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Special Needs by StateFlorida

LOCAL CONNECTIONS. STATEWIDE POSSIBILITIES.

Find support from your county.

Start with one of five featured counties.
Find doctors, therapists, and family support.

Help paying for learning and careStep Up & education scholarships →Health coverage & family benefits →

Search results

Select Search to see resources.

County coverage & information
Other counties — Coming soon

Local resource lists for these counties are coming soon. Statewide programs are available now.

    87 sourced listings in five featured counties and across Florida. Provider directories are labeled. Confirm services, openings, costs, and suitability with each organization.

    START WITH STEP UP FOR STUDENTS

    More ways to fund your child’s next step.

    These statewide programs can help families explore education choices. Choose the program that fits your child; eligibility, school admission, and purchase approval are separate decisions.

    HOME-BASED LEARNING

    Personalized Education (PEP)

    For eligible K–12 students outside full-time public or private school. Funds support approved educational expenses. PEP has its own learning-plan and assessment requirements.

    2026–27 applications are closed. The official page offers updates for 2027–28.

    PEP details & updates ↗PEP or district home education? ↗
    CATHOLIC & PRIVATE SCHOOLS

    Private-school scholarships (FTC / FES-EO)

    Tuition support at participating schools for eligible Florida K–12 students. Families at any income level may apply; funding priorities still apply.

    Ask the school to confirm scholarship acceptance, available supports, and costs your award would not cover.

    Private-school scholarship details ↗Florida program overview ↗

    Official sources checked September 27, 2026. Availability, deadlines, awards, and approved purchases can change. Follow each program’s current rules.

    Before applying or spending: a short checklist
    1. Compare the program with your child’s age, needs, and enrollment. Ask Step Up how changing schools or programs affects eligibility before making a change.
    2. Gather the documents required by the official application checklist. Apply through the scholarship organization.
    3. Confirm your award and check the current purchasing guide, provider qualifications, and reimbursement rules before paying. Keep itemized receipts and any required approvals.
    Official purchasing guides ↗Unique Abilities application checklist ↗

    Step Up determines eligibility and approved spending. Special Needs by State is an independent resource and is not affiliated with Step Up For Students.

    Help with therapy, health care, child care, and daily needs

    Florida KidCare & CMS

    Check health and dental coverage, including Medicaid and the Children’s Medical Services Health Plan for eligible children with special health care needs. Ask your plan about therapy coverage and authorizations.

    Coverage & eligibility ↗

    SSI for children

    Monthly payments may help children under 18 who meet Social Security’s disability or blindness criteria and family financial rules. An IEP alone does not establish eligibility.

    Check SSI requirements ↗

    VPK Specialized Instructional Services

    For VPK-age children with a current district IEP, ask the early learning coalition about approved services outside a traditional VPK classroom. This is an alternative VPK option.

    VPK & SIS options ↗

    School Readiness

    Eligible families may receive help paying for child care and early education. Ask your early learning coalition about income, work or education rules, family fees, and availability.

    Child care assistance ↗

    Food, housing & local help

    Use the county directory’s family-support listings and Florida 211 for local referrals. Each assistance program has its own eligibility and availability.

    Browse funding & support listings →
    Public-school aid: transportation updates & existing New Worlds accounts

    Transportation stipend: Step Up’s official page currently offers notification signup for future application availability. Check published eligibility before planning around a payment. Transportation updates ↗

    New Worlds: new applications are not being accepted because there is no new funding. Previously funded families may use remaining balances under current spending and inactivity rules. Existing account guidance ↗

    Status checked September 27, 2026. These are not open application offers.

    Search and save scholarship & aid resources →

    A CLEAR NEXT STEP, WHEREVER YOU LIVE

    Support for everyday family life.

    Short pathways to official information.
    Choose what your family needs today.

    Early childhood & development

    Have questions about your young child’s development? Find the right local starting point.

    1. Write down what you notice and what your child does well.
    2. Contact Early Steps for infant and toddler support, or review FDLRS Child Find’s preschool screening guidance.
    3. Ask which program fits your child’s age and enrollment.
    Early Steps · birth to 36 months ↗FDLRS Child Find · preschool screening ↗

    Funding & practical help

    Compare Step Up scholarships and help with therapy, coverage, child care, and daily needs in the financial-help guide.

    Explore scholarships & aid →

    Family support & advocacy

    Connect with other families and find help navigating educational support through FDLRS and the Family Network on Disabilities.

    1. Choose your county on the FDLRS map.
    2. Describe the support you are looking for.
    3. Ask which next step fits your child’s age.
    Find your FDLRS center ↗Family Network on Disabilities ↗

    Official source pages reviewed September 26, 2026. Follow the linked program’s current instructions and eligibility information.

    BEFORE YOUR FIRST APPOINTMENT

    A few good questions go a long way.

    • Do you work with my child’s age and support needs?
    • What are the waitlist, fees, and insurance requirements?
    • Can we arrange sensory or communication accommodations?
    • Do you offer parent coaching, home visits, or telehealth?
    • Is a referral needed, and how will we track progress?

    HELP SHAPE THE NEXT CHAPTER

    Built around real family life.

    Help us understand what supports your family. Suggest a resource, request county coverage, or review a lesson. Parents, caregivers, and educators from every schooling setting are welcome.

