The Texas Panhandle — Amarillo, Canyon, and the rest of Potter and Randall counties — is home to many families, including a large immigrant and refugee community, and has real, credentialed help for kids with special needs, anchored by the Turn Center, West Texas A&M University, and BSA Health System. Your local districts — Amarillo ISD, Canyon ISD, River Road, Highland Park, and Bushland — each run special education, and you have the right to services in your language. This is the Panhandle's own yellow pages of the best, most relevant help — named experts and clinics where we can verify them, ranked by real credentials (ABPP, BHCOE, CALT, board-certification), never by reviews or who pays. In Texas your free front door is ECI (Early Childhood Intervention, birth–3) and your school district's evaluation and IEP for ages 3+. Start there, then the best evaluators, schools, reading specialists, therapists, doctors, and advocates near you.
✓ Every provider here is vetted by credentials, never pay-to-play. How we choose →
Established 1951 PK-8 independent school fully accredited by the Southwest Association of Episcopal Schools (TEPSAC-approved). Small classes and a whole-child model that supports students with mild learning differences alongside a college-prep curriculum.
Nonprofit early-childhood school (founded 1969) whose Central Campus was one of the first in the U.S. to earn NAEYC accreditation. A full-time early-intervention specialist provides developmental and behavioral screening plus speech, OT and PT referrals for children birth-5.
San Jacinto Christian Academy's Fearfully and Wonderfully Made (FWM) program delivers Take Flight, a comprehensive Orton-Gillingham-based dyslexia intervention, taught by a trained language therapist within an accredited private school. A local private-school dyslexia option.
Region 16 ESC supports the Panhandle's school districts and families with special-education workshops, training, and resources — a free state-level resource for understanding placements and services before paying privately.
Amarillo ISD provides a full continuum of special-education placements for eligible children ages birth through 22 — autism support, behavior, and life-skills classrooms, plus Early Childhood Special Education. Your ARD/IEP team can place your child in the right setting; insist on the appropriate program through the ARD process.
Canyon ISD runs special-education services and specialized programs across the south end of the metro (Canyon, south Amarillo) — autism, behavior, and life-skills supports your IEP team can access for students with significant needs.
SPEDTex is the Texas Education Agency's special-education information center — free, bilingual guidance by phone, email, or chat on evaluations, IEPs, placements, and your rights. A great no-cost first call when choosing a program.
Dedicated dyslexia intervention center serving the Texas Panhandle from its Amarillo campus. Students receive the Take Flight comprehensive Orton-Gillingham-based dyslexia curriculum—written by the Luke Waites Center for Dyslexia and Learning Disorders at Scottish Rite for Children in Dallas—taught one-on-one/small-group by Certified Academic Language Therapists over roughly two to two-and-a-half years. Tuition-free: no student has ever been charged. The strongest in-city, credential-backed dyslexia option for Amarillo families.
The region's primary special-education provider, serving eligible children from birth through age 22 under IDEA with a continuum of placements from inclusion to self-contained settings. Operates dedicated autism (ASD) classrooms at designated campuses (e.g., Amarillo High, Windsor and Landergin Elementary), a State Dyslexia Program, Section 504 services, and a Regional Day School Program for the Deaf. Free to district residents and the default entry point for evaluation, IEP, and placement.
Pediatric and family psychological practice offering assessment and diagnosis for ADHD, learning disorders, developmental delay, emotional disturbance and Asperger's/autism, with community referrals. Established local Amarillo provider.
Dr. Erin Avirett's practice provides neuropsychological and psychological assessment and therapy for children, adolescents, and adults across the Texas Panhandle, including diagnostic evaluations. A credentialed local private evaluation option.
Joe Barton's practice offers assessments for ADHD, learning disorders, and mood/anxiety conditions, plus individual, group, and family counseling for children and adults. A local Amarillo evaluation-and-therapy option.
