Local resources in Tampa
Ordered by review count, then name. Providers cannot pay to be listed, ranked, or edited.
14 resources in Tampa
1. ABA of Tampa Bay
A local provider willing to work wherever the difficulty actually arises — clinic, home, classroom or out in public — rather than only on its own premises.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
2. ABA Path
ABA Path is unusual in serving adults as well as children, and is upfront that its Sunshine Health Medicaid waitlist is currently long. Contact them through their own site, since no verified street address was found for this listing.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you callWait Significant waitlist for Sunshine Health Medicaid plan members
3. Attain ABA — Tampa
Covers Tampa as one of five Florida metros, so continuity is likely if you move within the state.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
4. BASS Autism & Behavioral Learning — Tampa Palms
BASS Autism & Behavioral Learning operates a Tampa Palms centre as one of several Tampa-area ABA options. Ages and funding accepted were not stated on the page found.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
5. Butterfly Effects — Tampa
Two distinct programmes rather than one: intensive early years up to 6, then an after-school option for school-age children that fits round the school day.
Ages Ages 2 to 6 for early intervention; 6 to 12 after school
6. CARD-USF (Center for Autism and Related Disabilities)
CARD-USF is a free, university-run programme that gives autistic people, people with related disabilities, and their families ongoing guidance, training and referrals to other local resources. It does not diagnose autism or provide therapy itself, but staff can help point a family to a provider that does. It also supports families around school, including sitting in on IEP meetings alongside a parent in a consultative role.
Ages All ages
7. Cultivate Behavioral Health & Education — Tampa
A fourth Tampa option, from a provider covering three Florida metros.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
8. Florida Adaptive Sports
Framed as a social club rather than a training programme, which suits a child for whom the point is company as much as sport.
Ages All ages
9. Hillsborough County — Adaptive Recreation
A county-run programme with an explicit inclusion model — disabled and non-disabled children in the same sessions rather than a separate group.
Ages Ages 5 to 17
10. Hillsborough County — Adaptive Sports
The sports half of the county's disability provision, sitting alongside its children's adaptive recreation programme — worth asking which suits a given age.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
11. InBloom Autism Services — Tampa
An early-years centre with its therapy built around play rather than table work, and physical space set aside for group sessions — but with an age ceiling of 5.
Ages 18 months to 5 years
12. Johns Hopkins All Children's — Autism Program
Listed for Tampa, but the centre is across the bay in St. Petersburg — the programme serves greater Tampa Bay from there, so budget for the crossing. What it buys is assessment, diagnosis and parent training on one campus rather than three referrals.
Ages Children and adolescents
13. Johns Hopkins All Children's — Psychology Services
Hospital psychology service whose evaluations can settle whether a child's profile is autism, ADHD, a learning difficulty or something else — ending in a feedback session and a written report with recommendations.
Ages Children and adolescents
14. Success On The Spectrum — Carrollwood
Success On The Spectrum's Carrollwood centre serves children well past the early-intervention years, up to age 18, and reports no waitlist. It accepts Medicaid and state scholarship funding alongside commercial insurance.
Ages Ages 18 months to 18Wait No waitlist
The short answer for Tampa
- Birth to 3: refer to Florida Early Steps at 1-800-218-0001. Any adult can refer, no diagnosis is required, and the service is free; USF Health also holds the local Early Steps contract for Hillsborough and Polk counties (813-974-0602).
- Age 3 and up: your child's school needs a written evaluation request to begin the Child Find process. Hillsborough County Public Schools must complete it within 60 school days of written consent.
- For a medical diagnosis: USF Health's Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (813-821-8038) evaluates autism spectrum disorder and related concerns for children birth to 16.
- For ABA: BlueSprig has several Hillsborough County centers, including locations in Westchase (813-467-7190) and Temple Terrace (813-553-7880).
- For the state's Medicaid waiver: APD's Suncoast Region office (800-615-8720) covers Hillsborough County and adds children to the iBudget waitlist by application date, not urgency.
- For free family navigation, USF CARD (813-974-2532) is the regional Center for Autism and Related Disabilities and the driving force behind Tampa's Autism Friendly Tampa city initiative.
Tampa is the only city in this guide with its own named, city-government autism initiative — Autism Friendly Tampa, a partnership between the city and USF's CARD center that has trained city staff and certified local attractions since 2017. That civic infrastructure sits alongside the usual state systems: early intervention, school Child Find, hospital evaluation, and Florida's Medicaid waiver.
This page lists all of it, from the early-intervention referral line to the zoo's sensory accommodations, with a phone number or URL behind every claim.
Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Florida page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Tampa Bay metro (Hillsborough County).
Early intervention under 3: Florida Early Steps (Bay Area contract, USF Health)
Early Steps is Florida's early intervention system for children from birth to 36 months, provided at no cost regardless of family income. USF Health holds the Bay Area Early Steps contract covering Hillsborough and Polk counties. Any adult who knows the child — a parent, relative, pediatrician, or child care provider — can start a referral without a diagnosis in hand, either by phone or through USF Health's online referral form. Once referred, the child is screened or evaluated for eligibility, and if eligible, a service coordinator helps the family write an Individualized Family Support Plan.
