling Green sits inside Warren County but keeps its own independent school district, so families here choose between two systems depending on where they live: Bowling Green Independent Schools inside city limits, or Warren County Public Schools around it.

Early intervention and long-term disability supports, by contrast, run through a single regional nonprofit, LifeSkills, which has served south-central Kentucky's ten counties for decades. This page walks through each door with what search results actually documented.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Kentucky page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Bowling Green (Warren County).

Early intervention under 3: Kentucky Early Intervention System — LifeSkills First Steps

LifeSkills, the nonprofit community mental health center for Bowling Green and nine surrounding counties, holds the First Steps Point of Entry contract for Warren County under Kentucky's Part C program. A parent, doctor, or child care provider can start a referral without a diagnosis in hand; the office is part of LifeSkills' Developmental Services Division at 328-330 East 10th Avenue in Bowling Green. Once referred, families move into evaluation and, if eligible, an Individualized Family Service Plan built around the child's home and daily routine.

• Kentucky Early Intervention System — LifeSkills First Steps
• Referral phone: 877-417-8377

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

School districts and special education

Two districts cover Bowling Green: the independent Bowling Green Independent School District, serving roughly 4,600 students inside city limits, and Warren County Public Schools, covering the townships around it. Either one's special-education office can start a Child Find evaluation once a parent raises a written concern about their child's development or learning.

• Bowling Green Independent School District — Director of Special Programs Caitlin Lawson or Director of Pupil Personnel Clay Stephens, 270-746-2200, 1211 Center Street
• Warren County Public Schools — covers the county surrounding the city; contact the district office for its special-education department

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Bowling Green

We have not yet verified a hospital or university evaluation program with public intake information in Bowling Green. That is a gap in our research, not a sign there is nothing here — and it does not stand between you and an evaluation. The school district evaluation above is free, and early intervention under 3 does not need a private diagnosis first.

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: Kentucky Division of Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (DDID) — LifeSkills

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services' DDID sets policy and eligibility rules for Kentucky's developmental-disability system statewide, then contracts with regional boards to run it locally — in the Bowling Green area, that's LifeSkills, which draws roughly 30 percent of its funding from the state's behavioral-health and disability agency. LifeSkills' Developmental Services Division helps families apply for the Michelle P. or Supports for Community Living Medicaid waiver and coordinates crisis intervention, residential programs, and community-based support once a child or adult is enrolled.

• Kentucky Division of Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (DDID) — LifeSkills

Local organizations that help Bowling Green families

• Kelly Autism Program (Western Kentucky University) — 270-745-4232; serves autistic individuals age 7 through adulthood with school support, social-skills groups, and the Circle of Support program for WKU students
• Kentucky Autism Training Center (KATC) — statewide resource based at the University of Louisville; its regional evaluation-center list and free family guide extend to south-central Kentucky

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.

• Once a Bowling Green parent signs consent, Kentucky gives the evaluation team 60 school days to finish testing, decide eligibility, and hold the ARC meeting that drafts the IEP — weekends and school breaks don't count against that clock. (source)
• Kentucky's First Steps program is required to have a signed IFSP in place within 45 calendar days of a Bowling Green referral, a deadline set in the program's own statewide policy manual. (source)
• The Michelle P Waiver, Kentucky's main home-and-community-based option, currently carries an 8-to-10-year wait, with more than 13,000 people with developmental disabilities on the statewide list as of 2024. (source)
• Kentucky removed the dollar and age ceilings on ABA coverage in 2018 through House Bill 218, so a Bowling Green family on a state-regulated plan no longer runs into the old $50,000-a-year or age-21 cutoffs. (source)