Local resources in Los Angeles
Ordered by review count, then name. Providers cannot pay to be listed, ranked, or edited.
16 resources in Los Angeles
1. ACES Clinics - Los Angeles
ACES Clinics carries out autism assessments for children and adults, plus ADHD and dyslexia evaluations and independent educational evaluations (IEEs). The process runs through an initial consultation, a review of medical, developmental and educational records, observation of the person at home, school or in clinic, standardised testing, and ends with a written report and a feedback session covering the results and next steps.
Ages 3 and up, including adultsWait Advertises no waitlist for autism assessment, and its FAQ says all assessments are completed within two months of first contact
2. Children's Hospital Los Angeles — Boone Fetter Clinic
CHLA's autism clinic assesses and diagnoses children with a paediatrician-led team, then stays with the family — its nurse care managers keep answering questions, helping with insurance and advocating for IEPs even after treatment ends.
Ages Children
3. KEEN Los Angeles
KEEN pairs a child or young adult who has a disability, including autism, with a trained volunteer coach for a free, one-to-one session each week. Programmes include KEEN Sports, KEEN Swim, KEEN Basketball, KEEN Dance and KEEN Art, all run as open, non-competitive sessions.
Ages 5 to 21
4. LA Speech & Language Therapy Center
LA Speech & Language Therapy Center runs speech-language assessments and individual speech therapy with parent training, early intervention for toddlers, therapeutic and mainstream preschool programmes, social skills classes, summer camps, and employment-readiness training that includes paid internships, for autistic children and adults.
Ages Early childhood through adulthood
5. McRory Pediatric Services
McRory Pediatric Services offers occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, physical therapy, social-skills groups, ABA and individual counselling for children from birth through age 18, either one-to-one or in small groups, at its Tarzana and Valencia clinics.
Ages Birth to 18
6. NAPA Center - Los Angeles
NAPA's Los Angeles clinic offers weekly speech therapy and three-week intensive sessions covering oral motor dysfunction, apraxia, fluency, receptive and expressive language, and social pragmatics, alongside occupational therapy, physical therapy and feeding support from the same multidisciplinary team.
Ages Children
7. One with the Water
One with the Water runs the Dolphin Swim Program for children and adults with high support needs: a discovery assessment of the swimmer, then step-by-step trust-building in the water, working toward independent swimming skills. Lessons are private or semi-private, taught at the family's home pool or at local heated pools around Los Angeles.
Ages 4 months and up, including adults
8. OT Studios
OT Studios LA offers in-home, in-school, in-clinic and telehealth occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy for infants through school-age children, with a focus on sensory integration, handwriting and fine motor development, and social skills groups.
Ages Infants through school-age children
9. PlayLA Adaptive Youth Sports
PlayLA runs free adaptive youth sports programmes, including swim lessons, wheelchair basketball, visually impaired and blind soccer, equestrian, skateboarding, surfing, tennis, volleyball and archery, at recreation centres and pools across the city.
Ages 5 to 17
10. Seahorse Kids Dental - Los Angeles
Seahorse Kids Dental offers pediatric dental care from infancy through the teenage years, including exams, cleanings and cavity prevention, with staff who welcome children into a play area before their appointment and walk each child through the visit step by step.
Ages Infants through adolescents
11. Sola Kids Dental & Orthodontics
Sola Kids Dental provides gentle, personalised dental care for autistic children and children with other developmental differences, with staff who take extra time to build trust and adjust the visit to each child's pace. It discusses sedation options with parents first when a child's needs call for it.
Ages Children
12. Special Needs Network
Special Needs Network runs free programmes for families of autistic children and other developmental disabilities in underserved communities, including the Parent Advocacy Mentor (PAM) training that teaches parents to spot early signs of disability, navigate Regional Center Early Start services and secure an IEP for their child.
Ages Families of children and young adults
13. Special Olympics Southern California - Region 2 (Los Angeles)
Special Olympics Southern California Region 2 offers year-round sports training and competitions across Los Angeles, Kern and Inyo counties for people with intellectual disabilities, alongside the Young Athletes programme, which introduces basic sport skills like running, kicking and throwing to children ages 2 to 7 with and without intellectual disabilities.
Ages 2 and up
14. The Help Group - Parent Education
Help Group's Knowledge Exchange runs parent and caregiver learning events year-round, including the annual Summit conference on neurodiversity and emotional wellbeing, a Distinguished Speakers Series, and resource fairs that connect families with service providers and clinicians.
Ages Parents and families
15. UCLA Child and Adult Neurodevelopmental (CAN) Clinic
The CAN Clinic provides comprehensive diagnostic evaluations for children, adolescents and adults with neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism spectrum disorder, developmental delays and genetic conditions, and offers both assessments and treatment.
Ages Children, adolescents and adults
16. UCLA Lifespan Autism Clinic
The Lifespan Autism Clinic offers autism evaluations and short-term psychotherapy for people of all ages referred for possible autism or another neurodevelopmental condition, plus parent training, school consultations and vocational support, in person or by telehealth.
