Chatham County has just one public school system, Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools, which simplifies the Child Find picture compared with a multi-county metro like Atlanta — but families near the county line in Richmond Hill, Pembroke, Rincon, or Springfield may find themselves zoned into Bryan or Effingham County Schools instead, each with its own contact number. Underneath that, Savannah's early-intervention and disability-waiver systems still run through the same statewide agencies as the rest of Georgia: Babies Can't Wait for children under three, and DBHDD's Region 5 field office — headquartered right here in Savannah — for the NOW and COMP Medicaid waivers.

This guide collects the specific phone numbers, application links, and provider names a Savannah-area parent needs first: the Coastal Health District's early-intervention referral line, the district Child Find contacts, two verified diagnostic and ABA pathways, and the local Community Service Board. Every fact below is sourced to a page checked directly during research; where a Savannah-specific option — say, a dedicated autism clinic inside the hospital system — could not be confirmed, it was left off rather than guessed at.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Georgia page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Savannah metro (Chatham, Bryan, Effingham).

Early intervention under 3: Babies Can't Wait (Georgia's early intervention program)

Babies Can't Wait is Georgia's Part C early-intervention program for infants and toddlers from birth to age three who have a significant developmental delay or a diagnosed condition likely to cause one. Across the Coastal Health District — which covers Chatham, Bryan, Effingham, Bulloch, Camden, Glynn, Liberty, Long, and McIntosh counties — every referral funnels through one Children 1st intake line, and it takes calls from parents, doctors, daycare staff, or anyone else with a concern; a phone call is enough to start a free developmental screening. If the screening flags a delay, a service coordinator schedules a full evaluation at no cost, and an eligible child moves onto an Individualized Family Service Plan built around therapies like speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and special instruction. Ongoing services beyond the free evaluation are billed on a sliding scale against insurance and Medicaid, though the state has committed that a family's inability to pay will not cut off a child's services. Coverage transitions to the school district's Child Find system around the third birthday.

• Babies Can't Wait (Georgia's early intervention program)
• Referral phone: 912-644-5804 (Coastal Health District Children 1st line)

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

School districts and special education

Georgia law obligates every school district — Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools included, along with its Bryan and Effingham County neighbors — to actively locate and evaluate children from birth through 21 who may need special education, whether they attend public school, private school, or are homeschooled inside district lines, and Child Find evaluations are always free. Filing a written evaluation request starts a legal countdown: districts get 60 calendar days from written parental consent to finish testing. An autism finding at school follows Georgia's own eligibility rule, decided by a school-based team, and is a separate question from any clinical diagnosis a doctor or psychologist might give.

• Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools — Specialized Learning office (912) 395-5583; district headquarters (912) 395-5600
• Bryan County Schools — preschool (ages 3-5) referrals go to the Special Education Office at 912-851-4014; for school-age children, start with the teacher, principal, or Student Support Team
• Effingham County Schools — Department of Exceptional Students (912) 754-5623; district main line (912) 754-6491; referrals are confidential and evaluations are free

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Savannah

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.

• Hopebridge Savannah Autism Therapy Center — center-based diagnostic autism assessments plus ABA, occupational therapy, and speech/language evaluation and treatment, for children with autism spectrum disorder and other developmental delays · (912) 295-4956 · no wait figure published; the center's own page notes some services are 'not available in all locations' while staffing continues, so it's worth confirming by phone which services are running locally
• Dr. Doris M. Greenberg, MD — Memorial Health Partners — developmental-behavioral pediatrics, including autism evaluation, at a Savannah practice affiliated with Memorial Health · 912-354-4953
• Proud Moments ABA — Savannah — center-based ABA therapy for children with autism, with clinical assessment by board-certified behavior analysts and parent training; accepts Georgia Medicaid and several major insurers · 912-228-3714 · the center's page advertised no waitlist as of this guide's verification date, but ABA availability can shift quickly — confirm directly

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: Georgia DBHDD — Region 5 Field Office (Savannah)

DBHDD is the state agency behind Georgia's two developmental-disability Medicaid waivers, NOW and COMP, and Chatham County applications route through the Region 5 field office — which happens to be based in Savannah itself rather than somewhere else in the state. Families file through the Individual IDD Connects portal on the Georgia Collaborative ASO website, attaching documentation of the disability; DBHDD's own guidance says a paper form takes longer because staff have to key it into that portal by hand. Once submitted, Region 5 checks the file for completeness and a DBHDD psychologist makes a pre-eligibility decision, with no published timeframe for either step. Because far more people qualify than the waivers can fund at once, most newly eligible applicants land on a statewide planning list rather than starting services right away — that list held roughly 7,900 people as of September 2025, about 3,000 of them under 22 — so applying as soon as a child qualifies, rather than waiting for a crisis, is the standard advice from both DBHDD and advocacy groups. Day-to-day developmental-disability intake for Chatham County runs through Gateway Behavioral Health Services, the local Community Service Board.

• Georgia DBHDD — Region 5 Field Office (Savannah)
• Phone: (912) 303-1670 (Region 5 Field Office, Savannah) · 912-303-1649 (Gateway CSB developmental disabilities intake)

Local organizations that help Savannah families

• Gateway Behavioral Health Services (Gateway CSB) — the Community Service Board covering Chatham, Bryan, Effingham, Camden, Glynn, Liberty, Long, and McIntosh counties; appointments (866) 557-9955, developmental disabilities intake (912) 303-1649, 24/7 Georgia Crisis & Access Line (800) 715-4225
• Abilities Unlimited, Inc. — Savannah nonprofit running adapted strength and fitness programs, including a Special Olympics powerlifting team, for people with a range of physical and neurological disabilities (912-652-6887)
• Savannah's Autism Mom Circle — Savannah-based peer support group for autism parents and caregivers, with regular in-person meetups and a resource guide
• Special Olympics Georgia — Area 17 — local Chatham-area programs include City of Savannah Leisure Services, the Savannah Tiger Sharks swim team, and Abilities Unlimited; area contact sara.gomez@specialolympicsga.org
• City of Savannah Therapeutic Recreation Program — free adapted recreation for kids and adults with disabilities through the city's Recreation & Leisure Services Department, including youth afterschool programming and Special Olympics events (912-651-6791)
• Parent to Parent of Georgia — statewide parent-to-parent network and the central directory for Babies Can't Wait; free help for any Georgia family, birth through age 26 (1-800-229-2038)

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.

• Georgia's NOW/COMP planning list has stayed roughly steady at several thousand people for close to a decade; a fall-2025 budget analysis put it at about 7,900 statewide, with roughly 3,000 of those under age 22 — a statewide figure, since no Chatham-County-only count is published. (source)
• Ava's Law requires Georgia's state-regulated insurance plans to cover autism treatment, including ABA, but it caps that ABA coverage at $35,000 a year and does not reach self-funded employer plans, which are common among larger Savannah-area employers such as the hospital systems and the port. (source)
• Hopebridge's own Savannah page flags that some listed services are 'not available in all locations' while the company continues hiring, so a family should confirm by phone which of diagnostics, ABA, OT, speech, or feeding therapy is actually staffed locally before counting on it. (source)
• Once a Chatham, Bryan, or Effingham County team rules a child eligible, Georgia gives the district 30 calendar days to hold the IEP meeting. (source)
• The Coastal Health District's Babies Can't Wait line answers to the same 45-day federal clock as every Georgia Part C program — the IFSP meeting has to happen within 45 days of a family's call reaching Children 1st. (source)
• Ava's Law stops requiring autism coverage once the covered person turns 21, a separate cutoff from its $35,000 yearly ABA ceiling. (source)