The school is required by law to provide children with services regardless of where they came from in terms of previous placement. The early intervention my son was part of was not part of Warwick's his was private I chose to do it and outpatient home-based.

I think public school as a whole most places are what you were describing as the wait and watch and fall behind before services are offered or suggested. I would suggest having if you don't already some type of home based Services as well as independent testing so you can go to the school with the diagnosis and the potential help of a therapist and say this is what my child needs can you meet these needs? If not what placement within the District can support their needs and then go from there out of District. Another thing to note is the differences between an IEP and a 504 plan. And how that would suit your child's needs. I know with my child's IEP I wanted Transportation included because if he went outside of District I would have to transport him and I couldn't. At one point he was going to a school in Wakefield RI, and we lived in Warwick.