Early Intervention Delays: How to Support Families on the Autism Evaluation Waitlist 

Originally posted on 2/28/24 and updated on 2/2/26

Evidence-based guidance for early intervention teams, SLPs, OTs, and autism specialists 

In Brief  

• Delays are common in early intervention; practitioners and families can get an early start by discussing goals, concerns, and priorities during waiting periods.
• Communicating openly with families, in plain language, reduces caregiver stress and improves engagement. Transparent timelines and responsibilities are key.
• Coaching parents with home-based strategies can build caregiver skills and positively influence family well-being.
• Connecting families with local resources can help them form relationships and access training and funding sources.

The process of identifying, assessing, and starting early intervention (EI) services for a developmental delay can be a long haul for families and practitioners. Often, months pass before a child’s needs can be determined and resources lined up to meet them—and long waits can feel frustrating for providers as well as parents.  

One Canadian parent described her frustration this way: “The biggest, you know, concern as a parent—you don't want to see your kids struggle… kind of hard as a parent to explain that to your child, like, help is coming, but it's just gonna be a while” (Rancher et al., 2025). 

As a practitioner, you regularly confront waitlists and other barriers to care. And you can use the wait time to educate and empower families so they know what to expect and what supports may be available to them along the way.  

Learn more about assessing early development in our Brief Guide to Evaluating Developmental Delays in Early Childhood. 

Why Are the Wait Times for Early Intervention Services So Long? 

The early intervention process occurs in phases. The first phase starts when a caregiver or health professional notices a developmental delay. The second phase is identifying or diagnosing the reason for the delay. And the third phase is participating in IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) Part C services. Many intersecting factors at the family level and at the service level can lead to delays in any of these phases. 

For example, some parents or caregivers take longer than others to recognize a developmental delay or to speak with a health professional about one. Cost, cultural, and linguistic factors can also reduce access to services.  

At the service level, any number of factors could influence wait times, including: 

• Legislative funding for services
• Complex referral practices
• Staffing shortages
• Growing demand
• Fragmented service systems
• Proximity of assessment facilities (Sapiets et al., 2022). 

How Can Practitioners Support Families Waiting for Early Intervention Services? 

Recent qualitative and mixed-methods studies (2020–2023) consistently show that family-centered early intervention practices reduce caregiver stress, increase engagement, and improve perceived child outcomes. 

Here’s an overview of the recommendations researchers and families have made.  

1. Explain the process in plain language. Waiting is often easier when we know what to expect. You may want to help parents understand these parts of the process:

• What the next steps are 
• What the approximate overall timeline is likely to be 
• What factors could lengthen or shorten the timeline 
• What each assessment will entail 
• Who will be responsible for what tasks during each stage   
• How to reach the professionals responsible for each process 
• What their rights and responsibilities are at each stage

You may want to take this time to establish a family liaison within the multidisciplinary early intervention team who will be the main professional contact for answering questions and providing updates to the family. If language barriers exist, you can minimize their impact by providing materials in a language parents can access and by working with interpreters as needed. The U.S. Department of Education provides language assistance in over 100 languages.  

There are many unknowns in early intervention, so it will help if you can fill in knowledge gaps whenever possible. You may want to supply a document like this Early Steps Record Keeping Toolkit, which parents can use to consolidate their notes, track progress, and keep up with contact information.   

2. Explore the family’s goals, concerns, perspectives, and priorities early on. This is no small task. It means that the practitioner responds to the needs the family has expressed and will use interventions that are inherently respectful. This approach may mean that you need to make time for cultural awareness training for yourself and your team. It may also require changing some of your processes and creating new tools. The ECTA Center offers practice improvement tools you can use to engage families in the early intervention process.  

Studies show that while family-focused collaboration is relatively new, it can lead to greater quality of life and more effective interventions. In one study involving family-centered practices with children in early intervention in Ecuador, participants said that the child made developmental progress--and the whole family benefitted. “I also feel that we are more united as a family…and the truth is that we are calmer now with your help,” one mother reported (Frugone-Jaramillo & Gràcia, 2023).  