- Florida Early Steps (Bay Area contract, USF Health)
- Referral phone: (813) 974-0602 or 1-866-549-1710 (USF Health Bay Area Early Steps) · 1-800-218-0001 (statewide referral line)
New to early intervention? Read the plain-language guide first.
School districts and special education
Every Florida district owes resident children with disabilities a free Child Find evaluation from birth through age 21, and once you sign written consent, the district has 60 school days to finish it. Families near the Pinellas-Hillsborough line sometimes deal with both counties' systems, so this page lists districts on each side of Tampa Bay.
- Hillsborough County Public Schools — Exceptional Student Education covers autism spectrum disorder, behavior supports, and dispute resolution
- Pinellas County Schools — the district reports serving roughly 13,500 students with disabilities
Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Tampa
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.
- USF Health — Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics — developmental-behavioral evaluation for children birth to 16, including autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, developmental delay, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder assessment · 813-821-8038
Disability services and waivers: Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) — Suncoast Region
APD determines eligibility for Florida's long-term developmental-disability services and runs the iBudget Medicaid waiver, which funds home and community-based supports. The Suncoast Region office, based in Tampa, covers DeSoto, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties. Once eligible, a child is added to the iBudget waitlist in one of seven priority categories, with placement set by application date rather than urgency of need — so applying as soon as a delay is suspected, even before a diagnosis is complete, is worth doing. A separate crisis-enrollment path exists for families in homelessness or immediate safety danger.
- Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) — Suncoast Region
- Phone: (800) 615-8720
Local organizations that help Tampa families
- USF CARD — the regional Center for Autism and Related Disabilities and partner behind Autism Friendly Tampa; free family support across 14 Southwest and Central Florida counties; (813) 974-2532
- Autism Friendly Tampa — city initiative launched in 2017 with CARD-USF; trains city departments, runs an advisory board, and maintains the Tampa Police Department's voluntary special-needs registry
- ZooTampa — Accessibility — certified autism-friendly business; free Distract Packs, sensory guides, an Autism Friendly Zoo Map, and a Quiet Space in the Australia section; (813) 935-8552 ext. 0
- Glazer Children's Museum — Neurodiversity — IBCCES Certified Autism Center with sensory bags and a quiet room on request, plus a monthly sensory-friendly morning called Sunshine Sunday; (813) 443-3861
- City of Tampa — Therapeutic Recreation — adaptive after-school, art, athletic, and fitness programs plus Monday-evening wheelchair tennis clinics; accommodation requests to (813) 853-2115
- Family Network on Disabilities of Florida — Parent to Parent — statewide parent-matching nonprofit headquartered in nearby Clearwater; (800) 825-5736
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 Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched the statewide Florida Spectrum Alert on June 24, 2026, a rapid public-notification system for a missing child under 18 reasonably believed to have autism spectrum disorder and to be in danger; the public can sign up for alerts and is asked to call 911 with any information. (source)
- Tampa International Airport has run 'Wings for Autism' practice-flight events, giving families a chance to rehearse check-in, security, and boarding without an actual flight; the airport's own newsroom covered a July 2026 session. (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, with many having waited more than a decade for services. (source)
- USF Health's Bay Area Early Steps contract is measured against Florida's statewide 45-day standard: evaluation and initial family plan both finished within 45 days of referral. (source)
- Once Hillsborough County Public Schools rules a Tampa child eligible for exceptional student education, state rule requires the IEP meeting within 30 calendar days of that decision. (source)
Paying for support in Tampa
ABA in Tampa is funded one of two ways depending on coverage type. Florida Medicaid's Behavior Analysis benefit pays for medically necessary ABA for members under 21 with a documented autism diagnosis, reauthorized roughly twice a year. Families with a state-regulated private group plan instead fall under the Steven A. Geller Autism Coverage Act (Fla. Stat. 627.6686), which caps combined ABA, speech, occupational, and physical therapy at $36,000 a year and $200,000 over a lifetime and does not reach self-funded employer plans.
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 Tampa parents
Sources
- [1]Florida Early Steps — statewide referral information. Open source
- [2]USF Health — Bay Area Early Steps. Open source
- [3]APD — Suncoast Region office (Tampa). Open source
- [4]APD — iBudget waiver overview. Open source
- [5]USF — About the iBudget DD Waiver and Waitlist. Open source
- [6]Florida Senate — Fla. Stat. 627.6686, autism spectrum disorder coverage. Open source
- [7]Disability Rights Florida — Behavior Analysis Services. Open source
- [8]Hillsborough County Public Schools — Exceptional Student Education. Open source
- [9]Pinellas County Schools — Exceptional Student Education. Open source
- [10]USF Health — Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics. Open source
- [11]USF CARD. Open source
- [12]City of Tampa — Autism Friendly Tampa. Open source
- [13]ZooTampa — Accessibility. Open source
- [14]Glazer Children's Museum — Neurodiversity. Open source
- [15]City of Tampa — Therapeutic Recreation. Open source
- [16]FDLE — Florida Spectrum Alert launch (June 2026). Open source
- [17]Tampa International Airport — Wings for Autism (July 2026). 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.