    Feedback is a private worksheet you can copy or download and share yourself. This website does not submit it or collect IEPs.

    YOUR EXPERIENCE MATTERS

    Record your feedback

    Make a short note to share with the person who invited you to try the site. Nothing is sent automatically. Please leave out names, diagnoses, and IEP text.

    How did the lesson work?

    No contact details are requested. Closing this window clears the form; downloaded or copied text stays under your control.

    Your information, your choice.

    Saved on this device

    Your saved records stay in the browser profile you are using on this device. This version has no online document storage or automatic backup to a website account.

    Storage space: browsers typically allow about 5 MB for this site’s local saves, shared across all its tools and children—not 5 MB per document. Browser settings can reduce or block saving. Photos and extracted document text use more space, so there is no fixed number of plans or documents you can save.

    Keep downloaded backups of important records. Clearing browser data can remove saved work, and private browsing usually removes it when the private session ends. If a save fails, keep the work open and download a copy.

    About browser storage limits ↗

    This website has no accounts, payment processing, advertising trackers, or analytics. The lesson planner, parent tools, and games run in your browser without paid AI services. Documents and entered family records are not sent to an AI provider. Optional feedback can be copied or downloaded for you to share yourself; it is not sent or stored by this site. The hosting provider may keep standard access logs, such as IP addresses and page requests.

    The sample lesson is a static PDF with fictional learner information. All tools are free to create, edit, save, print, and download. Samples do not use or change your family records. No account, payment details, or subscription is needed.

    Saved resources use local browser storage. Plan drafts are stored only when you explicitly save them or enable autosave for that plan. Saved lesson plans include activity edits, generated IEP goal excerpts, recognized skill and access summaries, supports, and checkmarks, but not the uploaded document. Saved output never becomes a source for a newly uploaded IEP. They are not encrypted and may be accessible to other people using this browser profile. Downloads and printed copies are your responsibility.

    IEP files are read locally in the browser. The imported document is not automatically stored or sent to a server. Selecting “Use in Parent tools” copies lesson activities, goal excerpts, and supports into the toolkit for this tab. Saving the toolkit explicitly stores that copy, your notes, calendar, comparisons, and any work-sample images or attached documents in unencrypted browser storage. Toolkit backups contain that same information. Replacing the IEP, closing the upload window, or choosing Clear cancels document reading and releases the builder’s references to the document, source goals, generated schedule, and temporary activity history; browser memory is not a secure-erasure guarantee. Downloaded lesson files may include source goal text.

    For uploaded IEPs, used-activity fingerprints stay only in the current builder session. Daily and weekly plans from that IEP share repeat protection until you replace or clear the IEP, close the builder, or refresh the page. Every upload starts a fresh session, even if you select the same file again. Manual planning has a separate history of SHA-256 activity fingerprints saved on this device; it does not affect uploaded IEPs. The history does not contain child names, IEP text, or lesson text. Reset manual history for another learner. If storage is blocked, manual history lasts only in the current tab. Copies you explicitly save to Parent tools or download are separate and never used to generate lessons from a new IEP.

    Annual progress reports use only the selected learning records and date range. Reports can include child and parent names, completed activities, goal excerpts, observations, parent notes, and work samples if selected. Saved reports are unencrypted local copies; exports are not sent anywhere automatically. Delete saved reports in the report tool or with the site’s saved-data control. The School Year Planner has separate workspaces for each child and year. It keeps its sources and records in this tab until you explicitly save, enable automatic saving, or download a backup. Saved years and backups include extracted IEP, educational, medical, and therapy text, notes, and completed-day records; these are unencrypted. Opening another year never feeds its documents into Quick Lesson. Replacing the current IEP updates unfinished goal practice, while completed records remain. Use New child / year for another learner. Delete a saved year in its privacy controls, or delete all saved learning information below.

    The family support organizer saves separate child workspaces only when you choose Save. Workspaces and backups can contain names, contact details, access needs, provider notes, school plan details, document locations, and follow-up dates. Uploaded documents are not stored by this organizer. Printing or downloading a tool includes that tool’s records; a backup includes the entire selected child workspace. Information is not sent to providers or schools automatically. Saved copies are unencrypted and can be removed with the site’s saved-data control.

    External resource links open other websites with their own privacy policies. This website does not send your planning form contents to those sites.

    Games keep current answers and custom practice words in their game tab. If you turn on Save play summaries, finishing saves the game, date, level, challenge counts, attempts, hint counts, and play mode in this browser, without child names or answers. The latest 30 sessions per game are kept. Delete them in Games or with the saved-data control below. Game settings such as level and theme appear in the game’s address; custom words do not. Games requires no account and does not send play records or reading text to a server. Natural voice software may be cached by this browser; these public files contain no child records or generated readings and use browser cache space separate from saved learning records.

    Delete saved data from this browser

    This removes Special Needs by State’s saved resources, drafts, lessons, toolkit records, school years, annual reports, family organizers, game play summaries, and activity history only from this browser profile on this device. If a family shares this browser profile, it removes the saved records for every child or family using that profile.

    It does not delete the website or its resource listings, records in other browser profiles or devices, or other visitors’ data. Original files, downloaded copies, and work currently open in this tab remain. Download a backup before deleting anything you want to keep.