Local resources in San Antonio
Ordered by review count, then name. Providers cannot pay to be listed, ranked, or edited.
16 resources in San Antonio
1. Action Behavior Centers — San Antonio
A large network's San Antonio arm, with the same published age range and delivery choice as its other Texas cities.
Ages 18 months to 13 years
2. Apara Autism Center — San Antonio
A centre whose own description puts collaboration with the family and with other local services at the front, rather than a self-contained programme.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
3. Apara Autism Centers — Texas network
A Texas-only network with more than one San Antonio-area clinic, so the choice is which site rather than which company.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
4. Autism Community Network
Strengths-based autism screenings and medical diagnostic evaluations for young children, on-site or by telehealth, in Spanish or English, alongside parent empowerment groups, educational classes and child-led therapies.
Ages Referrals accepted for children up to 5 years 6 months; its Earliest Connections Clinic sees children 6 to 36 months
5. Behavior Frontiers — San Antonio (Loop)
A centre-based ABA provider for children aged 2 to 6 in San Antonio, open weekday mornings and afternoons. Sources disagree on whether this location accepts Texas Medicaid, so confirm before enrolling.
Ages 2 to 6
6. Behavioral Innovations — San Antonio West
A Behavioral Innovations centre on the west side of San Antonio, covering Alamo Ranch and Westover Hills, offering both ABA therapy and diagnostic assessment. Its page found didn't publish ages or Medicaid status.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
7. BlueSprig Autism — MAC (Multi-Assistance Center)
Another BlueSprig ABA centre in San Antonio, based at the Multi-Assistance Center site. Its page found didn't publish an address, ages, or Medicaid status, so confirm directly.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
8. BlueSprig Autism — San Antonio Medical Center
A BlueSprig ABA centre near San Antonio's Medical Center district, offering therapy at the centre, at home, at school or in the community. Its page found didn't publish an address, ages, or Medicaid status.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
9. Centria Autism — San Antonio
A Centria Autism centre in San Antonio offering diagnostic evaluations plus ABA therapy in either the centre or a family's home. Its page found didn't publish ages, a phone number, or Medicaid status.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
10. Empower Behavioral Health — San Antonio
A Texas-wide ABA provider with more than one San Antonio site, which gives some choice on travel and on which centre has room.
Ages Ages not published in the sources we saw — ask when you call
11. Little Spurs Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics
Autism evaluations for children and young people aged 0 to 21, in English and Spanish, across two San Antonio clinics (Westover Hills and Leon Springs).
Ages 0 to 21 years
12. Mindcolor Autism Centers — San Antonio
A San Antonio ABA centre serving children 2 to 13, accepting most commercial insurance and TRICARE. Whether it accepts Texas Medicaid is disputed across sources, so ask before enrolling.
Ages 2 to 13
13. Miracle League of San Antonio
A league with a published schedule and an online sign-up, so you can see the season's dates before committing.
Ages Children and young people
14. Morgan's Sports
The organised-sport side of the same organisation behind the accessible park, so a family that has already visited has a route into regular sessions.
Ages All ages
15. Morgan's Wonderland
Not a class or a league but a day out designed from the ground up to be usable — which for a family that has given up on theme parks is a different proposition entirely.
Ages All ages
16. The Children's Hospital of San Antonio — Comprehensive Autism Program
Comprehensive autism evaluations for children and adolescents who need a diagnosis or want an existing one confirmed; physicians assess social interaction, communication, behaviour, and emotional, cognitive, sensory and adaptive functioning.
Ages Children and adolescentsWait The provider's own page says appointment waits may be up to six months or more due to high demand
The short answer for San Antonio
- Under 3: the Center for Health Care Services (CHCS) runs Early Childhood Intervention for San Antonio ISD, East Central ISD, Harlandale ISD, Somerset ISD, and Southside ISD — call (210) 261-3300 to refer; no diagnosis is required first.
- For ages 3 and older, put your request for an evaluation in writing and send it to your child's campus — East Central ISD, for one, describes 15 school days to respond, and evaluation is free.
- Long-term Medicaid waiver services in Bexar County are entered through AACOG, the Alamo Area Council of Governments, at (210) 832-5020 — not through a traditional mental-health center.
- CLASS, DBMD, and MDCP interest lists bypass AACOG entirely; call the state directly at 877-438-5658 for those three.
- For a live person to help sort through any of this, United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County runs the local 2-1-1 line, available 24/7.
San Antonio anchors Bexar County, and its autism-related public systems split across more organizations than in some other Texas metros: a behavioral-health nonprofit runs early intervention for part of the county, a regional council of governments — not a mental-health authority — handles the disability-waiver front door, and more than a dozen independent school districts each run their own Child Find process.
That split can make San Antonio harder to navigate than a single-agency city, but every door listed here is real, and the phone numbers below are the ones each organization publishes for exactly this purpose.
Statewide programs, numbers, and rights are on the Texas page. This page adds the local entry points that are specific to San Antonio metro (Bexar County).
