The next step for your child, before you have to ask.
Waypoint reads your child's IEP, answers your questions with the law behind them, drafts the friendly email, and keeps track of the Regional Center and school clocks you start, plus the dates you add.
Free to start · no credit card · no email to use the free tools
Same Monday, four different families
One loop, every time something changes.
Your case moves: a reply comes in, a deadline passes, a new stage opens. Every time it does, you're back at the start of the same four moves.
Tell Say what's happening
In plain English — a call that didn't get returned, a diagnosis that just came through, a letter you don't understand. Waypoint already knows your child's age, diagnosis, and county from your profile, so it starts from your actual situation, not a blank page.
Plan Get one next step
Not a forty-item checklist — one action, checked against the law that actually applies: the Lanterman Act, IDEA, Medi-Cal, SSI. It's the step that matters right now, in the order that protects your case.
Act Send something real
Waypoint drafts the letter, the request, the follow-up — filled in with your child's name, the date, and the citation, ready to send. The first ask is always friendly and collaborative, because that's what keeps the door open — and what makes your record look reasonable if you ever do have to push harder.
Track Let the clock get watched
Many requests start a real deadline — a 15-day, a 30-day, a 120-day window the law sets for the answer, not for you. Waypoint watches it, and if it passes without an answer, the next message firms up a notch: still yours to send, just a little less patient.
Start with where you are today
Six pillars cover every system a California family navigates, each in plain language, with the deadlines, scripts, and template letters that make the next step obvious.
Regional Centers
Eligibility, the 120-day clock, IPP meetings, respite, and appeals under the Lanterman Act.
Pillar guide →School & IEPs
Request an evaluation, IEP vs 504, what to sign, and the dispute ladder — with copy-paste letters.
Get the letter →Money & benefits
Medi-Cal institutional deeming, IHSS protective supervision, SSI for children, and other resources.
Explore all benefits →Insurance & therapies
What your plan must cover for prescribed treatment, appealing denials, and the DMHC Independent Medical Review.
Browse guides →First steps (0–5)
Early Start, getting an evaluation without the year-long wait, and the turning-three transition.
First 100 Days →Free tools
The IEP goal check, the SSI deeming calculator, your Regional Center finder, and template letters — no email required.
See the free tools →Or go straight to all guides, schools and IEPs, Regional Centers, or find your Regional Center.
- Ages 0–3Early Start
- Ages 3–5Transition to school
- Sample: you are hereAges 5–13School years
- Ages 14–22Transition to adulthood
Ask anything. Get the answer and the law behind it.
- Plain-language answers that know your child's age, diagnosis, county, and Regional Center.
- Each answer separates your right, what's good to know, and what to watch out for, and cites the law where it applies.
- One tap turns an answer into a drafted letter or a step on your plan.
The friendly email, already written.
Every first ask is friendly. If it goes unanswered, Waypoint can firm up the next one, one step at a time, and only when you choose. Everything goes out under your name, after you've read it.
Hi Ms. Lopez,
I wanted to check in on Maya's assessment plan. I sent my request on October 1, and I'm looking forward to seeing it. Could you let me know when it might be ready?
Thank you so much for your help!
Dear Ms. Lopez,
I'm following up on my written request of October 1 to assess Maya. The assessment plan is due within 15 calendar days of the district receiving a request (Ed Code §56321). Could you please send it by Friday?
Thank you,
Dear Ms. Lopez,
I'm writing again about my October 1 written request to assess Maya. I have not yet received an assessment plan, which is due within 15 calendar days (Ed Code §56321). Please send the plan by October 24. If the district decides not to assess, please send that decision in writing as prior written notice (Ed Code §56500.4).
I'm copying the director of special education so we can keep this moving together.
Why not just read the guides?
Every guide on this site is free, and stays free. Here's the actual difference.
Without it
- Hours of searching before you know what to ask
- You find out about a deadline after it's passed
With Waypoint
- The next step, before you have to ask for it
- A reminder before the clock runs out
The assessment plan is due 15 calendar days after the district receives your written request.
Starts that clock when you log the request, and puts it on Home in the days before it is due.
A letter template you fill in yourself, print, and mail.
Drafts it filled in with your child's name, diagnosis, district, and the date — ready to send.
What a Notice of Action is, and that you have 60 days to appeal.
Keeps yours with your documents, and the Navigator walks you through your options and the dates that count.
Generic advice
"You may want to consider requesting an assessment from your school district and following up with your regional center about available services."
Waypoint
A drafted assessment-request letter in your name, the 15-day clock it starts, a card on Home if no plan has come by day 16 — and a friendly follow-up, one tap away.
Is this IEP goal measurable?
Paste one annual goal from your child's IEP. You'll see which of the five parts of a measurable goal we spot in it, and a friendly way to ask the team about any that seem to be missing. More about the goal check →
Runs entirely in your browser. Waypoint never receives or stores what you paste.
Your results appear here: the five parts a measurable goal names, which ones we spotted in this goal, and a friendly way to ask the team about the rest.
Want the whole IEP read?
- Upload the IEP. Every goal is rated, with stronger wording suggested.
- Compare it with an earlier IEP you've uploaded.
- Get your meeting-prep questions, then track the goals through the year.
Waypoint speaks first.
Most tools wait for you to remember. Waypoint knows which clock your request started, and checks in before it runs out.
- Day 0
You send the request
Waypoint drafts it and you send it. Once the district receives it, it has 15 calendar days to send an assessment plan, not counting school breaks over five school days.
- Day 5
On Home, with the date
In the days before it is due, Home shows when the answer is due, with a follow-up one tap away if you want it.
On HomeClock running · 10 days left. An answer on Maya's evaluation request is due Oct 16. - Day 16
The answer is past due
It moves to the top of Home, with a friendly follow-up one tap away.
On HomeAn answer on Maya's evaluation request is past due. A follow-up that cites the date is the next step. - If needed
Firmer, one step at a time
The tone only firms up if asks go unanswered, and only when you choose.
No new inbox. No new filing system.
Send from your own address. Replies come back into Waypoint, next to the request they answer.
Not using Gmail? Open any draft in the mail app you already use.
Upload a report, a notice, or an IEP as a PDF or a photo of the page.
Every clock you start comes up on Home in the days before it is due.
Try it free
Free tools built on the same rules as the app. No sign-up, and what you type stays in your browser unless you choose to carry it into the app.
"I'm Mike, father of two boys in Oakland. When my son needed services, I spent hundreds of hours navigating the system. I built Waypoint so no family has to do it alone."
Questions
- Is this legal advice?
- No. Waypoint explains how California systems usually work, with the law cited so you can check it. It isn't legal advice, and using it doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. For decisions that matter, talk with a qualified professional who knows your child's case.
- What does it cost?
- Every guide, tool, and template letter on this site is free, with no email required. The app is free to start, and paid plans add more. The pricing page shows exactly what each plan includes, and what to do if money is tight. See pricing →
- What happens to what I type?
- The free tools on this site run in your browser. What you type stays there unless you choose to carry a summary into the app. This site uses cookieless analytics and no ad tech. Read the privacy page →
- Is it only for California?
- For now, yes. Waypoint is built around California's systems: the 21 Regional Centers, California special education law, Medi-Cal, and IHSS.
- Is it in Spanish?
- The app can write your letters in Spanish, and translation of its screens is under way. Spanish pages for this website are planned.
- Who's behind it?
- Waypoint was built by Mike, a parent of two boys in Oakland, after hundreds of hours learning the system for his son. Every guide is checked against its sources before it publishes. How we publish →
Free to start · no credit card