What is a Multidisciplinary Evaluation?

The Multidisciplinary Evaluation is the team evaluation that informs eligibility and the first Individualized Family Service Plan. Two or more qualified personnel from different disciplines assess the five developmental domains.

New York requires a Multidisciplinary Evaluation before the first Individualized Family Service Plan meeting. The team must include at least two qualified personnel from different disciplines, and it must look at cognition, physical development, communication, social-emotional development, and adaptive development. At least one team member should specialize in the suspected delay.

Consent to evaluate is required before the evaluation proceeds. The written evaluation becomes part of the child's record and is what the Individualized Family Service Plan team uses. A supplemental evaluation is a later, discipline-specific look when the first evaluation shows a need; it is not a second Multidisciplinary Evaluation.

Eligibility can rest on a diagnosed condition with a high probability of delay, or on a documented developmental delay that meets the state thresholds. The evaluation still happens in the diagnosed-condition path. The evaluation team does not issue service authorizations; those come from the Early Intervention Official after the plan is written.