New York City is big enough that almost nothing here is a single office. Early intervention runs through the city health department rather than a county health department; school-based evaluation runs through eleven Committee on Special Education (CSE) offices clustered across the five boroughs rather than one district office, plus a separate citywide district — District 75 — for students with more significant support needs; and the state disability agency, OPWDD, keeps a distinct regional office in each borough instead of one citywide desk.

None of that is a reason to wait. This page lists the actual doors for a family anywhere in the five boroughs — phone numbers, referral portals, and the borough-specific contacts — so you can start more than one process in parallel instead of guessing which office is yours.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the New York page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island).

Early intervention under 3: NYC Early Intervention Program (EIP)

New York State's Early Intervention Program is administered county by county, and in the five boroughs that county-level role belongs to the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) rather than a health department in each borough. A family, doctor, child care provider, or any other adult can start a referral by calling 311 and asking for the Early Intervention Program, by using the online EIP Referral Portal, or by texting "EI" (or "TEMPRANA" for Spanish) to 55676 — no diagnosis is required first, only a concern that a child under 3 isn't developing, playing, moving, or talking the way same-age peers do, or a diagnosed condition that carries a known developmental risk. Under state regulation (10 NYCRR §69-4.11), the team must convene to write the Individualized Family Service Plan within 45 days of the referral, and once a parent signs it, services must begin within 30 days. EIP is free citywide: any insurance or Medicaid billing happens behind the scenes and never becomes a cost to the family, regardless of immigration status. As a child nears age 3, the EIP service coordinator is expected to begin transition planning at least six months out, handing off to the DOE's Committee on Preschool Special Education.

• NYC Early Intervention Program (EIP)
• Referral phone: 311 (in NYC) · 212-639-9675 (from outside NYC)

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

School districts and special education

There is no single "NYC school district" — the Department of Education runs special education through eleven Committee on Special Education / Committee on Preschool Special Education (CSE/CPSE) offices, each covering a cluster of community school districts across the five boroughs, plus District 75, a citywide district that runs specialized programs for students with more significant disabilities, including many autistic students, across 63 school sites. A CSE/CPSE office is the right first call for a preschooler, a student in a charter, private, or parochial school, or any child not currently enrolled in a NYC public school; a family whose child already attends a NYC public school should start with the principal, since the evaluation is run by that school's own IEP team. Under state regulation (8 NYCRR §200.4 and §200.16), the initial evaluation must be completed within 60 calendar days of written consent, and the DOE aims to respond to an initial written request within 10 school days.

• NYC DOE — Committee on Special Education (CSE) citywide intake — 718-935-2009, Monday-Friday 8am-6pm; the right first call for preschoolers, students in charter/private/parochial schools, and students not currently enrolled in a NYC public school
• NYC DOE — District 75 (citywide programs for significant disabilities) — 212-802-1500; roughly 30,350 students across 63 sites citywide; partners with Special Olympics New York to run Young Athletes and Unified Sports inside its schools
• NYC DOE — special education referral and evaluation process — for a student already enrolled in a NYC public school, the evaluation runs through that school's principal and IEP team, not a separate office
• NYC DOE — Special Education (family resources and the IEP process) — the DOE's main special-education hub; use schools.nyc.gov/cse to find which of the eleven CSE/CPSE offices covers your address

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in New York City

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.

• NYU Langone — NYC Regional Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders / Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics — NYU's Regional Center coordinates training and family support as part of a statewide network, while its Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics sees patients for developmental and autism evaluation at Hassenfeld Children's Hospital and, notably, at the public hospitals NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull · 646-754-4503
• Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment (Mount Sinai / Icahn School of Medicine) — a full autism diagnostic battery — ADOS-2 and ADI-R-based diagnostic testing, cognitive and academic testing, neuropsychological evaluation, psychiatric evaluation, and a sensory evaluation (SAND) — plus ongoing psychotherapy, social skills groups, parent training, and sibling support · 212-241-0961
• Center for Autism and the Developing Brain — Columbia, Weill Cornell & NewYork-Presbyterian — a joint Columbia/Weill Cornell/NewYork-Presbyterian diagnostic and treatment program (medical assessment, developmental history intake, ADOS testing, speech/OT, parent coaching); note that its clinic address, 21 Bloomingdale Road, is in White Plains — Westchester County, outside the five boroughs — even though NYC families are the program's primary referral base · 914-997-5848 · as of this research the program states it is not accepting new patients into the CADB clinic, with an exception for children age 3 or younger (option 1 on the line above) — call to check current status before assuming a wait

