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On May 15, 2026, Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½ hosted a virtual panel of experts in early intervention to discuss how to better connect infants, toddlers, and families with supportive services in both policy and practice. Here, we provide a readout of the event, the recording, and slides, along with a note about federal actions that have since taken place.

Recent Federal Actions

A few months have passed since the webinar, and if we were hosting this panel today, we might be having a very different conversation, more centered on the transfer of special education services from the Department of Education to Health and Human Services, or the lifelong implications of the Department of Justice’s Olmstead opinion.

As it happens, we were celebrating a small win for families and kids with disabilities and delays around the time of this webinar: the extension of early intervention outreach and referral in cases of prenatal diagnosis, and a Ìý

This readout of our conversation does not reflect June’s events, though Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½ put out a press release in mid-June about the relocation of special education. We will continue to monitor policy changes that will impact early intervention and special education services to young children with disabilities.Ìý

In the meantime, we are grateful for the expertise of our panelists, and for the community of administrators, providers, researchers, and advocates who joined this webinar.

Here’s the readout.

Strengthening Connections to Early Intervention Through Policy and Practice

On May 15, 2026, Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½ hosted a virtual panel of experts in early intervention—also known as Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act—– to discuss how to better connect infants, toddlers, and families with supportive services in both policy and practice.Ìý

We had an hour, we could have spent a day.

of the IDEA Infant and Toddlers Coordinator Association spoke about the inherent complexities and structural challenges of early intervention (EI) in serving all children as designed.Ìý

of the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center shared the evidence-based , which tracks state progress across a range of early childhood policies and programs including Early Intervention services. This included 50-state data on EI program eligibility and uptake variation, including for key levers such as very low birthweight and at-risk definitions.

We presented our Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½ work to better understand the implementation challenges that can impede successful service connection for babies, even when great policies are in place. Though the structural challenges to early intervention can impede efficient connection, technological fixes can help make the work easier.

joined us from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Policy and Youth Policy Lab to describe just such a tech fix being piloted and evaluated in Michigan’s Early On program. What began as an effort to bridge referral gaps between pediatricians’ offices and early intervention has facilitated state efforts to enable two-way communication between health care providers and early intervention programs.Ìý

Last but not least, shared insights from the federal perspective on early intervention in the current moment, including recent guidance on prenatal service connection and on navigating uncertainty as administrators, providers, and parents.

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Reflections for Stronger Policy and Practice

We asked panelists to reflect on the discussion as we work towards stronger connections to early intervention services in the future.Ìý

The discussion focused on three questions:

1. In your opinion, could increasing consistency across states help improve service delivery?
2. What implementation challenges have you observed in research or experience?
3. How can we get to a more ideal state?

Maureen: Research tells us how important early identification is. The challenge remains how to balance that with significant resource issues related to personnel and funding.

Lauren: As we continue our data collection and analysis for this year’s , it remains especially important to understand how state early intervention systems are responding to an ever-changing, overarching policy landscape. The share of children under the age of threeÌý served by Part C is shaped by eligibility criteria, but even those thresholds are influenced by how states fund early intervention, coordinate their services with Medicaid, child welfare, and other systems, and the practical ways in which families are connected to services early. Understanding these connections will continue being important for assessing how states can sustain and strengthen early intervention access for infants, toddlers, and families, particularly as states navigate uncertainty around Medicaid, a key funding source for many early intervention programs.

Carrie: Strengthening early intervention implementation requires that we genuinely listen to the families and providers at its heart, as a sustained, ongoing commitment, and weave that input into policy and practice. Research on family and provider needs is a big piece of this, but we need much more funding for this type of research. It’s also important to share practical ways of collecting ongoing feedback and putting it to use to better support families.

Sarah: I’m now sitting with the results of the New Practice Lab’s parent survey and am curious how the experiences of families with infants and toddlers with disabilities and delays might figure into the broader findings. Parents across the board report being time-poor and experiencing gaps in care due to choice and availability. Early intervention is one piece of a bigger system that supports them—curious to know if and how we can integrate it better into our collective understanding of a system that works for families.Ìý

Catherine: There are always tensions when it comes to policy implementation. Finding the right balance between consistency and flexibility is challenging, but there are real benefits to sharing effective policies, strategies, and programs across state lines. One way to think about this is to consider how technology and data systems can be used to improve the consistency of record-keeping, which can in turn facilitate information sharing and quality improvement efforts.Ìý

Kala: The earlier kids are identified and receive services, the bigger the impact. New legislation reinforces that early intervention can serve expecting parents. And eligibility for diagnosed conditions is broad. Medical and other records can fast-track eligibility so that newborns, infants and toddlers (and their parents) have access to services as quickly as possible.Ìý

A recording of the panel is available as are the .