Ages All ages
The short answer for Los Angeles
- Under 3: call California's statewide Early Start Babyline at 800-515-BABY (800-515-2229), or contact your local regional center directly. Any parent, relative, doctor, or child care provider can make the referral, and no diagnosis is required first.
- 3 and older: regional center intake runs through whichever of Los Angeles County's seven regional centers covers your address — Frank D. Lanterman (central LA, Hollywood-Wilshire, Glendale, Pasadena), North Los Angeles County (San Fernando and Antelope Valleys), Harbor (San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance), Eastern Los Angeles, San Gabriel/Pomona, South Central Los Angeles, or Westside.
- School evaluation: Los Angeles Unified's Child Find office (sped.lausd.org/childfind) takes referrals for children from birth through age 22; once you sign consent, state law gives the district 60 calendar days to finish the assessment and, if your child qualifies, write the IEP.
- Diagnostic evaluation: UCLA's Child and Adult Neurodevelopmental Clinic (310-794-4008) and Children's Hospital Los Angeles' Boone Fetter Clinic (Warm Line 323-361-6102, weekdays 9 a.m.–5 p.m.) both run autism-specific assessment programs, and Boone Fetter's Warm Line takes calls directly from parents.
- ABA and other behavioral therapy are funded either through Medi-Cal's Behavioral Health Treatment benefit for members under 21 — accessed through your managed-care plan, or through your regional center if you have fee-for-service Medi-Cal — or, for many commercially insured families, through California's SB 946 insurance mandate.
Los Angeles County is carved into developmental-disability territory by health district rather than by city boundary, so it is served by seven separate regional centers instead of one. A family in Highland Park answers to a different regional center than a family three miles away in Mar Vista, and the name most people search for — 'the LA regional center' — does not exist as a single office.
The system underneath that quirk is substantial: two university and children's-hospital systems run dedicated autism evaluation programs, the city's own recreation department runs a citywide adaptive-sports program, and Los Angeles Unified — the second-largest school district in the country — operates its own Child Find intake. This page lists the specific doors, phone numbers, and publicly documented details for each, with a source for every fact.
Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the California page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to City of Los Angeles (Los Angeles County).
Early intervention under 3: California Early Start
Early Start is California's Part C program for children from birth to 36 months. A child qualifies with a developmental delay of at least 25 percent in one area of development, an established risk condition with a known cause, or a documented combination of biomedical risk factors. Anyone — a parent, relative, pediatrician, or child care provider — can make the referral, and evaluation, assessment, and service coordination are free regardless of income. Depending on the type of delay, services are arranged either by your local regional center or by a local education agency; call the statewide Babyline and staff will route you to whichever applies. State policy gives the program 45 days from referral to assign a service coordinator, complete the evaluation, and write the Individualized Family Service Plan. At age 3, eligibility does not carry over automatically — the family is reassessed against the stricter Lanterman Act standard used for services after age 3.
- California Early Start
- Referral phone: 800-515-BABY (800-515-2229) — statewide Early Start Babyline
New to early intervention? Read the plain-language guide first.
School districts and special education
California's Child Find duty (Education Code 56043) requires every district to locate, identify, and evaluate students with a suspected disability at no cost to families, from birth through age 21. Once you submit a written referral, the district has 15 calendar days to send you a proposed assessment plan; you then have at least 15 days to consent, and from the date you sign, the district has 60 calendar days to complete the assessment and, if your child is found eligible, develop the IEP. Autism is its own eligibility category under state regulations (5 CCR 3030), defined by a significant effect on verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction that is generally evident before age three.
- Los Angeles Unified School District — the second-largest district in the country; Child Find covers birth through age 22; Family Hotline (213) 443-1300 for families unsure where to start
- Culver City Unified School District — district boundary reaches into a slice of the Los Angeles Westside as well as Culver City itself; Special Education Department (310) 842-4220
Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Los Angeles
These are hospital and university programs with public intake information. Listing here is informational — it is not a recommendation, and it is not medical advice. Public school evaluation is free and does not require any of these.
- UCLA Child and Adult Neurodevelopmental (CAN) Clinic — comprehensive diagnostic evaluation for autism spectrum disorder and other neurodevelopmental conditions across the lifespan, including ADOS-2 testing, cognitive and developmental measures, and psychodiagnostic interviews · 310-794-4008
- Children's Hospital Los Angeles — Boone Fetter Clinic for Autism Treatment — initial autism assessments and second-opinion evaluations; calling the Warm Line connects you to a nurse care manager who discusses your child's concerns and schedules a clinic appointment if needed · 323-361-6102 (Warm Line, weekdays 9 a.m.–5 p.m.)
