Greater Austin covers Travis, Williamson, and Hays counties — Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, Georgetown, Leander, San Marcos. This is a true yellow pages of the best, most relevant help for a child with special needs, built so a family ANYWHERE in the metro can find genuinely excellent care nearby — named experts and therapists, not just directories. It's ranked by real credentials (ABPP, BHCOE, CALT/Orton-Gillingham, COPAA, CCC-SLP, board-certification) — never by reviews or who pays. Start with the free Texas options, then the best evaluators, schools, reading specialists, therapists, doctors, and advocates near you. Then, if you want it, an expert reads your child's records and builds your plan.
We don't rank by star ratings — they're noisy and easy to game. Every group below earns its place by credentials: board certification, school accreditation, professional licensure, and standing in the field's real professional bodies. The honest bar, not the loudest reviews.
For children birth to 3 with developmental, intellectual, or physical disabilities, Texas ECI provides evaluation and early-intervention services (speech, OT, PT, developmental). Services are free or on an income-based sliding scale, and your local program is found through the HHS program search. The earliest, no-barrier place to start.
Texas's federally mandated protection & advocacy agency — free legal information and advocacy when a child's special-education or early-intervention rights are denied. A powerful free resource before you pay anyone.
Texas's federally funded Parent Training and Information Center — free help understanding your rights, the IEP/504 process, evaluations, and meetings. (Austin-based Texas Parent to Parent, txp2p.org, is another excellent free family resource.) A great first call.
Cynthia Austin, PhD, ABPP — board-certified in both pediatric clinical neuropsychology and clinical neuropsychology, fellowship-trained at Kennedy Krieger Institute/Johns Hopkins — practices in UT Health Austin Pediatric Neurosciences at Dell Children's, evaluating learning, attention, and neurodevelopmental conditions. A top-credentialed evaluator.
Dell Children's Texas Child Study Center (with UT Health Austin) provides comprehensive autism and neurodevelopmental assessment and individualized care planning — a leading academic option for a formal diagnosis in Central Texas.
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 (in Round Rock, Cedar Park, or Georgetown), instead of trusting star ratings.
Rawson Saunders School is the only full-curriculum school for dyslexic students (grades 1–8) in Central Texas, using Orton-Gillingham research-proven methods — Cognia-accredited, with an IMSLEC-accredited training institute (a Neuhaus partner). The metro's flagship dyslexia school.
The Rise School of Austin is a nationally recognized, NAEYC-accredited early-childhood program where children with developmental delays (autism, Down syndrome, and more) learn side by side with typically developing peers — a strong inclusion foundation for young learners.
Austin-based Texas Parent to Parent can help you compare additional Austin-area school options for dyslexia, autism, and learning differences at no cost — including district special-education programs across Austin ISD, Round Rock, Leander, and Hays.
Shonna Skarda is a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) and Texas Licensed Dyslexia Therapist offering screening and intervention for dyslexia and dysgraphia, plus reading-comprehension, written-expression, and executive-function support — a named, top-credentialed Austin dyslexia therapist.
The Dyslexia Center of Austin connects families with private Certified Academic Language Therapists year-round and trains new dyslexia therapists — a credible, credential-first source for structured-literacy intervention.
The Academic Language Therapy Association (headquartered in Austin) and IDA Austin list Certified Academic Language Therapists across the metro — the gold-standard dyslexia credential, searchable so you can find a CALT near Round Rock, Cedar Park, or San Marcos.
A huge audiobook/highlighting library — free for students with a qualifying reading disability, so your child keeps up with grade-level books while they learn to decode.
A BHCOE-accredited ABA provider with multiple Austin and Cedar Park centers — research-based applied behavior analysis for autistic children across the metro, accredited for clinical quality rather than ad spend.
A BHCOE-accredited ABA provider serving Austin and Round Rock — applied behavior analysis for neurodiverse individuals across the lifespan, in homes, schools, and treatment centers. Accredited for clinical quality.
The Behavioral Health Center of Excellence directory lists accredited ABA providers across the metro (including BrightPath Behavior and Cultivate serving Round Rock/Georgetown/Hutto) — searchable by zip so families in Pflugerville, Leander, or San Marcos find the nearest accredited center.
ASHA ProFind lists speech-language pathologists who hold the CCC-SLP and AOTA lists licensed occupational therapists (OTR/L) — national credentials to verify, searchable anywhere in greater Austin.
Dell Children's Medical Center (with UT Health Austin) developmental-behavioral pediatrics provides expert diagnosis and management of autism, ADHD, and developmental concerns by board-certified specialists — Central Texas's leading academic children's program.
The American Academy of Pediatrics' directory helps you find board-certified developmental-behavioral pediatricians across greater Austin — the credential to verify for a formal autism or ADHD diagnosis.
The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates' directory lists active, vetted special-education advocates and attorneys serving greater Austin — the field's real professional standard.
The Cuddy Law Firm provides Austin families with both special-education attorneys and advocates for IEP/504 disputes, evaluations, and due process — legal representation when a district isn't meeting its obligations.
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid provides free civil legal help to income-eligible families across the Austin region — a no-cost route to legal assistance, including some education and benefits matters.
The University of Texas at Austin's Speech and Hearing Center provides low-cost speech, language, and hearing evaluation and therapy for children — plus free hearing screenings — delivered by graduate clinicians under licensed, ASHA-certified speech-language pathologists and audiologists.
Austin-based Texas Parent to Parent offers free parent-to-parent matching, resource navigation, and training for families of children with disabilities and special health-care needs across Texas — a warm, no-cost first stop.
For children birth to 3, Texas ECI provides developmental evaluations and early-intervention therapies free or on an income-based sliding scale through your local program — the earliest, no-barrier place to start.
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.
A short message — your child, your Austin district, and what you're facing. We set up a secure way to share the IEP.
We review the records against your rights and match your child to the right Austin providers from the vetted directory above.
A clear written plan, plus a vetted Austin advocate, found and recommended for you, for the in-person help.
Free first reply with honest next steps. No pressure, no surprises — just an expert in your corner.
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