3. Connect families with resources. You can assist parents and caregivers by connecting them with family-led organizations and family-to-family health information centers where they can tell their stories, access free training, explore sources of funding for services, become engaged in advocacy work, and interact with other people on similar journeys. Some of these organizations are:

• Family Voices 
• Parent to Parent USA 
• National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health 
• The Center for Parent Information and Resources  

4. Help parents learn about their child’s educational rights. Some early intervention services are available through health and human service departments. Some are available through school systems. Understanding how to access these services in each setting is an important part of parenting a child with special needs. Some parent-friendly resources can be found here: 

• Reading Rockets: Rights and Responsibilities of Parents of Children with Disabilities 
• Special Needs Alliance: What Parents Need to Know about Special Education Rights 
• Special Education: A Basic Guide for Parents (National Association of School Psychologists) 

5. Coach families in completing helpful developmental activities at home. Many basic strategies can be practiced at home and in other natural settings with a little guidance from a professional. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers resources for parents who want to encourage growth while they’re waiting for developmental assessments and interventions. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association suggests these activities for developing language skills at home. 

When parents have confidence in their role and actively participate in therapies, it can give them a way to regain autonomy and a sense of control. It can build closer bonds with a child, greater parental confidence, and keener sensitivity to a child’s needs.   

6. Invite families to engage as advocates. Head Start and other early intervention programs can empower families to act as advocates, both in securing services for their own children and in community and policy roles. You can share these practical tips for carving out time for advocacy in a busy family schedule.

It's important to recognize that not all families, parents, or caregivers will feel equipped or feel comfortable as vocal advocates. You may be able to use these Harvard Family Research Project strategies to make your clinic or classroom feel safer for those who want to advocate for their child’s needs.   

• Time commitments 
• Financial challenges
• Lack of knowledge and support
•  Lack of service availability
• System bureaucracies
• Perceived stigma

7. Communicate in varied ways. When researchers survey parents about their satisfaction with the early intervention process, ineffective communication is often identified as a barrier. It’s a good idea, then, to stay in touch with families throughout the waiting period. One parent expressed the need to stay in touch this way: “Communicate with me. Don't just put me on a waiting list and then forget about me until my name comes up” (Rancher et al., 2025). 

In focus groups that met to discuss early childhood programs in Illinois, participants said they were grateful when centers relayed information about opportunities through parent-focused social media groups, television and radio ads, community calendars, and flyers sent home from school. One family member said, “There’s multiple ways of communicating so you’re never left in the dark…” (Bentley et al., 2023).   

8. Ask for feedback from the families you serve. In the Atlantic Canada qualitative study cited above, parents and providers said they most needed help in these areas while they waited for services for their children: 

• Support for parenting skills
• Psychoeducation on trauma
• Check‐ins on well‐being and status
• Case management
• Access to financial resources
• Referrals to other services (Rancher et al., 2025) 

In a similar study, researchers queried parents about their impression of services in a Spanish early intervention program. The survey results confirmed that parents were concerned about long wait times and the lack of flexibility in scheduling options—issues that arise frequently in the U.S. and Canada’s early intervention programs, too. 

But clinicians also learned about some practical concerns that were particular to their clinical facilities. For example, families said they needed a covered walkway to prevent children from getting overheated or wet on the trip from the parking lot to the clinic. Researchers said the survey gave families a chance to actively participate, which “makes the families feel as if they are part of the treatment” (Romero-Galisteo et al., 2020).  

In another study, researchers learned that carrying out assessments in the home or providing transportation to a clinic could make the process easier for families who lived a long way from the clinic (Sapiets et al., 2021). You may discover that there are simple measures you can take that will make the process smoother for everyone.  

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FAQs:

1. What are the most critical supports families need while waiting for IDEA Part C services? 

Research from 2020-2025 identifies six key support areas: building their knowledge about their child’s disability and home-based strategies; regular well-being check-ins, case management, access to financial resources, and referrals for additional services. Families also need to know what to expect regarding timelines, assessment processes, and their rights and responsibilities.  

2. How can we implement family-centered practices that respect diverse cultural backgrounds and family goals? 

Implementing family-centered early intervention requires exploring each family's unique history, goals, concerns, and priorities before formal interventions begin. Cultural awareness training for your team may be needed. And you may want to modify processes and tools to meet each family’s linguistic and cultural needs. Keep in mind that cultural expectations may influence who participates in at-home therapies—but the activities benefit everyone involved (Kreiser & Segal, 2025). 

3. What practical strategies can we teach families to use at home while waiting for formal services? 

Here’s where the varied expertise on a multidisciplinary early intervention team comes in. Coach families in developmentally appropriate activities, using evidence-based resources like the CDC's milestone materials and ASHA's language development activities. The more of these activities that integrate into the family’s normal daily routines, the better.