Southern New Hampshire — Manchester, Nashua, Bedford, Londonderry, Merrimack, and the rest of Hillsborough County — has strong, credentialed help for kids with special needs, anchored by Easterseals NH and the Moore Center. Your local districts — Manchester School District (SAU 37), Nashua, Bedford, Londonderry, and Merrimack — each run special education. This is southern NH'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, Orton-Gillingham, COPAA, CCC-SLP, OTR-L, board-certification), never by reviews or who pays. In New Hampshire your free front door is Family-Centered Early Supports & Services (early 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. 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 a developmental delay or disability, New Hampshire's Family-Centered Early Supports & Services provides free evaluation and services (speech, OT, PT, special instruction, service coordination) — delivered locally in Manchester by the Moore Center (603-206-2700) and across the region by Easterseals NH. The earliest, no-barrier place to start.
Request a special-education evaluation in writing from your district — Manchester (SAU 37), Nashua, Bedford, Londonderry, or Merrimack. Under New Hampshire rules the district must complete the evaluation and, if eligible, develop an IEP within state timelines (the disposition process runs within 60 days of your written consent — ask your district for exact dates). This is the free legal route to an IEP under IDEA.
New Hampshire's federally mandated protection & advocacy agency — free legal information and advocacy when a child's special-education rights are denied. A powerful free resource before you pay anyone.
Dartmouth Health Children's Behavioral and Neurodevelopmental Services (BANDS) provides diagnostic evaluation and care for autism spectrum and other neurodevelopmental disorders, with outpatient visits available at Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Manchester — the region's academic-affiliated diagnostic home.
The Behavioral Learning Network's Manchester office, directed by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctorate (BCBA-D), provides autism assessment and ABA therapy — a credentialed local diagnose-and-treat option. Confirm the diagnostic clinician's licensure.
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 southern NH (Dartmouth Health and Boston Children's, ~1 hour, are the academic referrals for complex cases), instead of trusting star ratings.
The Manchester School District (SAU 37) runs in-district specialized programs — autism support, behavior, and life-skills classrooms — that your IEP team can place your child in. In southern NH the strongest specialized placements are most often within the public districts; insist on the right program through the IEP process.
Easterseals New Hampshire (Manchester) provides autism services, children's therapeutic services, and specialized supports — a deep, long-standing nonprofit that families and IEP teams across the region rely on for programming and therapy.
The Parent Information Center on Special Education offers free help weighing public and private special-education options and pushing for the right program through the IEP process — invaluable when you're considering a specialized placement.
The Children's Dyslexia Center in Nashua provides free, multi-year Orton-Gillingham tutoring by trained instructors for children diagnosed with dyslexia, early elementary through high school — a remarkable no-cost, evidence-based dyslexia resource in southern NH.
The Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators lists accredited O-G practitioners across New Hampshire — searchable near Manchester, Nashua, or Bedford. The gold-standard credential for a private dyslexia tutor, instead of trusting ads.
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.
Easterseals NH provides one-to-one, evidence-based ABA therapy for young children with autism plus children's therapeutic services (speech-language, OT, PT) at its Manchester clinic — a credentialed, multidisciplinary nonprofit and the region's anchor provider.
A.B.A. Behavioral Consulting is a locally owned Manchester practice with Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) providing applied behavior analysis for children with autism (Behavioral Concepts/BCI serves Nashua, and several BCBA-led practices accept NH Medicaid and Connor's Law coverage). Verify current BCBA supervision.
Elliot Pediatric Rehabilitation Services provides physical, occupational, and speech therapy for children 0–18 in Manchester, and Milestones Pediatric Therapy (603-232-5922) offers speech, OT, and PT — credentialed, multidisciplinary local options.
The BHCOE directory lists accredited ABA providers across southern NH, ASHA ProFind lists CCC-SLP speech therapists, and AOTA lists OTR/L occupational therapists — searchable by zip so families in Manchester, Nashua, or Bedford find the nearest credentialed clinician.
Dartmouth Health Children's BANDS team diagnoses and helps manage autism and neurodevelopmental disorders, with outpatient care at Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Manchester — the region's academic developmental-behavioral home (Boston Children's is also within reach for complex cases).
Elliot Hospital and Catholic Medical Center provide pediatric care in Manchester — local medical starting points for developmental concerns and referrals to specialists.
The American Academy of Pediatrics' directory helps you find board-certified developmental-behavioral pediatricians serving southern NH — 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 New Hampshire — the field's real professional standard.
The Parent Information Center on Special Education is New Hampshire's federally funded Parent Training and Information Center — free help understanding your rights, evaluations, and the IEP process, with trained parent advocates. A respected statewide free resource before hiring a private advocate.
New Hampshire's protection & advocacy agency offers free legal information and advocacy for special-education rights — a no-cost first stop before hiring a private advocate or attorney.
The Nashua Children's Dyslexia Center provides free, multi-year Orton-Gillingham tutoring for children with dyslexia — one of the strongest no-cost, evidence-based dyslexia resources in New Hampshire.
For children birth to 3, NH's Family-Centered Early Supports & Services (the Moore Center in Manchester) provides free developmental evaluations and early-intervention therapies — the earliest, no-barrier place to start.
New Hampshire's 'Connor's Law' requires many insurance plans to cover autism diagnosis and treatment (including ABA), and NH Medicaid covers medically necessary therapies — an important low-cost path to services. Ask any ABA or therapy provider whether they bill NH Medicaid or your plan under Connor's Law.
PIC-NH offers free help understanding evaluations, IEPs, and your rights — a no-cost first call for any southern NH family navigating special education.
Federally funded and free — they help New Hampshire families understand their rights, the IEP/504 process, evaluations, and meetings. A great first call.
New Hampshire's protection & advocacy agency — free legal-rights information and help if your child's rights are being denied.
A short message — your child, your Manchester 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 Manchester providers from the vetted directory above.
A clear written plan, plus a vetted Manchester 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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