Examining the influence of COVID-19 on Part C early intervention enrollment by state, year, and racial group

Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act provides individualized early intervention (EI) services for children birth-to-three with disabilities or developmental delay. Part C is both beneficial for children and structurally embedded in each state; however, little research has been done to understand the influence of COVID-19 on the enrollment rates of children in this program. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential changes in Part C enrollment during the initial COVID-19 pandemic period and examine possible racial/ethnic disparities in child enrollment for these services. We explored how Part C enrollment rates changed from 2014 to 2023, both overall and by race or ethnicity, using a regression discontinuity design to examine if the onset of COVID-19 affected enrollment. Data were collected from publicly available Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) static tables. We found that COVID-19 contributed to a decline in overall Part C enrollment, but did not affect the relative proportions of enrolled children by race or ethnicity. Current enrollment rates show signs of recovery. A closer examination of changes directly pre- and post-COVID onset suggested that between mid-2019 and mid-2020, enrollment for Hispanic and Asian children decreased, while enrollment for White children increased. Further research should investigate possible explanations, such as provider shortages and referral rates, for this decrease in statewide proportions of enrollment. Our findings indicate a need for publicly reported data on the Part C referral process and provider characteristics, in addition to currently available enrollment data, to better identify and target barriers to children’s service enrollment.