Two of the three offices a Lewiston family needs are inside the city limits. CDS FIRST STEP, the Child Development Services regional site covering Androscoggin County, is listed at 5 Gendron Drive, and Lewiston Public Schools runs its special education department out of 36 Oak Street.

What is unusual about Maine, and worth knowing before you make the first call, is that Child Development Services is not only the early intervention program. It is a statewide intermediate education unit under the Department of Education, and it holds the public school duty for children aged 3, 4, and 5 as well — so the office you call about an 18-month-old is the same office writing an individualized plan two years later.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Maine page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Lewiston (Androscoggin County).

Early intervention under 3: Child Development Services (CDS) — CDS FIRST STEP, Androscoggin County

Androscoggin County's Child Development Services site is CDS FIRST STEP, listed at 5 Gendron Drive, Suite 1, in Lewiston itself, with the phone number 207-795-4022; 877-770-8883 is the statewide CDS number if you would rather start there. Maine runs Part C through the Department of Education rather than a health agency, which is why this is a school-style office and not a clinic. Anyone can make the referral — a parent, a relative, a paediatrician, a child care provider — and no diagnosis has to be in hand first. From the published description of the process, a representative from the site covering your town gets in touch within three business days to hear the concern in more detail and to talk about screening or evaluation. The regional site also carries Child Find for the area, meaning it is responsible for actively identifying disabled children in its territory.

• Child Development Services (CDS) — CDS FIRST STEP, Androscoggin County
• Referral phone: 207-795-4022 (CDS FIRST STEP) · 877-770-8883 (statewide CDS)

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

School districts and special education

Once a child reaches school age, Lewiston Public Schools becomes the district responsible for evaluation, eligibility, and the IEP. Its special education department is listed at 36 Oak Street with the number 207-795-4100, extension 4108. Ask in writing rather than in conversation — an email to the principal or the special education office creates the dated record that later timelines are counted from, and it costs nothing to send. Families of children under 6 belong at Child Development Services instead, which is the state-level agency that acts as the school system for the preschool years everywhere in Maine.

• Lewiston Public Schools — Special Education — 36 Oak Street, Lewiston ME 04240; department line listed as 207-795-4100 x4108
• Child Development Services (Maine DOE) — not a second district: Lewiston has one. CDS is the statewide intermediate education unit that serves as the responsible public agency for ages 3 to 5, so it is the other school-side route a Lewiston family will actually use

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Lewiston

We have not yet verified a hospital or university evaluation program with public intake information in Lewiston. 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: Maine DHHS — Office of Aging and Disability Services (OADS)

The developmental disability system in Maine is run by OADS, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, and it is organised as numbered MaineCare sections rather than under a single service name. Section 32 is the children's home and community-based waiver for developmental disabilities; it pays for things like respite, family support, community integration, and behaviour support delivered at home. Section 21 and Section 29 are the adult waivers — Section 21 for comprehensive support including residential arrangements, Section 29 for in-home and employment support for adults living with family or on their own. Neither adult waiver is immediate. Section 21's waiting list is ranked by assessed health and safety need, while Section 29's runs in order of the date eligibility was established, so getting the eligibility determination done sooner improves an adult's position later.

• Maine DHHS — Office of Aging and Disability Services (OADS)

Local organizations that help Lewiston families

• Maine Parent Federation (Parent Training and Information Center) — 800-870-7746 in Maine, 207-588-1933 otherwise; free help for families of disabled children birth through 26
• Maine Parent Federation — early childhood resources — the PTI's collected guidance for the birth-to-five stretch, including CDS
• Disability Rights Maine — the state's protection and advocacy agency for disability rights
• Maine Developmental Disabilities Council — a how-to guide for finding and applying for Maine disability services

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.

• CDS FIRST STEP is a Part C early-intervention office bound to a 45-calendar-day window from a referral to a signed IFSP, but for a preschooler between 3 and 5, Maine's Department of Education instead gives the site 60 calendar days from consent to complete the evaluation, because at that age it is acting as the public school agency rather than the birth-to-3 program. (source)
• Lewiston families with a state-regulated plan fall under Maine's autism mandate, which LD 2768 broadened in 2014 from covering only children under 10 to covering enrollees up to 21, capped at an annual benefit Autism Speaks lists as $36,000 and inapplicable to a self-funded employer plan. (source)