Local resources in Fort Worth
Ordered by review count, then name. Providers cannot pay to be listed, ranked, or edited.
14 resources in Fort Worth
1. ACES ABA — Fort Worth
An ABA therapy provider focused on early intervention that says it handles insurance benefit verification for families. Its page found didn't state Medicaid acceptance or an age range, so ask directly.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
2. Action Behavior Centers — Chisholm Trail
A further Action Behavior Centers site serving the Chisholm Trail area of Fort Worth. As with its sister sites, Medicaid is not accepted in Texas at Action Behavior Centers locations.
Ages 18 months to 13 years
3. Action Behavior Centers — Fort Worth
Centres on the Tarrant County side rather than a Dallas service that covers it, which is an hour of daily driving either way.
Ages 18 months to 13 years
4. Action Behavior Centers — Presidio
One of several separately addressed Action Behavior Centers sites in the Fort Worth area, offering ABA therapy and free autism evaluations. Its own materials state Medicaid isn't accepted at Action Behavior Centers in Texas, so families relying on Medicaid should look elsewhere.
Ages 18 months to 13 years
5. Autism Treatment Center — Fort Worth
Outpatient ABA (applied behaviour analysis) therapy for autistic children and adults at the Fort Worth clinic; the organisation's speech and occupational therapy services are based at its Dallas and San Antonio sites.
Ages Ages for the Fort Worth ABA clinic not published — the organisation's mission spans the lifespan
6. Behavioral Innovations — Fort Worth Alliance
A centre-based ABA and behaviour therapy provider covering North Fort Worth and nearby suburbs such as Keller and Westlake. The page found didn't state age ranges or Medicaid status, so confirm both when you call.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
7. Behavioral Innovations — Lake Worth
A Behavioral Innovations ABA therapy clinic in the Lake Worth area of Fort Worth. Its page publishes contact details but not age ranges or Medicaid status, so ask when you call.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
8. BlueSprig Autism — Fort Worth
A BlueSprig ABA therapy centre in Fort Worth running named programmes by age band, from infancy through age 18. The page found didn't publish Medicaid status, so confirm funding directly.
Ages Birth to 18
9. Cook Children's — Child Study Center
Diagnosis, treatment and education for children with complex developmental and behavioural disabilities, including full-day ABA autism services (9:00 a.m.-3:45 p.m., 2 to 5 days a week) built around an individual skill assessment.
Ages Children with complex developmental and behavioural disabilities; age bands not published
10. Cook Children's — Psychology, Fort Worth
Psychology and psychiatry care for children and teens aged 2 to 18 who are having behavioural, neurodevelopmental or emotional difficulties, including autism, ADHD, depression and anxiety.
Ages 2 to 18 years
11. Kyo — Dallas-Fort Worth
An ABA therapy provider offering in-home and school-based sessions across the Dallas-Fort Worth region, including Fort Worth. The page found didn't publish specific ages, an address, or Medicaid status.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
12. RISE Adaptive Sports
An unusually wide programme for something free — the water activities in particular are the sort a family would otherwise never get near.
Ages Participants and their families
13. Therapy and Beyond — Fort Worth
A Fort Worth ABA therapy provider that names Medicaid as a potential funding source alongside private insurance for a diagnosed child. It doesn't publish its own age range on the page found.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
14. Thrive Behavior Centers — Fort Worth
A newer Fort Worth ABA therapy centre that is upfront about still building out its insurance network, offering single-case agreements in the meantime. It doesn't publish an age range or Medicaid status on the page found.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
The short answer for Fort Worth
- Under 3: ECI of North Central Texas, run by MHMR of Tarrant County, takes referrals at 1-800-754-0524 or 817-446-8000 — anyone can call, and no diagnosis is required first.
- MHMR also runs a related screening line, Help Me Grow North Texas (844-689-5437), for expecting families and children ages 0-5.
- Once your child turns 3, send a written evaluation request to your campus instead of ECI; Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD's Special Programs Department can be reached at 817-232-0880, ext. 2622.
- Long-term Medicaid waiver services route through MHMR of Tarrant County, the county's LIDDA, at 817-335-3022 — a single agency handles both early intervention and the adult waiver system here.
- For general navigation help, United Way of Tarrant County runs the local 2-1-1 line at 817-258-8000.
Fort Worth sits in Tarrant County, where a single unit of local government, MHMR of Tarrant County, has run both mental-health and intellectual/developmental-disability services since 1969 — including the county's Early Childhood Intervention contract and its Medicaid waiver intake desk.
Outside of MHMR, the rest of the system runs through school districts: Fort Worth ISD and several large neighboring districts each carry their own Child Find duty, and which one applies depends on your home address, not on which city you consider yourself to live in.
Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Texas page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to Fort Worth metro (Tarrant County).