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: NYS OPWDD — five borough-based Developmental Disabilities Regional Offices

New York routes long-term disability services through OPWDD, and inside the five boroughs OPWDD keeps a separate regional office for each borough rather than one citywide desk. The fastest way in is the statewide Infoline (866-946-9733): tell the operator which borough you live in and ask to be transferred to that borough's Front Door office, or call your borough's number directly — Manhattan 646-766-3466, Brooklyn 718-642-6112, Queens 718-217-5890, the Bronx 718-430-0885, Staten Island 718-983-5233. From there, eligibility is determined first, then a needs evaluation, then a Care Manager helps build a service plan; families who want Medicaid Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Waiver funding — which supports more than 90,000 New Yorkers statewide — apply for Medicaid and the waiver together. In NYC specifically, applications and ongoing service coordination for OPWDD-eligible children are typically handled through a Care Coordination Organization (CCO); Advanced Care Alliance, Care Design NY, and Tri-County Care are the three CCOs serving city residents.

• NYS OPWDD — five borough-based Developmental Disabilities Regional Offices
• Phone: Manhattan 646-766-3466 · Brooklyn 718-642-6112 · Queens 718-217-5890 · Bronx 718-430-0885 · Staten Island 718-983-5233 · statewide Infoline 866-946-9733

Local organizations that help New York City families

• INCLUDEnyc — 212-677-4660 (Spanish 212-677-4668, text 646-693-3175); a federally designated Family and Community Engagement Center that connects NYC youth with disabilities, birth to 26, to school, community, and work resources at no charge
• Sinergia — Metropolitan Parent Center — 212-643-2840; one of only four federally designated Parent Training and Information Centers in New York State, with a dedicated Autism Initiative
• AHRC New York City — 212-780-2500 (services requests 212-780-4491); a chapter of The Arc New York, running citywide preschools, school-age programs, and clinical and family services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities since 1949
• YAI — 212-273-6100; network of affiliated clinical, day, and employment services across the five boroughs, including the Manhattan Star Academy and iHOPE affiliate schools
• QSAC (Quality Services for the Autism Community) — 212-244-5560; nonprofit since 1978 providing ABA-based day habilitation and family services across NYC and Long Island
• Special Olympics New York — NYC Region — 212-661-3963; more than 28,000 athletes across the five boroughs, with Unified Sports partnerships in roughly 250 NYC schools
• KEEN New York — free one-to-one volunteer-coach recreation and sports sessions; more than 200 athletes across 101 NYC neighborhoods
• Autism Partnership New York — 929-237-3969; ABA provider operating since 1994, in-network with Aetna and Cigna, serving all five boroughs
• Achieve Beyond — 718-762-7633; ABA, speech, OT, and PT for ages infancy through 21 across all five boroughs, in-network with several major insurers
• Autism Speaks — Autism Response Team — 1-888-288-4762 (Spanish 1-888-772-9050); national referral line that can point NYC families to local resources

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.

• OPWDD's Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) Medicaid Waiver — the state's main long-term-supports funding stream — served more than 90,000 people statewide as of this research. (source)
• The Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, commonly treated as "the" Columbia/Weill Cornell autism program for NYC families, has its clinic building at 21 Bloomingdale Road in White Plains — physically in Westchester County, not the five boroughs. (source)
• A CSE/CPSE recommendation isn't the end of the DOE's clock: regulation requires the recommended program to be arranged within 60 school days of a parent's consent, shrinking to 30 school days if the seat is in an approved nonpublic school. (source)
• New York's mandate leaves ABA free of an age cap or dollar cap, but it does hold covered ABA to 680 hours per child per year — a detail that surprises many NYC families assuming coverage is open-ended. (source)