If your baby or toddler has been receiving early intervention services, a big change arrives at their third birthday. Early intervention — the support for children from birth to age three, known as Part C — hands off to the public school system, which serves children age three and up under Part B. Around the time your child turns three, the plan can shift from an early-intervention plan to a preschool IEP. Knowing how that handoff works keeps your child from falling through the gap.
The two systems are run differently, which is exactly why the transition needs care. Early intervention often happens at home and centers on the whole family; the preschool IEP is run by the school district and centers on your child's education. Services, providers, and even the goals can look different on the other side. It's not that one is better — it's that they're separate programs with separate rules, and your child moves from one to the other rather than simply continuing the same thing.
To bridge them, the process includes a transition conference before your child turns three. This meeting brings together your early intervention team and the school district to plan the move — reviewing where your child is, what happens next, and how eligibility for a preschool IEP will be determined. It's your chance to ask questions, share what you've seen, and make sure the district actually knows your child is coming. Treat it as the official start of the school-district relationship, not a formality.
The goal that matters most is timing: if your child is found eligible, a preschool IEP should be in place by their third birthday, so services continue without a gap. That's the whole point of starting the process months ahead. The evaluation the district does is its own step, separate from the early-intervention records, though those records help. Because eligibility for the preschool program is decided fresh, a child who qualified for early intervention isn't automatically guaranteed a preschool IEP — the district determines that.
The practical enemy here is the calendar, especially in spring. Evaluations, meetings, and eligibility decisions take time, and if your child's birthday falls near summer, waiting can mean a gap in services right when momentum matters. The simplest protection is to start early: don't lose the spring. When the transition conference is offered, take it; if it isn't scheduled and your child's third birthday is a few months out, ask your early intervention provider to help set it in motion.
A little push from you makes this handoff smooth. Ask your early intervention service coordinator to walk you through the timeline, confirm the transition conference is on the calendar, and put your consent for evaluation in early so the district has time to work. Keep copies of your early-intervention records to share. Done on time, the age-three transition is barely a bump — your child simply keeps getting support, now through a preschool IEP, without missing the beat that early intervention worked so hard to build.
General information and document preparation — not legal advice.
