Miami-Dade County runs its own hospital-based evaluation programs, a large public school district, and a regional office of Florida's disability-services agency, but families juggling Spanish, Haitian Creole, and English support needs sometimes bounce between systems before finding the right one. This page collects the doors that are open to any Miami family, with the phone numbers and URLs behind each one.

Nothing here requires a diagnosis to get started — early intervention and a school evaluation are both available on suspicion of a delay alone, and Florida's Medicaid waiver waitlist can be joined before a diagnosis is finalized too.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Florida page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Miami metro (Miami-Dade County).

Early intervention under 3: Florida Early Steps

Early Steps is Florida's early intervention system for children from birth to 36 months, delivered at no cost to families regardless of income. Any adult — a parent, relative, pediatrician, or child care provider — can start a referral without a diagnosis in hand, either by calling the statewide line or completing the online referral form. Once referred, the child is screened or evaluated to determine eligibility, and if eligible, the family and a service coordinator write an Individualized Family Support Plan describing what will be provided and where.

• Florida Early Steps
• Referral phone: 1-800-218-0001

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

School districts and special education

Florida's Child Find duty obligates every district to find, evaluate, and serve resident children with disabilities from birth through age 21 at no cost to the family. A written request to your child's school starts the clock, and the district has 60 school days from the date you sign consent to complete the evaluation. Families near Miami-Dade's northern border sometimes cross into Broward County services as well, so this page lists both districts.

• Miami-Dade County Public Schools — Division of Exceptional Student Education, 1450 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami
• Broward County Public Schools — Exceptional Student Education main line (754) 321-3400

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Miami

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.

• Mailman Center for Child Development — University of Miami — developmental and behavioral pediatric evaluation for ages 0-18 through its Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Clinic, plus the Interdisciplinary Developmental Education Services program (ages 1-18) and a Psychological Assessment Service (ages 3-18) · (305) 243-6631
• Nicklaus Children's Hospital — Neurodevelopmental Conditions and Autism Program — physician-led evaluation by a pediatric neurologist, developmental-behavioral pediatrician, or psychiatrist, with optional EEG, imaging, genetic or metabolic testing, and standardized psychological testing · 786-624-4381

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) — Southern Region

APD is the state agency that determines eligibility for Florida's long-term developmental-disability services and administers the iBudget Medicaid waiver. Its Southern Region office, in downtown Miami, covers Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. After eligibility is established, a child's name is added to the iBudget waitlist in one of seven priority tiers, with position set by application date rather than severity of need — so families are encouraged to apply as soon as a delay or disability is suspected, without waiting on a finished diagnosis. A separate crisis-enrollment path exists for households facing homelessness or a caregiver who can no longer safely provide care.

• Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) — Southern Region
• Phone: (305) 349-1478

Local organizations that help Miami families

• UM-NSU CARD — the regional Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, offering free diagnostic support, training, and referrals for Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe counties; (305) 284-6563
• Parent to Parent of Miami — free peer support, one-on-one coaching, and advocacy help for families of children and adults with disabilities; (305) 271-9797
• The Arc of South Florida — children's after-school and summer programs plus adult and case-management services across Miami-Dade; chapter listing gives (305) 759-8500
• Autism Society of Miami-Dade — community fundraising and awareness chapter, including an annual 5K at Zoo Miami
• Miracle League of Miami-Dade — adapted baseball field at Tamiami Park with a volunteer 'Baseball Buddy' pairing system; (786) 224-4800
• YMCA of South Florida — Special Needs Programs — sensory play, after-school, swim, and Special Olympics training programs for ages 2 and up across multiple Miami-Dade family centers

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.

• The Children's Trust — Miami-Dade's dedicated child-services funding source, created by voter referendum in 2002 — runs a free Youth Advisory Committee leadership program for Miami-Dade high schoolers that a Trust staffer described in August 2026 as actively welcoming disabled teens, marking its 20th year with a new member recruitment push starting that September. (source)
• A University of South Florida research project tracking Florida's iBudget Medicaid waiver waitlist found more than 22,000 people waiting as of January 2023, broken down by priority category, with many having waited over a decade. (source)
• Florida began issuing Spectrum Alerts on June 24, 2026 — a dedicated, statewide missing-child notification separate from an Amber Alert, activated when law enforcement reasonably believes a child under 18 has autism spectrum disorder and is in danger; the public can subscribe by text or email through FDLE and should call 911 with any information. (source)
• Florida's Early Steps program, which covers Miami-Dade, is measured against the federal Part C benchmark of finishing the evaluation and initial family plan within 45 days of referral. (source)
• Once Miami-Dade County Public Schools rules a child eligible for exceptional student education, Florida gives the district 30 calendar days to hold the IEP meeting. (source)