What is the 45-day clock in Early Intervention?

The 45-day clock runs from the official referral date to the first Individualized Family Service Plan meeting. It is a legal timeline, not a software reminder.

Federal Part C and New York both require the first Individualized Family Service Plan meeting within 45 days of referral. The clock starts on the official referral date received by the Early Intervention Official, not on the day an agency first typed the child's name into its own system.

The Initial Service Coordinator's job in that window is concrete: explain the program, obtain consent to evaluate, arrange the Multidisciplinary Evaluation, and convene the plan meeting. A late evaluation does not pause the clock by itself. Documented family delay or a documented exceptional circumstance is how the record explains a miss.

This clock is not the co-sign deadline on a session note, and it is not a claim timely-filing limit. Agencies that collapse every 45-day phrase into one badge will mis-order work. Keep the referral-to-plan clock on the child, and keep supervision clocks on the note.