Worcester has two certified Early Intervention programs, one school district, and one DDS region — and the three of them use different phone numbers, different intake forms, and different eligibility rules.

What follows is the practical order to work through them, with the published contact details and the source each one came from.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Massachusetts page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Worcester (Central Massachusetts).

Early intervention under 3: Massachusetts Early Intervention — Criterion Worcester and Thom Worcester Area

Part C in Massachusetts is run by the Early Intervention Division at the Department of Public Health, which certifies local programs instead of employing the therapists directly. Two of those certified programs cover Worcester. Criterion Child Enrichment's Worcester Early Intervention Network operates from 338 Plantation Street on 508-770-0089, and lists Auburn, Boylston, Holden, Leicester, Paxton, Shrewsbury, West Boylston and Worcester as the towns it serves, offering screening, developmental assessment, home visits, community and parent groups, and referral help. Thom Child & Family Services runs Worcester Area Early Intervention from 239 Mill Street, Suite BB on 508-752-8466 for children from birth to three and their families. You can telephone either one yourself; a doctor's referral is not a precondition, and the statewide Central Directory on 1-800-905-8437 will confirm which programs cover your address.

• Massachusetts Early Intervention — Criterion Worcester and Thom Worcester Area
• Referral phone: 508-770-0089 (Criterion Worcester) · 508-752-8466 (Thom Worcester Area)

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

School districts and special education

In Massachusetts the district follows the municipal boundary, so Worcester children attend one district and there is no county office sitting above it. Ask for the evaluation in writing, addressed to the principal or to the special education office, and keep the dated copy. Worcester Public Schools publishes its own Child Find page describing how it identifies, locates and evaluates students with disabilities, including students in private schools inside its boundaries, highly mobile students, and students who are advancing grade to grade but are still suspected of having a disability. When a district route runs out, the state's special education office is the second one.

• Worcester Public Schools — Special Education & Intervention Services — general enquiries 508-799-3093; the district's Child Find page sits at worcesterschools.org/page/child-find and a procedures manual is published alongside it

Other places to ask — not a substitute for the district

An evaluation request has to go to the school district itself; only the district can start the legal timeline. These are for asking questions about the process, or for when the district has not responded.

• Massachusetts DESE — Office of Special Education Planning and Policy — not a second Worcester district — the state office to escalate to, on 781-338-3375 or specialeducation@doe.mass.edu

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Worcester

We have not yet verified a hospital or university evaluation program with public intake information in Worcester. 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: Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services — Central/West Region

Long-term supports, and the Children's Autism Waiver, come through the Department of Developmental Services. Worcester sits in the Central/West Region, whose regional office is at One Federal Street, Building 111-2 in Springfield on 413-205-0800; the region's published list of area offices includes a Worcester office alongside Berkshire, Franklin/Hampshire, Holyoke/Chicopee, North Central, South Valley and Springfield/Westfield. Eligibility is settled by a regional eligibility team working to the department's regulations, and DDS runs a searchable area office locator so you can confirm which office covers your address before you ring. Family support centres attached to the department will help with the application, and will still offer information and referrals to families who are not found eligible.

• Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services — Central/West Region
• Phone: 413-205-0800 (Central/West Region)

Local organizations that help Worcester families

• Autism Resource Center of Central Massachusetts — Worcester-based centre publishing plain-language guidance on the DDS Autism Waiver for Central Massachusetts families
• Criterion Child Enrichment — Worcester Early Intervention — 338 Plantation Street, Worcester; 508-770-0089
• Thom Child & Family Services — Worcester Area Early Intervention — 239 Mill Street, Suite BB, Worcester; 508-752-8466
• Family Ties of Massachusetts — the state's Central Directory of certified Early Intervention programs; 1-800-905-8437
• DisabilityInfo.org — Massachusetts resource directory — state-funded directory listing Worcester-area disability services, including the certified EI programs

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.

• State regulation breaks Worcester's evaluation deadline into a 30-school-day testing window followed by a 15-school-day window for the Team meeting, 45 school days total once a parent consents. (source)
• Neither Criterion nor Thom is given extra time by state rule: Massachusetts holds Early Intervention providers here to IDEA's federal 45-day window from referral to the first IFSP meeting. (source)
• DDS reserves only 20 of its statewide Children's Autism Waiver spots each year for applicants who are 3 years old, according to the department's own program overview page. (source)