Early intervention under 3: Texas Early Childhood Intervention (ECI)
Texas Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) supports children from birth up to their third birthday who have a developmental delay or a qualifying diagnosis, and the referral itself can come from anyone in the child's life — a parent, a pediatrician, a grandparent, a preschool teacher — with no prior diagnosis required. In Bexar County, the Center for Health Care Services (CHCS) runs the ECI program zoned to San Antonio ISD, East Central ISD, Harlandale ISD, Somerset ISD, and Southside ISD; families zoned to a different district can still call and will be routed to the correct contractor. CHCS describes the referral as easy to make by phone, and the resulting developmental assessment is free regardless of income. State rule gives the local ECI program 45 calendar days from referral to finish the evaluation and draft an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP), with agreed services beginning within 28 days of a parent's signature.
- Texas Early Childhood Intervention (ECI)
- Referral phone: (210) 261-3300 (CHCS ECI referral line)
New to early intervention? Read the plain-language guide first.
School districts and special education
Federal law's Child Find mandate obligates every Texas school district and open-enrollment charter to seek out, identify, and evaluate any student they suspect has a disability, from birth through age 21, at no cost to the family. Start the process with a written request to your child's campus or the district's special education office; East Central ISD, for one, describes 15 school days to respond to that request. San Antonio's school-age population is split across more than a dozen independent districts, so which office handles your child's Child Find depends entirely on your home address.
- North East ISD — Special Education Department 210-407-0185; oversees Child Find, psychological services, and related therapies
- East Central ISD — Early Child Find Team (ages 0-5) 210-634-6810; district office 210-634-6100; 15 school days to respond to a written request
- San Antonio ISD — one of the five districts CHCS's ECI program feeds into for children aging out of early intervention
Evaluation and diagnosis pathways in San Antonio
We have not yet verified a hospital or university evaluation program with public intake information in San Antonio. 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: Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG) — Bexar County's IDD services and waiver intake point
Texas routes long-term intellectual and developmental disability services locally, and in Bexar County that function sits with the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG) rather than a mental-health authority — a structure that differs from most other Texas metros. AACOG determines eligibility and enrolls children onto the HCS and Texas Home Living Medicaid waiver interest lists at (210) 832-5020 or IDDservices@aacog.gov; the CLASS, DBMD, and MDCP interest lists are instead joined through the state's toll-free line, 877-438-5658. A child can be added to any list before a diagnosis is finished, and position depends only on the date a name was added.
- Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG) — Bexar County's IDD services and waiver intake point
- Phone: (210) 832-5020 (AACOG IDD services) · 877-438-5658 (state interest list line)
Local organizations that help San Antonio families
- United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County — operates the local 2-1-1 referral line, available 24/7
- 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
- Partners Resource Network — PATH Project — federally funded parent training center; free help with IDEA rights and the ARD/IEP process (1-800-866-4726)
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.
- Bexar County splits a role most Texas counties give to a single LIDDA: the Alamo Area Council of Governments handles waiver-interest-list intake for the county, while Early Childhood Intervention for children under 3 is run separately, through the Center for Health Care Services. (source)
- San Antonio ISD and the other districts sharing the metro area get 45 school days from a parent's signed consent to complete the full individual evaluation, extended for any run of three or more consecutive absences. (source)
- Once that evaluation report is finished, Texas law requires the district's Admission, Review, and Dismissal committee — its name for the IEP team — to convene within 30 calendar days to decide eligibility. (source)
- Bexar County families with a state-regulated commercial plan can see ABA reimbursement capped at $36,000 a year once a child turns 10, with no such limit before that birthday. (source)
Paying for support in San Antonio
Texas leans on Medicaid waiver programs, not a dedicated autism fund, to pay for the lifetime supports many autistic children will eventually need. In Bexar County, the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG) determines eligibility and enrolls children onto the HCS and Texas Home Living interest lists at (210) 832-5020 or IDDservices@aacog.gov; the CLASS, DBMD, and MDCP interest lists are instead joined through the state's toll-free line, 877-438-5658. A family's place on any of these lists depends only on when they signed up, never on how urgent the need looks, so many parents register well before they expect to use the benefit.
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 San Antonio parents
Sources
- [1]Center for Health Care Services — Early Childhood Intervention. Open source
- [2]Center for Health Care Services — homepage and program directory. Open source
- [3]AACOG — Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities services. Open source
- [4]North East ISD — Special Education. Open source
- [5]East Central ISD — Child Find. Open source
- [6]San Antonio ISD — Special Education. Open source
- [7]United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County. Open source
- [8]Texas HHS — Early Childhood Intervention Services. Open source
- [9]Texas HHS — ECI Program Search (find your contractor by address). Open source
- [10]Texas HHS — ECI Family Cost Share booklet (PDF). Open source
- [11]Texas HHS — Children's Autism Program. Open source
- [12]TMHP — Texas Medicaid ABA benefit effective February 1, 2022. Open source
- [13]Texas Insurance Code §1355.015 (autism coverage mandate). Open source
- [14]SPEDTex. Open source
- [15]Autism Society of Texas. Open source
- [16]Disability Rights Texas. Open source
- [17]Navigate Life Texas. Open source
- [18]Partners Resource Network — PATH Project. 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.