The Ohio Government Autism & ABA Resource Directory: 30 Public Programs Every Parent Should Know

TL;DR

Ohio’s autism support system is spread across at least six different agencies, and no single office hands you a map. Early Intervention sits with the Department of Children and Youth, county boards of developmental disabilities handle eligibility and long-term supports, the Department of Education and Workforce runs the scholarships and the IEP process, Medicaid pays for medically necessary ABA, and separate offices govern insurance complaints, child care assistance, and community accessibility. Below is a directory of 30 government programs organized by what you are trying to accomplish: getting a screening, finding your county board, securing school services, paying for therapy, arranging child care, and getting out in the community. Every link goes to an official source, and every entry tells you in a sentence or two what the program actually does.

Start here: screening, referral, and early identification

• Help Me Grow is Ohio’s front door for any concern about a child’s development. One referral opens access to Early Intervention, home visiting, and related family supports, and no diagnosis is required to start.
• The online referral form lets a parent, relative, or provider submit a referral in a few minutes. Central Intake follows up directly with the family to schedule next steps.
• Ohio Early Intervention serves children under three who have developmental delays or diagnosed conditions, at no cost to families. Services are delivered in the child’s everyday settings rather than a clinic.
• The CDC’s Act Early program provides free milestone checklists and a tracker app for ages two months through five years. Use it to document specific concerns before a pediatrician visit.

Your county board of developmental disabilities

• The DODD county board directory lists contact information and incident reporting numbers for all 88 county boards. This is the correct starting point if you do not know which board serves you.
• DODD’s guide to eligibility and waivers walks through how county boards determine eligibility and how the Level One, Individual Options, and SELF waivers pay for home and community services.
• Summit DD is the levy-funded county agency serving Akron and Summit County, providing Early Intervention for children birth to three and service coordination beyond that.
• Franklin County DD supports children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the Columbus area, from infancy through adulthood.
• Lucas DD children’s services covers Toledo and Lucas County. Evaluations and Early Intervention supports are provided free and are not income-based.
• Cuyahoga DD serves Greater Cleveland and runs a Family Supports Program that funds items and programs beyond standard service coordination.

School services, IEPs, and scholarships

• The state’s preschool special education office covers what happens at age three, when responsibility shifts from Early Intervention to your resident school district.
• The Office for Exceptional Children oversees special education statewide and handles formal complaints and due process requests when a district dispute cannot be resolved locally.
• Ohio’s parent rights guide spells out your procedural safeguards under IDEA in plain language. Your district must give you a copy annually, but reading it before your first meeting is the better move.
• The Autism Scholarship Program lets parents of eligible students ages 3 to 21 direct state funding toward services from approved providers instead of district-delivered services.
• The application walkthrough covers deadlines, required IEP documentation, and how to search the registered provider list by county.
• The Jon Peterson Scholarship is the parallel program for K through 12 students with an IEP and any qualifying disability. A student cannot hold both scholarships at once.
• Ohio’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment measures social foundations, language and literacy, math, and motor development in the first weeks of kindergarten. Knowing what it covers helps you target preschool goals.

Once you know which funding path applies, the next question is where services are actually delivered. Our Columbus ABA therapy program coordinates behavior analysis alongside speech and occupational therapy inside a licensed childcare setting, which keeps the school-readiness work and the therapy work in the same room.

Paying for ABA, therapy, and medical care

• Ohio Medicaid covers medically necessary applied behavior analysis for eligible children, along with speech, occupational, and physical therapy. Coverage rules and prior authorization requirements differ by managed care plan.
• Healthchek is Ohio’s EPSDT benefit for Medicaid members under 21. It requires developmental screening at every well-child visit through age five and autism-specific screening per pediatric guidelines.
• OhioRISE is a specialized Medicaid plan for children with complex behavioral health and multisystem needs, adding care coordination, respite, and flexible funding on top of standard benefits.
• The Complex Medical Help program, formerly Children with Medical Handicaps, links families to approved specialists and helps cover diagnostic and treatment costs for qualifying conditions.
• The Ohio Department of Insurance is where you file a complaint or request an external review if a health plan denies, reduces, or terminates ABA coverage. Free consumer assistance is available by phone.
• Social Security’s SSI for children provides monthly payments to children with qualifying disabilities in households with limited income and resources, and often opens the door to Medicaid.

Child care, preschool, and daily supports

• Ohio Child Care Search lets you filter licensed programs by county, type, and quality rating, and shows each program’s licensing status and inspection history.
• Ohio Benefits explains child care assistance including Publicly Funded Child Care, the Child Care Choice voucher, and the Ohio Preschool Program, plus how to apply through your county agency.
• Step Up To Quality is the state’s star rating system for early care and education programs. Ratings are public, and higher-rated programs meet standards well above minimum licensing.
• The federal Childcare.gov Ohio page pulls together licensing, financial assistance, health, and special-needs resources for the state in one place.

Two of our programs sit directly at this intersection of therapy and child care. Families in northeast Ohio can look at our Akron ABA therapy program, and families in northwest Ohio can look at our Toledo ABA therapy program, both of which schedule therapeutic supports around the regular childcare day rather than pulling children out of it.

Community access, advocacy, and training

• Accessible Ohio, run by Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities, sets the standard for sensory spaces at public venues and consults with businesses and attractions statewide.
• The Ohio DD Council is a federally authorized body with a majority of members who are people with disabilities or their family members. It funds grants and shapes state disability policy.
• OCALI, the state-funded Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence, offers a free lending library, family guides, and training modules covering assessment, behavior, and transition planning.

How to use this list without burning out

Working through 30 agencies at once is a fast route to giving up. A more sustainable order: submit the Help Me Grow referral first, contact your county board second, request a district evaluation third, and only then sort out funding. Most of the payment questions resolve themselves once eligibility is documented, and several of these programs stack rather than compete.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a diagnosis before contacting any of these programs?

Not for most of them. Early Intervention, county board intake, and school district evaluations all accept referrals based on suspected delay. Insurance-funded ABA and the Autism Scholarship do require formal documentation.

Can my child use the Autism Scholarship and Medicaid at the same time?

They fund different things, so families frequently use both. The scholarship covers educational services listed on an IEP or autism education plan; Medicaid covers medically necessary treatment. Confirm the specifics with each program before assuming overlap.

What if my county board says my child is not eligible?

Eligibility determinations can be appealed, and a denial from one system does not close the others. School district services, Medicaid-funded therapy, and private insurance operate under separate criteria.

Which of these should a parent of a newly diagnosed two-year-old contact first?

Help Me Grow, because Early Intervention services can begin quickly and the referral simultaneously connects you to your county board. Everything else can follow within the same month.

Are these programs available in every Ohio county?

The state programs are, though capacity and wait times vary considerably by region. County board services exist in all 88 counties, but the range of local providers differs sharply between large metros and rural areas.