Galliant Autism provides autism diagnostic evaluations — including the gold-standard ADOS-2 — led by a bilingual Board Certified Behavior Analyst with 10+ years of experience, serving the Panhandle in-clinic, in-home, and via telehealth. A credentialed, bilingual local diagnose-and-treat option.
BSA Health System and Northwest Texas Healthcare System provide pediatric care in Amarillo — local medical starting points for developmental concerns, with the Burkhart Center (Texas Tech, Lubbock ~2 hours) and Cook Children's as the academic referrals for complex autism and developmental diagnoses.
The American Board of Professional Psychology's directory lists clinicians who passed board certification in clinical neuropsychology — the credential to verify in any private evaluator across the Panhandle, instead of trusting star ratings.
Kim Clark is a private Certified Academic Language Therapist in Amarillo providing intensive, multisensory, Orton-Gillingham-based dyslexia and written-language therapy, now also available online. A verified private CALT in the Panhandle.
The Scottish Rite Learning Center's Amarillo satellite (Amarillo Historical Building) — a partnership with Texas Scottish Rite Hospital and West Texas A&M University — provides dyslexia therapy taught by Certified Academic Language Therapists, the gold-standard Orton-Gillingham-based credential, typically at no charge to families. A remarkable free dyslexia resource in the Panhandle.
The Academic Language Therapy Association lists CALTs and Licensed Dyslexia Therapists (LDTs) — Texas's gold-standard structured-literacy credentials (Amarillo has private CALTs such as Kim Clark). The certification to verify in any private dyslexia therapist, instead of trusting ads.
Texas law requires districts to screen for dyslexia and provide evidence-based, structured-literacy intervention. Amarillo ISD and every Panhandle district must offer this free — ask in writing for dyslexia screening and services, and know your rights before paying for private tutoring.
Pediatric speech-language clinic led by Ashleigh Morales, M.S., CCC-SLP, offering in-office evaluation and treatment plus school-contract services for children with speech and language delays in Amarillo.
Care Options for Kids provides pediatric speech, occupational, and physical therapy in Amarillo, serving Carson, Gray, Potter, and Randall counties — a credentialed local clinic for children needing therapy.
Amarillo ABA provides intensive 1:1, BCBA-supervised applied behavior analysis for children with autism, intellectual/developmental disabilities, and related conditions, with strong family involvement, across multiple Amarillo locations.
The Turn Center is a Panhandle nonprofit dedicated to pediatric speech, occupational, and physical therapy for children across the region — a deep, mission-driven, multidisciplinary therapy home and a strong, accessible local anchor.
Galliant Autism (bilingual BCBA) and Amarillo ABA provide 1-to-1, BCBA-led applied behavior analysis for children with autism in the Panhandle — in-clinic, in-home, and school-based. Credentialed local autism treatment; verify current BCBA supervision and ask about BHCOE accreditation.
H2 Health Kids (1600 S Coulter St) and Care Options for Kids (2201 Civic Circle, 806-686-0429) provide pediatric physical, occupational, and speech therapy in Amarillo — credentialed local clinics for children needing one-on-one therapy.
The BHCOE directory lists accredited ABA providers across the Panhandle, ASHA ProFind lists CCC-SLP speech therapists, and AOTA lists OTR/L occupational therapists — searchable by zip so families in Amarillo, Canyon, or Bushland find the nearest credentialed clinician.
BSA Behavioral Health offers child and adolescent psychiatric and behavioral-health services in Amarillo — a local hospital route for psychiatric evaluation and diagnosis of children with mental-health and developmental concerns.
BSA Health System provides pediatric care in Amarillo — a strong local medical starting point for developmental concerns and referrals, with the Burkhart Center (Texas Tech) and Cook Children's as the academic referrals for complex autism, ADHD, and developmental diagnoses.
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center's Amarillo campus provides university-affiliated pediatric care — a strong local route to developmental evaluation and referrals, with the Burkhart Center in Lubbock as the autism specialty partner.
The American Academy of Pediatrics' directory helps you find board-certified developmental-behavioral pediatricians serving the Amarillo area — the credential to verify for a formal autism or ADHD diagnosis.
