Greensboro sits in Guilford County, at the center of the Piedmont Triad, and the systems a family here relies on run through the same statewide framework used across North Carolina: a county-level agency for early intervention before age 3, a school district Child Find duty after that, and a regional public authority managing Medicaid behavioral health and the state's oversubscribed autism waiver.

This page maps that framework onto Guilford County specifically — the CDSA that handles early referrals, the districts around Greensboro with Child Find duties, a UNC diagnostic center based in the city, and the Medicaid system families rely on for longer-term support — with every fact sourced to the agency that publishes it.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the North Carolina page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Greensboro (Guilford County).

Early intervention under 3: North Carolina Infant-Toddler Program (NC ITP), delivered locally by the Greensboro CDSA

Guilford County's early intervention door is the Greensboro CDSA, one of 16 regional Children's Developmental Services Agencies that carry out North Carolina's Part C program, known statewide as the NC Infant-Toddler Program. Referrals reach the CDSA by phone, fax, letter, in person, or the state's NC ITP Referral form, and can come from a parent, physician, allied health professional, or teacher — no diagnosis is needed to start. From there, CDSA staff review a child's developmental and medical background and run the assessments used to decide whether a child under 3 qualifies for services. Every family gets screening, evaluation, and service coordination without charge, no matter their income or insurance.

• North Carolina Infant-Toddler Program (NC ITP), delivered locally by the Greensboro CDSA
• Referral phone: 743-902-5400 (Greensboro CDSA)

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

School districts and special education

The duty to find and evaluate children with a suspected disability, from birth through 21, is called Child Find and is coordinated statewide by the NC Department of Public Instruction's Exceptional Children Division; each district then runs its own version of the process. Guilford County Schools, formed by the 1993 merger of the former Greensboro City, High Point City, and Guilford County systems, is the sole public school district covering Greensboro itself. Families should also know that TEACCH's own regional map groups Guilford together with neighboring Davidson County for referral purposes, so a family that moves just across the county line may end up dealing with a different district's Child Find team.

• Guilford County Schools — Exceptional Children Services 336-370-2323 (fax 336-370-2326); EC Parent Liaison Jacqui Hawkins, 336-271-5180, hawkinj@gcsnc.com
• Davidson County Schools — neighboring district grouped with Guilford under the same TEACCH regional catchment; district office 336-249-8182

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Greensboro

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.

• UNC TEACCH Autism Program — Greensboro Center — diagnostic evaluation, intervention and therapy services, education, and consultation for individuals on the autism spectrum, part of UNC's statewide TEACCH network; a professional referral form is referenced on the center's page, so call to confirm whether your family can refer directly · 919-966-1000

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: Trillium Health Resources (Guilford County's LME/MCO)

North Carolina channels Medicaid-funded mental health, substance use, and I/DD services through regional public managed-care organizations called LME/MCOs, and Guilford County's is Trillium Health Resources. Trillium administers the NC Innovations Waiver locally — the state's home- and community-based Medicaid waiver covering autism and other I/DD — through a Tailored Plan, the only type of NC Medicaid plan that currently gives access to waiver services. Innovations has far more eligible applicants than funded slots, so the state maintains a Registry of Unmet Needs rather than a normal enrollment queue; a bill filed in the NC Senate in 2025 counted about 19,000 people on that registry statewide. Families can ask Trillium to add a child's name well ahead of any formal diagnosis, and can also ask about NC Medicaid's 1915(i) option, which provides some similar supports without affecting a family's place on the registry.

• Trillium Health Resources (Guilford County's LME/MCO)
• Phone: 1-877-685-2415 (Trillium Health Resources member and recipient services)

Local organizations that help Greensboro families

• Exceptional Children's Assistance Center (ECAC) — a federally funded resource for North Carolina families raising a child with a disability, offering free one-on-one help with the special education system from birth to 26 (704-892-1321, helpline 1-800-962-6817)
• The Arc of North Carolina — Triad Region — based in Salisbury and serving the Piedmont Triad; housing, care management, advocacy, and self-directed-services programs (704-637-1521)

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.

• A 2025 North Carolina Senate bill (S246) put the statewide NC Innovations Waiver waiting list at roughly 19,000 people, noting the list had about doubled over the prior decade while only around 2,000 new slots were added statewide in that same period. (source)
• Guilford County Schools must move from a written referral through evaluation, the eligibility meeting, and IEP development in 90 calendar days flat — North Carolina's rule doesn't bend that deadline for holidays or summer break. (source)
• The Greensboro CDSA follows the same federal Part C benchmark as every regional CDSA in the state: developmental assessment and the first IFSP meeting completed within 45 days of a referral. (source)
• Some Guilford County families report a ten-year-plus wait on the NC Innovations Waiver's registry, a reflection of how few new funded slots the state adds each year compared with new registrations. (source)