Local resources in Cincinnati
Ordered by review count, then name. Providers cannot pay to be listed, ranked, or edited.
18 resources in Cincinnati
1. April ABA — Cincinnati
In-home ABA therapy provider covering Cincinnati and the surrounding area. Few specifics beyond service area are published on this page, so confirm ages, funding and wait times by phone.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
2. Autism Connections (formerly Autism Society of Greater Cincinnati)
Autism Connections, formerly the Autism Society of Greater Cincinnati, has supported the region's autism community for 54 years with support groups, recreational programmes and an information-and-resources helpline. It runs an online caregiver support group on Tuesday evenings and Thursday mornings, plus a separate monthly group for parents of significantly impacted autistic children.
Ages All ages
3. Bierman Autism Centers — Blue Ash
Centre-based ABA in the Blue Ash area that also runs speech, occupational therapy and diagnostic evaluations under one roof, useful for a family facing separate waiting lists for each service. The 18-month-to-9-year age range is narrower than some competitors.
Ages Ages 18 months to 9
4. Cincinnati Center for Autism — Camp Ability
Camp Ability is a Fairfield summer camp for autistic students aged 3 to 21, supervised by Board Certified Behavior Analysts using ABA principles to build structure and predictability through recreation and instruction. It runs two three-week sessions with half-day and full-day options, part of a wider slate of summer programming.
Ages 3 to 21
5. Cincinnati TOPSoccer
Cincinnati TOPSoccer is an adaptive soccer league for players age 4 and up with a physical or cognitive disability, including many autistic athletes alongside players who use crutches, walkers or wheelchairs. It runs spring indoor sessions in Mason, a summer camp at Hope Church, and fall outdoor practices in Batavia, Mason and Harrison, with fees between $50 and $125.
Ages 4 and up, no upper limit
6. Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities Services
Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities Services is a government agency supporting more than 7,600 county residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities from infancy through their senior years. It provides case management, monitors service quality, and funds services through community partner agencies, connecting each family to providers and funding that match their goals.
Ages All ages
7. Hamilton County Help Me Grow — Early Intervention
Hamilton County Help Me Grow — Early Intervention serves children from birth to age three who have a developmental delay or a qualifying diagnosed medical condition. A team of physical, speech and occupational therapists, developmental specialists and behaviour support coaches visits families at home or in community settings to work through goals and strategies for a child's development.
Ages Birth to 3
8. Heartland ABA — Cincinnati
Heartland ABA's Cincinnati location provides individualised ABA therapy for autistic children in the area and accepts Medicaid alongside other insurance plans.
Ages Children
9. Hopebridge Autism Therapy Center — Milford
Hopebridge's Milford centre delivers ABA, occupational, speech and feeding therapy alongside family training and education sessions, providing early intensive behavioural intervention for children aged 15 months to 7 years. It accepts most private insurance plans as well as Medicaid and is accredited as a Behavioral Health Center of Excellence.
Ages 15 months to 7 years
10. Key Behavior Services — Cincinnati
In-home ABA plus school-district consulting (behaviour plans, FBAs, evaluations) across the Cincinnati area — useful if a family also needs help navigating the school system, not just clinic hours. No street address is published for the Cincinnati office.
Ages Ages 2 to 21
11. Magnet ABA — Cincinnati
Home- and community-based ABA in Cincinnati delivered by licensed BCBAs and technicians. No address, hours or funding details are published, so confirm those by phone.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
12. Queen City Pediatric Dentistry
Queen City Pediatric Dentistry is led by Dr. Katherine Salmon, a board-certified pediatric dentist who completed her residency at Riley Children's Hospital and became board certified in 2021. She and her team have advanced training in treating autistic children alongside those with ADHD, Down syndrome and sensory sensitivities, in a setting built around their needs.
Ages Children
13. Ruby ABA — Cincinnati
In-home ABA provider in Cincinnati that also runs its own occupational and speech therapy, so a family is not juggling three separate referrals. Confirm current openings by phone since no address or hours are published.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you callWait No waitlist
14. Sea of Smiles Pediatric Dentistry
Sea of Smiles Pediatric Dentistry has years of experience treating Cincinnati-area children with additional healthcare needs, including autism, Down syndrome and asthma. Appointments can be adjusted to a child's energy levels, the practice coordinates with a child's doctor, offers child-safe sedation when needed, and its treatment room is glow-in-the-dark to reduce overstimulation.
Ages Children
15. The Kelly O'Leary Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders
The Kelly O'Leary Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders is Cincinnati Children's multidisciplinary diagnostic, treatment and research programme serving the city and tri-state area. Its diagnostic process includes developmental assessments, behavioural observations and cognitive testing, with an initial appointment that can run up to three hours; most commercial insurance and Medicaid are accepted.
Ages Children
16. The Pediatric Dentist — Cincinnati
The Pediatric Dentist — Cincinnati is led by Dr. McNamara, a board-certified pediatric dentist with extensive additional training, treating autistic children and others with additional needs from their first tooth through adulthood. The practice uses positive reinforcement, distraction and desensitisation techniques during visits, and works with parents to choose a sedation option for each child.
Ages First tooth through adulthood
17. Trumpet Behavioral Health — Cincinnati
Names Medicaid on its own page and offers both clinic and home hours, from a centre north of the city in Mason.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
18. YMCA of Greater Cincinnati — Autism Learning Program
The YMCA of Greater Cincinnati's Autism Learning Program runs two intensive ABA-based classrooms with a 2:1 client-to-therapist ratio and regular consultation from a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Children move through daily stations covering arts and crafts, sensory play, fine and gross motor skills, social time, circle time and stories, with a scheduled swim session built into each week.