Led by April Gonnering — a former special-education teacher with a master's from WTAMU, an Educational Diagnostician certificate, and special-ed advocacy studies at St. Mary's Law — this practice supports Amarillo families through evaluations, IEP/ARD meetings, and the special-education process. By appointment; not an attorney.
Uniting Parents provides free parent case management, information, training, and family support for children with disabilities and chronic illnesses ages 0–21 across the 32-county Panhandle — staffed by parents of children with disabilities. A trusted free local ally.
The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates' directory lists active, vetted special-education advocates and attorneys serving the Panhandle — the field's real professional standard.
Partners Resource Network is Texas's federally funded Parent Training and Information Center, with strong Spanish-language projects (PATH) — free, bilingual help understanding your rights, evaluations, and the ARD/IEP process. A respected free resource before hiring a private advocate.
The Arc of Potter & Randall County provides local disability advocacy, navigation, and family support in Amarillo — a helpful nonprofit ally for understanding services and the school system before you pay a private advocate.
West Texas A&M University's Speech and Hearing Clinic (Canyon, ~20 minutes from Amarillo) provides low-cost speech, language, and hearing evaluation and therapy by supervised graduate clinicians — serving Amarillo, Canyon, and the Panhandle. A strong-value option for ongoing services.
The Scottish Rite Learning Center's Amarillo satellite provides CALT-led, Orton-Gillingham-based dyslexia therapy typically at no charge — one of the strongest no-cost, evidence-based dyslexia resources in the Panhandle.
For children birth to 3, Texas Panhandle Centers' ECI provides free developmental evaluations and early-intervention therapies in your home — the earliest, no-barrier place to start in Potter and Randall counties.
Texas Health Steps provides free checkups and connects Medicaid-eligible children to needed therapies (speech, OT, ABA) — an important low-cost path to services for many Panhandle families.
For children birth to 3 with a developmental delay, disability, or qualifying diagnosis, Early Childhood Intervention provides free developmental evaluation and services (speech, OT, PT, specialized skills) in your home — Texas Panhandle Centers runs ECI for Potter and Randall counties (806-358-8974). The earliest, no-barrier place to start.
Request a Full Individual Evaluation in writing from your district — Amarillo ISD, Canyon ISD, River Road, Highland Park, or Bushland. In Texas, once you sign consent the district must complete the evaluation within 45 school days, then hold an ARD/IEP meeting within 30 calendar days. You have the right to this in your language. The free legal route to an IEP under IDEA.
Texas's federally mandated protection & advocacy agency — free, bilingual legal information and advocacy when a child's special-education rights are denied. A powerful free resource before you pay anyone.
Federally funded and free — they help Texas families understand their rights, the IEP/504 process, evaluations, and meetings. A great first call.
Texas's protection & advocacy agency — free legal-rights information and help if your child's rights are being denied.
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How do I start the special-education process in Amarillo?
Put your request in writing to your child's school, asking for a full special-education evaluation — that is the legal first step. On A New Story you'll find a free, ready-to-send evaluation-request letter you can use today.
How long does a special-education evaluation take?
Once you give written consent, the school generally must complete the evaluation and hold an eligibility meeting within a set timeline (often around 60 days, though it varies by state). Putting your request in writing starts the clock.
Can my school district pay for a private special-education school?
Sometimes. If the public school can't provide an appropriate education, the district can be required to fund a state-approved nonpublic placement. It isn't automatic — it takes the right evaluation and advocacy — but families do it every year, including ones with limited funds.
What's the difference between an IEP and a 504 plan?
An IEP provides specialized instruction and services under IDEA; a 504 plan provides accommodations under civil-rights law. A New Story's free guides walk you through which one fits your child.
Where can I find free special-education help in Amarillo?
A New Story lists credential-vetted schools, evaluators, therapists, advocates, and the free public programs and parent centers in Texas — searchable by ZIP, and free forever.