Greater Orlando covers four counties — Orange, Seminole, Osceola, and Lake — and far more than downtown: Winter Park, Kissimmee, Sanford, Lake Mary, Oviedo, Apopka, Winter Garden, Clermont, St. Cloud. This directory is built so a family ANYWHERE in metro Orlando can find genuinely excellent help nearby, not just options clustered downtown. It's ranked by real credentials (ABPP, BHCOE, Orton-Gillingham/Wilson accreditation, COPAA, board-certification) — never by reviews or who pays. Start with the free Florida options (your county runs its own Early Intervention), then the best evaluators, schools, 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, Florida's Early Steps provides free developmental evaluations and early-intervention services at no cost. It's run locally by county region — Central Florida Early Steps serves Orange, Seminole and Osceola; Lake County families use their regional office. Wherever you live in metro Orlando, this is the earliest, no-barrier place to start.
Florida's federally mandated protection & advocacy agency — free legal information and advocacy when a child's special-education rights are denied, anywhere in the state. A powerful free resource before you pay anyone.
Florida's federally funded Parent Training and Information Center — free help understanding your rights, the IEP/504 process, evaluations, and meetings, serving families across Central Florida and the whole state. A great first call.
Nemours Children's Hospital (Lake Nona, southeast Orlando) provides pediatric neuropsychological evaluation of learning disabilities, ADHD, and autism — within a major academic children's hospital whose neuropsychologists hold or pursue ABPP board certification.
Two more major Orlando children's hospitals — AdventHealth for Children and Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children — offer developmental and neuropsychological evaluation for autism, ADHD, and learning concerns, giving families options on different sides of the metro.
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 Winter Park, Lake Mary, or anywhere in the metro), instead of trusting star ratings.
The Bridge at The Christ School (downtown Orlando) is a dyslexia-focused program that in 2022 became the first in Florida accredited by the Orton-Gillingham Academy — one of only about 18 schools nationwide to earn that distinction. The gold standard for structured-literacy instruction.
UCP of Central Florida runs six tuition-free charter campuses across Orange, Seminole, and Osceola counties — inclusive education for children with autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, speech and hearing needs and more, with physical, occupational, and speech therapy on-site, birth through 5th grade plus a middle/high transition academy. A strong option no matter which side of the metro you're on.
A tuition-free public charter (since 1998) devoted to children with autism in grades PK–5, Princeton House delivers individualized academic, language, social, and behavioral intervention at a low student-to-staff ratio.
A Central Florida school for students with dyslexia, ADHD, and learning disabilities, using the Orton-Gillingham approach as the core of its structured-literacy instruction — another credentialed option for families seeking a specialized program.
Part of the national Scottish Rite-supported network, the Children's Dyslexia Centers provide free, intensive Orton-Gillingham (multisensory structured language) tutoring for children grades 1–12 — one of the best no-cost reading resources for families who can't afford private tutoring.
Kat Ferrufino, M.Ed., is a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT) and Wilson Dyslexia Practitioner with dual K-6 general-ed and K-12 special-ed certifications. Her Orlando practice, ClearPath Dyslexia, delivers structured-literacy dyslexia therapy built on Orton-Gillingham and the Wilson Reading System — gold-standard credentials, evidence-based methods.
The Academy's directory lists accredited Orton-Gillingham practitioners across the Orlando metro — searchable by area so you can find one near Winter Park, Lake Mary, Kissimmee, or wherever you live. The gold-standard credential for a private dyslexia tutor.
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 Central Florida centers in Winter Park, Orlando (Semoran), and Apopka — serving families in Conway, Baldwin Park, Lake Nona, Ocoee, Mount Dora, Altamonte Springs, and Winter Garden. Research-based early intervention, accredited for clinical quality rather than ad spend, with a location near most parts of the metro.
A BHCOE-accredited ABA provider in Kissimmee — important coverage for families in Osceola County and the south side of the metro, where downtown options are a long drive. Accredited for clinical quality.
The Behavioral Health Center of Excellence directory lists accredited ABA providers across the Orlando metro (including ABA Kids Connection) — searchable by zip so a family in Sanford, Clermont, or St. Cloud can find the nearest accredited center.
A therapist-owned pediatric clinic with locations in Orlando, Winter Park, and Kissimmee offering both speech-language and occupational therapy — and one of the few that delivers services in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, so your child can be evaluated and treated in their home language.
The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association's directory lists speech-language pathologists who hold the CCC-SLP — the national mark of a fully qualified clinician, searchable anywhere in the metro.
Orlando's major children's hospitals — Nemours Children's (Lake Nona) and AdventHealth for Children — have developmental-behavioral pediatricians who diagnose and manage autism, ADHD, and developmental delay, giving families board-certified options on different sides of the metro.
The American Academy of Pediatrics' directory helps you find board-certified developmental-behavioral pediatricians across the Orlando metro — 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 the Orlando metro — the field's real professional standard.
A Winter Park special-education law practice handling IEP and 504 disputes, evaluations, and FAPE issues for Central Florida families — legal representation when a school district isn't meeting its obligations.
Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida provides free civil legal help to income-eligible families across the Orlando region (Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake and beyond) — a no-cost route to legal assistance, including some education and benefits matters.
The University of Central Florida's Communication Disorders Clinic offers low-cost evaluation and therapy for children — speech and language plus specialized reading programs targeting phonological awareness, decoding, fluency, and written expression — delivered by graduate clinicians under ASHA-certified supervisors.
FND offers free workshops and one-on-one parent support across Central Florida — a rich free resource for families learning their rights, alongside clinical services.
For children birth to 3 in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, or Lake County, Early Steps provides free developmental evaluations and early-intervention therapies through your local regional office — the earliest, no-barrier place to start.
Federally funded and free — they help Florida families understand their rights, the IEP/504 process, evaluations, and meetings. A great first call.
Florida's protection & advocacy agency — free legal-rights information and help if your child's rights are being denied.
A short message — your child, your Orlando 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 Orlando providers from the vetted directory above.
A clear written plan, plus a vetted Orlando 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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