Ages Children
The short answer for Cincinnati
- Under 3: Hamilton County runs its own Help Me Grow intake at (513) 434-3322 (HMGreferrals@helpmegrow.org), separate from the statewide 1-800 line — either route works, but the county line skips a transfer step for local families.
- Ages 3 and older go through your district instead — a written request starts the clock. Cincinnati Public Schools' nonpublic/homeschool Child Find contact is childfind@cpsboe.k12.oh.us or 513-363-0357, with evaluations due within 60 calendar days of signed consent.
- For a diagnosis, Cincinnati Children's Kelly O'Leary Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders (513-636-4611) is the area's dedicated evaluation clinic.
- Hamilton County DD Services (513-794-3300) is the county's front door for Individual Options and Level One Medicaid waiver applications, assessed by need rather than by a first-come list.
Cincinnati families work within Hamilton County's own version of Ohio's disability system: a county-run early-intervention intake line separate from the statewide number, two school districts with published Child Find contacts, a hospital-based autism diagnostic clinic at Cincinnati Children's, and Hamilton County DD Services as the local gateway to Medicaid waiver support.
This page collects the doors that are actually open to Cincinnati families right now, with the phone number, the source, and the date each fact was checked.
Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Ohio page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Cincinnati metro (Hamilton County).
Early intervention under 3: Ohio Early Intervention, routed locally through Hamilton County's Help Me Grow Central Intake
Children from birth to 3 with a developmental delay or disability qualify for Ohio Early Intervention, and in Hamilton County referrals go through a dedicated local intake line rather than only the statewide number. Any adult — parent, relative, physician, or child care provider — can refer, and a diagnosis is not a prerequisite. After early intervention, children can continue into Hamilton County DD Services' early-childhood program for ages 3 to 5 if newly identified or transitioning out of EI.
- Ohio Early Intervention, routed locally through Hamilton County's Help Me Grow Central Intake
- Referral phone: (513) 434-3322
New to early intervention? Read the plain-language guide first.
School districts and special education
Ohio's Child Find duty applies to every Hamilton County district: locate, identify, and evaluate children with suspected disabilities from birth through 21, at no charge to the family. Cincinnati Public Schools describes a 30-day window for its Intervention Assistance Team to either request your consent or formally decline to evaluate, then 60 calendar days from consent to finish for enrolled students (preschoolers ages 3–5 follow a similar 60-day clock from the Preschool Child Find Team). Nonpublic and homeschooled children route through a separate district contact.
- Cincinnati Public Schools — nonpublic/homeschool intake: childfind@cpsboe.k12.oh.us or 513-363-0357
- Sycamore Community Schools — Office of Student Services: (513) 686-1780
Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Cincinnati
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.
- Cincinnati Children's Hospital — Kelly O'Leary Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders — diagnostic evaluation for autism spectrum disorder, plus connections to behavioral, speech-language, and occupational therapy; families can schedule directly by phone or through MyChart for existing patients, and referring professionals can submit a formal referral online · 513-636-4611
Disability services and waivers: Hamilton County DD Services
Hamilton County DD Services is the county's access point for developmental-disability eligibility and for Ohio's Medicaid home- and community-based waivers, chiefly Individual Options and Level One. As across the rest of Ohio, waiver applicants have been assessed by need rather than ranked by application date since a 2018 policy change — county staff sort each applicant into an 'Immediate Need' or 'Current Need' category and try to connect Current Need cases to non-waiver services before adding them to a waiting list.
- Hamilton County DD Services
- Phone: 513-794-3300
Local organizations that help Cincinnati families
- Ohio Department of Education & Workforce — Office for Exceptional Children — the state's special-education rights office — 614-466-2650 or toll-free 877-644-6338
- Disability Rights Ohio — the state's protection-and-advocacy agency; explains waiver waiting-list assessments and can help when rights are violated
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.
- Ohio's 45-calendar-day Early Intervention timeline, carried over from the federal Part C rule, applies to Hamilton County referrals just as it does statewide: evaluation and the first IFSP meeting both fall inside that window. (source)
- Cincinnati Public Schools' 60-day-from-consent evaluation window sits inside a broader statewide ceiling: Ohio also caps the process at 90 calendar days measured from referral, whichever comes first. (source)
- Ohio's county-board waiver system, the one Hamilton County DD Services runs locally, has produced waits reported in the range of two to ten years for Individual Options or Level One funding. (source)
- Under Ohio's fully-funded-plan mandate, autism coverage extends through age 21, and the ABA benefit it requires can carry a 20-hour weekly cap. (source)
Paying for support in Cincinnati
State-regulated health plans in Ohio must pay for autism screening, diagnosis, and treatment under Ohio Revised Code 3923.84, though the requirement skips self-funded employer coverage and ACA marketplace policies. When a family needs more than insurance provides, Hamilton County DD Services is where Cincinnati-area applications for the Individual Options and Level One Medicaid waivers begin, and Ohio has ranked those waiting lists by documented need — not application date — since 2018.
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 Cincinnati parents
Sources
- [1]Ohio Early Intervention (statewide referral system). Open source
- [2]Hamilton County DD Services — early childhood / early intervention. Open source
- [3]Ohio Administrative Code 3301-51-06 — evaluation timelines. Open source
- [4]Ohio Department of Education & Workforce — Special Education. Open source
- [5]Ohio Legal Help — special education rights and evaluation process. Open source
- [6]Ohio Revised Code 3923.84 — coverage for autism spectrum disorder. Open source
- [7]Disability Rights Ohio — DD Medicaid waiver waiting lists. Open source
- [8]CareSource — Ohio Medicaid ABA administrative policy statement. Open source
- [9]Cincinnati Public Schools — Child Find. Open source
- [10]Sycamore Community Schools — Child Find. Open source
- [11]Cincinnati Children's — Kelly O'Leary Center autism care. 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.