Early intervention under 3: Texas Early Childhood Intervention (ECI)
ECI, Texas's Early Childhood Intervention program, is open to any child from birth to age three with a developmental delay or an eligible diagnosis, and referrals are accepted from parents, relatives, doctors, or childcare staff without requiring a diagnosis first. In Tarrant County the program operates as ECI of North Central Texas, run by MHMR of Tarrant County: call to request an evaluation, and staff call back to schedule the first visit, where eligibility is assessed and, if the child qualifies, an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) is built with the family. MHMR also runs a related line, Help Me Grow North Texas, for expecting families and children ages 0-5 who may need a broader developmental screening or referral. Services continue until a child's third birthday, when the district-transition process begins.
- Texas Early Childhood Intervention (ECI)
- Referral phone: 1-800-754-0524 or 817-446-8000 (ECI of North Central Texas)
New to early intervention? Read the plain-language guide first.
School districts and special education
Texas school districts and charters carry a standing legal duty — Child Find — to locate, identify, and evaluate students they suspect have a disability, from birth to 21 years old, without charging the family anything. Put your evaluation request in writing to the campus or district special education office. Several independent districts serve different parts of Fort Worth and its suburbs, each with its own Child Find contact, so confirm which one covers your address.
- Fort Worth ISD — part of the district's Specialized Learning department; a separate Section 504 Child Find page also exists
- Crowley ISD — district office 817-297-5800; publishes a community-resources page covering autism spectrum disorder specifically
- Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD — Special Programs Department 817-232-0880 ext. 2622; serves children age three through twenty-one, birth for vision or hearing disabilities
Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in Fort Worth
We have not yet verified a hospital or university evaluation program with public intake information in Fort Worth. That is a gap in our research, not a sign there is nothing here — and it does not stand between you and an evaluation. The school district evaluation above is free, and early intervention under 3 does not need a private diagnosis first.
Disability services and waivers: MHMR of Tarrant County (My Health My Resources) — Tarrant County's LIDDA
MHMR of Tarrant County is a unit of local government, governed by a board the Tarrant County Commissioners Court appoints, and has operated since 1969. It functions as the county's Local Intellectual and Developmental Disability Authority, handling IDD services and Medicaid waiver interest-list enrollment for HCS and Texas Home Living at 817-335-3022. As elsewhere in Texas, the CLASS, DBMD, and MDCP interest lists are joined separately, through the state's own line at 877-438-5658, rather than through MHMR directly.
- MHMR of Tarrant County (My Health My Resources) — Tarrant County's LIDDA
- Phone: 817-335-3022 (general services) · 877-438-5658 (state interest list line)
Local organizations that help Fort Worth families
- United Way of Tarrant County — operates the local 2-1-1 referral line, 817-258-8000
- Autism Society of Texas — statewide information and referral line, 512-479-4199; Spanish support available
- SPEDTex — the state's special education parent helpline: 1-855-773-3839, weekdays, with email and live chat
- Disability Rights Texas — the state's federally designated protection-and-advocacy agency; direct legal help when rights are violated
- Navigate Life Texas — state-supported plain-language resource site for Texas families of children with disabilities
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.
- Fort Worth-area districts get 45 school days after a parent's signed consent to complete the full individual evaluation, and that clock pauses during any run of three or more absent school days. (source)
- Texas then requires the district's Admission, Review, and Dismissal committee — its version of the IEP team most other states use — to meet within 30 calendar days of the finished evaluation report. (source)
- Under the state mandate, Fort Worth families with commercial coverage see ABA reimbursement capped at $36,000 per year starting the year a child turns 10, with no dollar limit before that. (source)
Paying for support in Fort Worth
Texas households looking for long-term, non-medical autism support typically end up in the Medicaid waiver system rather than any stand-alone state autism program. Tarrant County's Local Intellectual and Developmental Disability Authority (LIDDA), My Health My Resources (MHMR) of Tarrant County, handles IDD services and waiver enrollment at 817-335-3022; the CLASS, DBMD, and MDCP interest lists are handled separately, through the state's toll-free line, 877-438-5658. The state does not reorder these lists by need — whoever signed up earliest stays ahead, regardless of circumstance.
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 Fort Worth parents
Sources
- [1]MHMR of Tarrant County — Early Childhood Intervention (ECI). Open source
- [2]MHMR of Tarrant County — homepage. Open source
- [3]Fort Worth ISD — Child Find. Open source
- [4]Crowley ISD — Special Education. Open source
- [5]Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD — Child Find. Open source
- [6]United Way of Tarrant County. Open source
- [7]Texas HHS — Early Childhood Intervention Services. Open source
- [8]Texas HHS — ECI Program Search (find your contractor by address). Open source
- [9]Texas HHS — Children's Autism Program. Open source
- [10]TMHP — Texas Medicaid ABA benefit effective February 1, 2022. Open source
- [11]Texas Insurance Code §1355.015 (autism coverage mandate). Open source
- [12]SPEDTex. Open source
- [13]Autism Society of Texas. Open source
- [14]Disability Rights Texas. Open source
- [15]Navigate Life Texas. 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.