The first thing worth getting straight in St. Louis is that the city is not part of St. Louis County. They separated in 1876 and have run as distinct jurisdictions ever since, which means the county-wide special-education district that many local families have heard about does not serve city addresses at all. Nor does the county's disability levy board.

Once that boundary is clear, the rest follows the usual Missouri pattern: a statewide programme before age three, a district evaluation from three, and a separate locally funded route for support that continues at home.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Missouri page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to City of St. Louis, Missouri.

Early intervention under 3: Missouri First Steps (Part C)

Missouri runs its birth-to-three system through First Steps, administered by the state education department rather than by health or social services. Referrals go to a single statewide line on 1-866-583-2392, and the jurisdictional split that complicates the school years does not apply here — a family inside the city and one in the surrounding county use the same number. No diagnosis is needed, and a parent can refer without a doctor. Because eligibility is determined by evaluation and services then have to be planned, an early call buys time that a later one cannot recover.

• Missouri First Steps (Part C)
• Referral phone: 1-866-583-2392

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

School districts and special education

St. Louis Public Schools handles evaluations through its own Office of Special Education, reachable on (314) 633-5344, which covers psychological and educational assessment, early childhood special education, and the process coordination that carries a case from referral to a finished plan. This is where a city family's written evaluation request belongs. The distinction that matters here is with the Special School District of St. Louis County, which delivers special education across 22 districts in the surrounding county and is often assumed to cover the whole metro area — it does not extend into the city. Families who move across the boundary in either direction should expect to start a fresh relationship with a different organisation rather than transfer one.

• St. Louis Public Schools — Office of Special Education — Department line (314) 633-5344; covers assessment, early childhood special education and process coordination for city addresses
• Special School District of St. Louis County — Early Childhood Special Education — Serves the county's 22 districts, NOT the City of St. Louis — listed here because families are frequently misdirected to it

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in St. Louis

We have not yet verified a hospital or university evaluation program with public intake information in St. Louis. 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: St. Louis city SB 40 board — DD Resources, alongside Missouri's Division of Developmental Disabilities

Missouri layers a local funding body underneath the state system. Under a 1969 statute, counties and the city could vote a property-tax levy dedicated to residents with developmental disabilities, and the boards that resulted are known locally as SB 40 boards. The City of St. Louis has its own, distinct from the Productive Living Board that performs the equivalent role in St. Louis County, and it funds partner agencies rather than delivering everything itself. Alongside it sits the state's Division of Developmental Disabilities, which handles Medicaid-funded supports. A family generally ends up dealing with both, and neither will open the other's door for them.

• St. Louis city SB 40 board — DD Resources, alongside Missouri's Division of Developmental Disabilities

Local organizations that help St. Louis families

We have not yet verified a local parent organization in St. Louis. Statewide help still covers you: the Missouri guide lists the federally funded parent center and the free disability rights organization for the whole state, and both take calls from families anywhere in Missouri.

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.

• St. Louis Public Schools has 60 days from a signed consent form to hold its Eligibility Determination Conference, and Missouri's rules then give the team 30 more days to write an IEP once a child has been found eligible. (source)
• A First Steps referral inside city limits starts a 45-day countdown that runs from the referral date itself — inside that span the evaluation, family assessment, and the first IFSP meeting all have to happen, regardless of when consent paperwork gets returned. (source)
• Missouri's Department of Mental Health reports roughly 1,272 people statewide on its developmental-disability waiver waitlist, ranked by a Priority of Need score rather than a simple queue — a city family can ask DD Resources how that count is moving locally. (source)