How we work
We would rather show you less and be accurate than show you more and be wrong. Here is exactly how information gets onto this site.
Our mission
Families raising a child with special needs are handed a diagnosis and very little else. Our job is to assemble the instruction manual nobody gave you: the programs, rights, services and next steps that actually exist where you live, written plainly and pointed back at the official source.
This site is under active development. We publish a section when it is verified, and we leave it visibly empty when it is not — because a confident guess is worse for your family than an honest gap.
Our process
We collect information from named sources, including government, program and organization sources, and record where each fact came from.
A person reviews the record against those sources before it can be published.
Anything that could change — contact details, eligibility rules, deadlines — gets a date showing when we last confirmed it.
Records are re-checked on a schedule, and anyone can report an error at any time.
When a record changes, we keep the history of what changed.
What our badges mean
Sourced
Means: The information came from a named source we link to.
Does not mean: That we have spoken to the organization.
Reviewed
Means: A person on our team read the record and checked it against its sources.
Does not mean: That we recommend or endorse it.
Confirmed
Means: We confirmed the key details, such as contact information or program rules, on the date shown.
Does not mean: That the details cannot change after that date.
How we use AI, and where it stops
We use AI to help gather sources, draft plain-language summaries and organize records. It is a research and drafting assistant, and nothing more.
- AI may collect, quote and organize information from named sources.
- AI may suggest connections between records for a person to review.
- AI cannot publish, approve or verify anything. A person reviews a record against its sources before it goes live.
- AI is never permitted to fill a blank with a plausible answer. If the evidence is missing, the gap stays visible and we go looking for the source.
Keeping information current
Programs change: eligibility rules move, phone numbers change, deadlines shift. We monitor the official sources behind each record and re-check them on a schedule, more often for the details families rely on most — money, eligibility and deadlines.
- Each record shows the date a person last confirmed it.
- When a source changes something families depend on, correcting it jumps ahead of publishing anything new.
- When two official sources disagree, we show you the disagreement instead of quietly picking one.
What we will never do
- Invent statistics, quotes, testimonials or success stories.
- List an organization, therapist or program we have not found.
- Fill an empty section with examples so it looks fuller than it is.
- Let paid placement affect how results are ranked or ordered.
- Imply a partnership, endorsement or tax status we do not have.
SpecialNeeds.org is a project of Mama Mimi Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Found something wrong?
Tell us and we will review it. Corrections are the fastest way this platform gets better.