Madison families access early intervention through one of two Dane County-contracted Birth to 3 providers, request a special education evaluation from Madison Metropolitan School District, and pursue longer-term Medicaid support through the county's Children's Disability Services team.

Below are the referral routes, contacts, and publicly available details for each, gathered from official Dane County and Wisconsin state sources.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Wisconsin page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Madison (Dane County).

Early intervention under 3: Wisconsin Birth to 3 Program — Dane County

Dane County contracts out its Birth to 3 services to two organizations by geography: Bridges for Families Birth to 3, reachable at 608-316-1124, covers children who live within Madison Metropolitan School District's boundaries, while UCP of Greater Dane County's Birth to 3 Connections covers the rest of the county. Either way the referral works the same: a parent, physician, family member, daycare provider, or therapist can reach out directly, and Dane County's Department of Human Services oversees the program countywide.

• Wisconsin Birth to 3 Program — Dane County
• Referral phone: 608-316-1124

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

School districts and special education

Every Wisconsin school district carries a Child Find obligation to locate and evaluate children with a suspected disability from birth to 21 at no cost to families. Madison Metropolitan School District's Child Find team can be reached at 608-663-8471 for early childhood screening; families in nearby Waunakee, just north of Madison in Dane County, go through their own district's special education office.

• Madison Metropolitan School District — Child Find 608-663-8471; see also madison.k12.wi.us/early-learning-programs/child-find
• Waunakee Community School District — neighboring Dane County community just north of Madison

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Madison

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.

• Waisman Center — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic (UW-Madison / UW Health) — interdisciplinary diagnostic evaluation and clinical care for autism spectrum disorder and related developmental disabilities, drawing on developmental pediatrics, psychology, speech-language pathology, and other specialties · 608-915-0680

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: Dane County Department of Human Services — Children's Disability Services

Dane County's Department of Human Services runs intake for Medicaid's Children's Long-Term Support Waiver through its Children's Disability Services team — call 608-242-6226 or email cltsintake@danecounty.gov to begin. Families who prefer to manage their own budget and hire their own support workers can ask about Wisconsin's statewide IRIS self-direction option instead.

• Dane County Department of Human Services — Children's Disability Services
• Phone: 608-242-6226

Local organizations that help Madison families

• The Arc-Dane County — local chapter offering advocacy, education, and family support for people with developmental disabilities
• Autism Society of Wisconsin — Resource Navigation line 608-630-9147; statewide organization headquartered in Madison

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.

• Madison Metropolitan School District, like every Wisconsin district, has 60 calendar days from a parent's signed consent to determine eligibility, and then 30 more calendar days to hold the IEP meeting for a child the team finds eligible. (source)
• Whichever Dane County Birth to 3 provider takes the referral — Bridges for Families or UCP's Birth to 3 Connections — has to finish the evaluation and hold the initial IFSP meeting inside 45 calendar days of that referral, per the federal indicator Wisconsin reports on statewide. (source)
• Wisconsin dropped the traditional CLTS waitlist model in favor of continuous enrollment, so a Dane County child found eligible is meant to be added to the program rather than placed in a queue — worth confirming directly with Children's Disability Services if intake feels slow regardless. (source)