Transition from Early Intervention to School in New Hampshire: What Parents Must Do Before Age 3

The phone call from your child's early intervention service coordinator telling you the program ends at age 3 is one of the most disorienting moments in early childhood parenting. One day your child has a team of therapists coming to your home or daycare. Sixty days later, legally, that all stops. What happens in between — and what happens if the school district drags its feet — is something every NH family needs to understand before it becomes a crisis.

How Early Intervention Works in New Hampshire

New Hampshire's early intervention program is called Family-Centered Early Supports and Services, or FCESS. It operates under Part C of IDEA and is administered by the NH Department of Health and Human Services. FCESS serves infants and toddlers from birth to age 3 who have a developmental delay or a diagnosed condition likely to cause one.

Services under FCESS are family-centered and delivered in the "natural environment" — your home, a daycare, wherever your child spends time. The service coordinator manages your child's Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) and coordinates across providers like speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and developmental specialists.

Here is the hard stop: FCESS services end on your child's third birthday. No extensions, no gradual phase-out. The responsibility then shifts to the local school district under Part B of IDEA.

The Transition Timeline You Need to Track

New Hampshire's Ed 1100 rules are specific about how the handoff from FCESS to school-district special education must be handled. The transition conference must be scheduled and held at least 90 days before your child's third birthday, and it may happen as early as 9 months before that date.

The FCESS service coordinator is responsible for initiating the transition conference with the local school district. But do not rely passively on that happening on schedule — especially in smaller SAUs where coordination with FCESS may not be routine.

The transition conference serves several purposes: it reviews your child's current services and developmental history, discusses potential eligibility for school-based special education, and introduces you to the district's preschool special education team.

By your child's third birthday, the district must have completed all eligibility evaluations and, if your child qualifies, implemented an active IEP. Not "started the evaluation process." Not "scheduled the meeting." Implemented an active IEP. This is a hard deadline under state and federal law.

What "Eligibility" Means in the School District Context

Eligibility under FCESS (Part C) and eligibility under school-based special education (Part B) are evaluated differently. Just because your child received FCESS services does not automatically mean they will qualify for an IEP under Part B standards. The school district applies its own eligibility criteria: the child must have a disability under one of IDEA's defined categories, and that disability must adversely affect their educational performance.

This is where the transition can become contentious. Some districts evaluate children quickly and move toward appropriate programming. Others, particularly those operating under tight budgets, may conduct evaluations that minimally document needs or apply overly restrictive eligibility criteria to avoid triggering IEP obligations.

Know this: if your child received intensive Part C services addressing developmental delays, the burden of proof is on the district to justify why those delays do not create educational needs. An evaluation report that concludes your child does not qualify — without addressing why their documented developmental history does not meet Part B criteria — is worth scrutinizing carefully.

Your Rights During the Transition Evaluation

Under Ed 1107, once you provide written consent for the initial evaluation, the district has 60 calendar days to complete the entire process: testing, writing the evaluation report, and holding the IEP team meeting to determine eligibility. New Hampshire does not allow extensions for initial evaluations. If your child's third birthday falls within that 60-day window, the district must plan backward to ensure the evaluation is complete before that date.

You are also entitled to receive copies of all evaluation reports at least 5 days before the IEP meeting where they will be discussed. Do not show up to that meeting and see the reports for the first time — request them in advance in writing.

If you disagree with any aspect of the district's evaluation, you have the right to request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) at public expense. The district must either fund the IEE or file for due process to defend its own evaluation. They cannot simply say no.

What to Do if the Transition Is Not Going Smoothly

If your FCESS service coordinator has not initiated contact with the school district by the time your child is 2 years and 3 months old (nine months before the third birthday), ask directly what the status is. Put your question in writing.

If the district seems unprepared, slow to schedule the transition conference, or is signaling that evaluation will happen "eventually" without committing to a timeline that ensures completion before your child's third birthday, you need to create a written record immediately. Send a letter to the school district's special education coordinator confirming the date of the transition conference, requesting the evaluation timeline in writing, and citing the 60-day evaluation deadline under Ed 1107.

Gaps in service at age 3 are not inevitable — they are a compliance failure. Districts that allow children to age out of FCESS with no IEP in place are violating the law.

The New Hampshire IEP & 504 Advocacy Playbook includes a records request template and written notice letters specifically designed to hold districts to the transition timeline before and after your child's third birthday.

After the IEP Is in Place

Once your child has an IEP and begins receiving school-based services, the shift from a home-based, family-centered model to a school setting can feel abrupt. Your child may move from individualized in-home therapy to a small group preschool classroom with a mix of services. This does not automatically mean the services are inadequate — but you have every right to ask how the IEP goals were determined, how progress will be measured, and what the plan is if your child is not making expected gains.

The first year of school-based services after FCESS is often when families first encounter institutional resistance. The skills you build now — documenting requests in writing, demanding written prior notice when services are denied, and understanding the legal weight of IEP goals — will serve your child for years.

Start building that foundation before the transition, not after it.

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