Disability services and waivers: Los Angeles County's seven regional centers
Statewide, California routes lifelong developmental-disability and Medicaid waiver services through 21 nonprofit regional centers, and Los Angeles County alone is divided among seven of them by health district: Frank D. Lanterman (213-383-1300; central LA, Hollywood-Wilshire, Glendale, Pasadena), North Los Angeles County (818-778-1900; San Fernando and Antelope Valleys), Harbor (310-543-0100; San Pedro, Long Beach, Torrance, Bellflower), Eastern Los Angeles (626-299-4700; Alhambra area), San Gabriel/Pomona (909-620-7722), South Central Los Angeles (213-744-7000), and Westside (310-258-4000; El Segundo, Santa Monica, Culver City area). Use the state's regional center lookup tool to find the one that matches your address. For children 3 and older, eligibility runs under the Lanterman Act: your child needs one of five qualifying diagnoses (intellectual disability, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, or a closely related condition) plus a 'substantial disability' — significant limits in at least three of seven major life activities. By state law, initial intake must happen within 15 working days of your request, and the regional center then has 120 days to determine eligibility (60 days if any delay would put your child's health, safety, or development at risk).
- Los Angeles County's seven regional centers
- Phone: 213-383-1300 (Lanterman) · 818-778-1900 (North LA County) · 310-543-0100 (Harbor) · 626-299-4700 (Eastern LA) · 909-620-7722 (San Gabriel/Pomona) · 213-744-7000 (South Central LA) · 310-258-4000 (Westside)
Local organizations that help Los Angeles families
- Autism Society of Los Angeles — Warm Line (424) 299-1531 for questions about a new diagnosis and navigating services
- Angel City Sports — free, year-round adaptive sports programming for kids and adults with physical disabilities or visual impairments, based in Los Angeles, including a Youth Weekend for athletes 18 and under
- 211 LA County — free, 24/7 nonprofit referral line covering Los Angeles County; dial 2-1-1 or 800-339-6993
Documented waits and access notes
Wait times change. Each note below links to the public source it came from — confirm current status directly with the program.
- California's Department of Developmental Services estimates 3,991 Los Angeles County 8-year-olds were autistic and Lanterman-eligible in 2025 — a 3.55 percent share of the county's roughly 112,479 children that age, and the largest raw county total anywhere in the state. (source)
- Three of Los Angeles County's regional centers — Frank D. Lanterman, Harbor, and North Los Angeles County — reported the highest share of clients carrying an autism diagnosis of any of the state's 21 regional centers in FY 2024-2025, at 63 percent each, per DDS's own April 2026 legislative report. (source)
- A May 2022 Public Counsel report on six years of state disparity-reduction efforts found that racial gaps in regional-center purchase-of-service spending had worsened at 17 of California's 21 centers, but it credited South Central Los Angeles Regional Center specifically with doubling its spending on children ages 3–21 and narrowing the gap for Hispanic and Spanish-speaking families. (source)
- California's autism mandate, unlike several other states' versions, carries neither an age cutoff nor an annual dollar limit for ABA, so hours for a Los Angeles family on a covered commercial plan are set through medical necessity rather than capped in advance. (source)
Paying for support in Los Angeles
Los Angeles families generally reach ABA (applied behavior analysis) through one of two doors: Medi-Cal's Behavioral Health Treatment benefit, which covers medically necessary care for members under 21 through a managed-care plan or a regional center, or California's SB 946 mandate, which requires many state-regulated commercial health plans to cover the same behavioral health services for autism.
Nothing here is a recommendation — we list what exists, note what a provider says about itself, and let parents tell you the rest.
Common questions from Los Angeles parents
Sources
- [1]CA Department of Developmental Services — What is Early Start?. Open source
- [2]CA DDS — Intake and Assessment Requirements (W&I Code 4642/4643 timelines). Open source
- [3]CA DDS — Regional Center Lookup by County. Open source
- [4]CA DDS — Regional Center Listings (addresses, phone numbers). Open source
- [5]CA DDS — Autism Annual Report to the Legislature, April 2026 (PDF). Open source
- [6]Disability Rights California — RULA: regional center eligibility review process. Open source
- [7]Disability Rights California — RULA: regional center application processing time. Open source
- [8]Public Counsel — report on regional center racial disparities (May 2022). Open source
- [9]DHCS — Behavioral Health Treatment (Medi-Cal ABA benefit). Open source
- [10]SB 946 (2011) — chaptered bill text, autism insurance mandate. Open source
- [11]Disability Rights California — Special Education Timelines. Open source
- [12]Charter SELPA — Title 5 CCR Section 3030 eligibility criteria (PDF). Open source
- [13]Los Angeles Unified School District — Child Find. Open source
- [14]Culver City Unified School District — Special Education. Open source
- [15]UCLA Health — Child and Adult Neurodevelopmental (CAN) Clinic. Open source
- [16]Children's Hospital Los Angeles — Boone Fetter Clinic for Autism Treatment. Open source
- [17]Autism Society of Los Angeles. Open source
- [18]Angel City Sports. Open source
- [19]211 LA County. Open source
- [20]City of Los Angeles — PlayLA Adaptive Youth Sports. Open source
Last checked 2026-08-11. Programs and links change — confirm with the agency before relying on any detail. This page is information, not legal or medical advice.