one program, designed for your child
NACD evaluates your child as a whole, unique person, designs an individualized program you run at home, and coaches you every step of the way. You are the most powerful force in your child’s development. We make sure you know exactly what to do with that power.
No cost to apply. No obligation. Full pricing shown before you commit.The most effective therapy room in the world is your home.
Weekly appointments cannot change a brain. Daily input can. That is why NACD does not deliver therapy in a clinic. We put the program in the hands of the people who love your child most and see them every day: you.
A program built for one child: yours
Your evaluator builds a complete developmental profile, then designs a targeted program drawn from 3,000+ techniques covering motor, speech, language, cognition, behavior, education, and nutrition.
Short activities, every day, at home
Built around the time you actually have. Your entire program lives in the NACD Family Portal, with instruction for every activity, so it is easy to access, easy to track, and easy to implement day by day.
You are never doing this alone
Weekly contact with your Coach, video reviews of your sessions, continuous adjustments, and full re-evaluations three times a year.
Two guides leading. A whole team behind you.
Designs and directs your child’s program
NACD evaluators are among the most experienced developmental professionals in the world, many with decades at NACD and thousands of children evaluated. Your evaluator conducts every assessment, builds your child’s developmental profile, and personally designs and redesigns the program three times a year.
Their job is not just to identify needs. It is to know, out of 3,000+ techniques, exactly where your family’s time and effort will count most.
Walks beside you week after week
Your Coach is your personal link to the entire NACD staff. They email you weekly, take your calls, review video of your child going through the program, and make sure implementation never stalls.
Questions between evaluations never wait four months. They get answered this week.
Your evaluator and Coach are your two primary guides, but membership puts the entire NACD team behind your family. Specialists in speech and sound, education, and health and nutrition are drawn in whenever your child’s program calls for them, and together they review everything else your family is doing to help shape one cohesive plan.
Four steps. The first two are free.
From application to your child’s individualized program, most families are up and running within a few weeks.
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Apply online
Create your Get Started account, watch short videos explaining our approach, see the full fee schedule along with discounts and scholarships, then submit your application and your child’s history form.
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Talk with our staff
We review your application together, answer every question, and make sure NACD is the right fit for your family before anything is scheduled. If we need videos or records of your child, we will let you know here.
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Your child’s evaluation
An in-depth assessment with your evaluator, in person at a chapter location or via Zoom from anywhere in the world. We review your child’s history, observe, test, and build a complete developmental profile. Then, with you, we set goals and priorities for a holistic program built around your whole child, not a single skill or symptom.
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Your program begins
Your child’s program goes live in your NACD Family Portal: every activity with instruction, recommended frequencies, and durations, easy to access, track, and implement from any device. Your Coach checks in weekly, your evaluator reviews video of your sessions, and the program is fine tuned as your child progresses.
Everything your family needs to run the program at home.
NACD is a membership organization. There is a one-time initial evaluation fee, then a membership fee that covers your family’s ongoing services. The full fee schedule, along with discounts and scholarships, is shown inside the Get Started process before you commit to anything.
The NACD Family Portal
Your program’s home. Every activity with instruction, handouts, videos, courses, and evaluation forms, easy to access, track, and implement on web and mobile.
Full evaluations three times a year
A new developmental profile, new goals, and a new program from your evaluator every four months.
A dedicated Coach
Weekly contact and open email access to your personal link to the entire NACD staff.
Video program review
After your first weeks, we review video of your child going through the program and refine it.
Continuous adjustments
Your program evolves between evaluations as your child responds. Nothing is set and forgotten.
Coordination of services
We review everything your family is doing and help shape one cohesive plan, so your time goes where it counts.
From special needs to gifted, newborns to adults.
Every brain can grow and change. That is the power of neuroplasticity, and it applies to every person below. What never repeats is the program: each one is designed for one unique individual, never for a label.
In person at our chapters, or via Zoom from anywhere.
Evaluations happen at chapter locations across the United States and around the world, or by Zoom. Families in 40+ countries run NACD programs today. See current evaluation sites or email info@nacd.org with questions about your area.
Find out in two minutes if NACD is a fit for your family.
Five quick questions. No email required. Honest answer at the end.
Before you apply
No. Creating your account, watching the overview videos, submitting your application, and your interview with our staff are all free. You will see the full fee schedule before you commit to anything.
NACD is a membership organization. There is a one-time fee for your initial evaluation, then a membership fee that covers your ongoing services: re-evaluations three times a year, your Coach, program updates, and the NACD Family Portal. The full fee schedule, along with available discounts and scholarships, is shown inside the Get Started process before you commit.
No. NACD is a private membership organization and does not bill insurance. We work to keep the program affordable for families, and discounts and scholarships are available. You will see complete pricing during the free Get Started process, before any commitment.
No. NACD does not design programs around labels. We evaluate your child as a whole, unique person and build the program around who they are and what they need. Families come to us with diagnoses, without them, and with children who are developing typically or are advanced. We work with newborns through adults.
Frequency and scope. An hour a week in a clinic cannot provide the daily input a developing brain needs, and working on one isolated skill misses the whole child. NACD designs one holistic program covering everything your child needs, implemented at home every day by the people who know them best, with an evaluator, a Coach, and the entire NACD team behind you.
In person at NACD chapter locations across the United States and around the world, or via Zoom from anywhere. Distance is never a barrier. Families in 40+ countries run NACD programs today.
Your program is built around the time you actually have and the help you can get. During your evaluation we determine both, then design accordingly. Success is not about doing more. It is about doing the right thing at the right time.
Formal re-evaluations with your evaluator happen three times a year, every four months, each producing a new developmental profile, new goals, and a new program. Between evaluations your Coach stays in weekly contact and the program is adjusted continuously.
Yes. During your evaluation we review everything your family is currently doing and help you shape one cohesive plan, so every hour of your week is pulling in the same direction.
Yes. Homeschooling families have been part of NACD since 1979, and the model is a natural fit: an individualized program implemented at home, with educational guidance built in. Learn more on our Homeschooling & Home Education page.
Two things help most. First, keep an active email account, since that is how your Coach stays in contact. Second, many families get a head start with the NACD Guide to Child Development seminar, which walks through the foundation of our approach.
Returning or current NACD family?
The Get Started area is for new families only. Please log back in with your existing account to complete any new forms. Can’t find your login? Email info@nacd.org and we will get you back in.
your child has more potential than anyone has told you.
It takes about 20 minutes to apply, costs nothing, and could change the direction of your child’s development. Together we can redefine your child’s potential and future.
Start your free application → Free application · Free interview · Full pricing shown before you commit