Aurora is unusual even by Colorado standards: the city crosses three counties — Adams, Arapahoe, and a sliver of Douglas — so your early intervention provider, your Medicaid case management agency, and your school district can each be different depending on which side of town you live on.

The upside is that Aurora also hosts the region's main hospital-based autism evaluation team, at Children's Hospital Colorado on the Anschutz Medical Campus, right inside city limits. This page lists the county-by-county contacts, the two school districts that split the city, and that evaluation pathway, with a source behind every number.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Colorado page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Aurora (Adams, Arapahoe & Douglas counties).

Early intervention under 3: Early Intervention Colorado

Every Colorado family starts at the same statewide door for a child under 3: call 833-733-3734, refer online at eicolorado.org, or email the state's intake address. Anyone — a parent, pediatrician, or child care provider — can make the referral, and evaluation is free with no income test. Because Aurora spans county lines, the state routes your family to a different contracted provider depending on address: North Metro Community Services has served the Adams County portion of Aurora since July 2024, while Developmental Pathways covers the Arapahoe and Douglas County portions. Services stop at the third birthday, when your school district's Child Find team takes over.

• Early Intervention Colorado
• Referral phone: 833-733-3734 (statewide referral line)

New to early intervention? Read the plain-language guide first.

School districts and special education

Colorado school districts must find and evaluate children with a suspected disability from age 3, at no cost, through Child Find. Aurora's city limits are split between two districts rather than following one boundary, so check your address before assuming which one applies.

• Aurora Public Schools (Adams-Arapahoe School District 28J) — preschool referral form for ages 3-5; Child Find questions 303-326-3631
• Cherry Creek School District — covers the Arapahoe County portion of Aurora zoned into Cherry Creek; play-based assessment teams handle eligibility

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Aurora

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.

• Children's Hospital Colorado — Developmental Pediatrics (Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora) — team-based autism evaluation for children from infancy through adolescence, combining psychology, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, developmental-behavioral pediatrics, and child psychiatry · 720-777-6630 · no published wait figure; the program states it accepts all insurance types including Medicaid and offers services in Spanish
• JFK Partners (CU Anschutz) — Colorado's university center of excellence in developmental disabilities, sharing intake with Children's Colorado Developmental Pediatrics for autism assessment · 720-777-6630

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: Case Management Agencies serving Aurora — North Metro Community Services & Developmental Pathways

Aurora's split geography carries into Medicaid case management as well as early intervention: North Metro Community Services handles the Adams County side of the city, while Developmental Pathways handles Arapahoe and Douglas County residents. Either agency can walk a family through Children's Extensive Support (CES), the waiver most often used by children living at home who need support roughly every two hours during the day. The state's directory lets you confirm which agency is assigned to your specific address, since assignments shifted in Colorado's 2023–24 case-management redesign.

• Case Management Agencies serving Aurora — North Metro Community Services & Developmental Pathways
• Phone: 303-360-6600 (Developmental Pathways)

Local organizations that help Aurora families

• The Arc of Aurora — 720-213-1420; serves Aurora residents regardless of which of the three counties or two districts they fall into
• PEAK Parent Center — Colorado's federally designated Parent Training and Information Center, offering free special education help in English and Spanish
• Autism Society of Colorado — statewide information and referral, useful when a family's nearest chapter depends on which county line they're near

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.

• Aurora's early intervention provider changed for part of the city in 2024: families in the Adams County portion moved from Developmental Pathways to North Metro Community Services effective July 1, 2024, while the Arapahoe and Douglas County portions stayed with Developmental Pathways. (source)
• Colorado ended its autism-specific Medicaid waiver on July 1, 2018 after a federal directive to cover behavioral services under the standard Medicaid benefit instead; ABA now runs through the Pediatric Behavioral Therapies program. (source)
• Colorado's 60-calendar-day evaluation clock starts the moment a district gets your signed consent, no matter which of Aurora's two districts holds your child's file — PEAK Parent Center's family guide lays out that timeline in detail. (source)
• A child found eligible anywhere in Colorado is owed a written IEP within 90 calendar days of the original consent — Douglas County Schools, in the same metro area, spells that deadline out for families. (source)
• Since 2017, Colorado's autism insurance mandate has carried no age ceiling and no yearly dollar cap, though self-funded employer plans remain outside state insurance law entirely. (source)