As South Carolina's capital, Columbia sits at the crossing point of three counties — Richland, Lexington, and Kershaw — and roughly two-thirds of the city's land area is actually Fort Jackson, which changes very little about which office handles what, since nearly every family-facing service here is organized around Richland County regardless. What does shift by neighborhood is which of two school districts runs Child Find: Richland One downtown and in the historic core, Richland Two toward the northeast.

Below are the phone numbers, referral steps, and web addresses South Carolina's BabyNet program, Prisma Health's Children's Hospital, both Richland school districts, and the joint Richland/Lexington disability board publish for families starting any of these processes in Columbia.

Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the South Carolina page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Columbia (Richland County).

Early intervention under 3: BabyNet (South Carolina's Part C early intervention system)

Any adult in a young child's life — a parent, relative, doctor, or preschool teacher — can open a BabyNet case in South Carolina; the program no longer relies on walk-in visits to local branches, so the fastest route is the statewide Central Referral Team, online or at 866-512-8881. For the Columbia area, the regional coordination office that picks up the case afterward sits at 300 Arbor Lake Drive, Suite 900, and covers Fairfield, Lexington, Newberry, and Richland counties together, with case questions going to Frances Stroman at 803-898-0463. Children move off BabyNet and onto their school district's radar at age 3.

• BabyNet (South Carolina's Part C early intervention system)
• Referral phone: 866-512-8881 (BabyNet Central Referral Team) · 803-898-0463 (Columbia-area BabyNet office)

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

School districts and special education

Columbia's city limits split between two school districts, and which one owes your child a Child Find evaluation depends on the block you live on rather than the city as a whole. Richland School District One covers downtown and the historic core and pushes evaluation requests down to the individual school rather than a central intake line; Richland School District Two, reachable at 803-787-1910, covers the city's northeastern edge and runs a dedicated Special Education Services department with its own Child Find screening process. Either way, IDEA bars a district from billing a family once a written request identifies a suspected disability.

• Richland School District One — Special Services — Covers downtown Columbia and the historic core; evaluation requests are handled at the school level rather than a district-wide intake line. Includes a Preschool Child Find Screening program.
• Richland School District Two — Special Education Services — Covers northeast Columbia; district line 803-787-1910, 763 Fashion Drive. Runs a Child Find Screening Process and publishes a Special Education Parent Handbook.

IEP or 504 · If you disagree with the school

Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Columbia

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.

• Prisma Health Developmental Pediatrics — Columbia — evaluation, diagnosis, and ongoing care for autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, developmental delay, intellectual disability, and learning problems; a physician must fax a new-patient referral form and a supplemental referral form, after which the clinic mails an intake packet that must be returned within four weeks before scheduling · 803-434-6598 · Requires a physician-faxed referral; the clinic's mailed intake packet must be returned within 4 weeks before an appointment is scheduled.
• ABS Kids — ABA therapy (Columbia) — center-based and in-home applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy across four Columbia-area locations (Downtown, Parklane, Bush River, Fernandina), plus community-integrated ABA programming throughout Richland County · 803-335-0718
• CompleatKidz — ABA therapy (Columbia) — center-based ABA for ages 2 to 10 and in-home ABA from 20 months to age 12; the Columbia location provides ABA and in-home therapy specifically — speech and occupational therapy are offered at the company's other locations, not this one · 803-670-4565

How assessment works · What to do while you wait

Disability services and waivers: Richland/Lexington Disabilities and Special Needs (local board for SC's Office of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities)

Richland and Lexington counties are served jointly by one local disability board, Richland/Lexington Disabilities and Special Needs, rather than each having a separate office — it's the entry point for South Carolina's Medicaid home-and-community-based waivers as well as its own birth-to-6 Step Ahead Early Intervention program, reachable at 803-252-5179. Families can also start directly with the state agency itself, the Office of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (formerly DDSN, now under the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities), whose eligibility-screening line is 800-289-7012 and whose Midlands autism-eligibility office sits at 8301 Farrow Road in Columbia.

• Richland/Lexington Disabilities and Special Needs (local board for SC's Office of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities)
• Phone: 803-252-5179 (Richland/Lexington DSN) · 803-935-5090 (Midlands autism eligibility office)

Local organizations that help Columbia families

• Autism Society of South Carolina — Headquartered in West Columbia; statewide case management, school-partnership support, and an information/referral line (803-750-6988).
• Disability Rights South Carolina — Based in Columbia; the state's protection-and-advocacy agency, help line 866-275-7273.
• Family Connection of South Carolina — Columbia-based, statewide parent-to-parent peer support network (800-578-8750; Spanish line 888-808-7462).
• City of Columbia Parks & Recreation — Miracle League — Weekly adaptive baseball at Owens Field Park with a volunteer buddy for every player; program coordinator Doug Elliott, 803-545-0456.

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.

• Prisma Health's own Developmental Pediatrics page describes a multi-step gate before a first appointment: a physician-faxed referral, then a parent intake packet mailed by the clinic that must be returned within four weeks. (source)
• South Carolina's Department of Education gives Richland One and Richland Two alike 60 calendar days after written consent to finish an eligibility meeting, with a written IEP due within another 30 days for any Columbia child found eligible. (source)
• BabyNet's statewide procedures give the Columbia-area office 45 days from a completed referral to finish evaluating a child and hold the initial IFSP meeting, whether the family lives in Richland, Lexington, Fairfield, or Newberry county. (source)
• A statewide policy memo dated January 2026 ended the practice of automatically placing every newly eligible person on South Carolina's Intellectual Disability/Related Disabilities waiver waiting list, a shift Richland/Lexington Disabilities and Special Needs can walk a Columbia family through. (source)