Greater St. Louis — St. Louis, Clayton, Chesterfield, Town & Country, St. Charles, plus the Metro East — is home to Cardinal Glennon and St. Louis Children's, nationally recognized learning-disability schools like Churchill and Miriam, and a university speech clinic. The hard part is knowing which help is genuinely excellent and how to reach the free options first. This is St. Louis's own directory, ranked by real credentials (ABPP, BHCOE, Orton-Gillingham/Wilson accreditation, COPAA, board-certification) — never by reviews or who pays. Start with the free Missouri options, 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 with developmental delays or qualifying conditions, Missouri First Steps provides free developmental evaluations and early-intervention services (speech, OT, PT, developmental). The earliest, no-barrier place to start if you have any concern about your baby or toddler.
Missouri's federally mandated protection & advocacy agency — free advocacy and legal services that protect the rights of children with disabilities, including in special education. A powerful free resource before you pay anyone.
Missouri's federally funded Parent Training and Information Center — free special-education and advocacy training, one-on-one parent mentoring, and help navigating Early Intervention and the IEP/504 process. A great first call.
Cardinal Glennon Children's (SLUCare) pediatric neuropsychology assesses children and teens whose conditions may affect thinking and learning — evaluating learning disability, ADHD, intellectual disability, and autism, with a comprehensive report completed within about a month.
Summer Lane, PhD, ABPP is a board-certified pediatric neuropsychologist who assesses cognitive, behavioral, and emotional concerns in children and adolescents — trained on the ADOS-2, the gold standard for autism assessment. The credential to look for in a private evaluator.
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, instead of trusting star ratings.
St. Louis's leading school for bright students with dyslexia and learning disabilities, Churchill (Town & Country) is certified by the International Dyslexia Association as a Wilson Accredited Partner — research-based reading, writing, and spelling for grades 1–10, with the goal of transitioning students back to a traditional school.
A premier St. Louis hub for children with autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, anxiety, and sensory or speech/language needs — small-group instruction and specialized curriculum from elementary through the high-school program that opened in 2016.
A fully accredited St. Louis school serving students with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, dyslexia, developmental delays, and other learning disabilities — individualized programs for learners who need a specialized environment.
Lisa Cannon-Bearden is a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT), Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Specialist (C-SLDS), and ALTA member trained through the Luke Waites Child Development Center's Orton-Gillingham therapeutic-reading program. She provides dyslexia intervention at Speech Language Learning Systems in Chesterfield (greater St. Louis), a practice serving local families for 25+ years.
The Academy's directory lists accredited Orton-Gillingham practitioners across greater St. Louis — the gold-standard credential for a private dyslexia tutor, verified by training rather than advertising.
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 top-level-accredited ABA provider with St. Louis-area centers (Chesterfield, Webster Groves, O'Fallon, Maryland Heights, Arnold) — play-based, center-based early intervention for young autistic children, accredited for clinical quality.
A BHCOE-accredited St. Louis provider offering home- and clinic-based applied behavior analysis (and counseling) for children with autism — accredited for clinical quality rather than chosen by ad spend.
The Behavioral Health Center of Excellence directory lists accredited ABA providers across greater St. Louis (including Regal Behavior Solutions) — the real quality bar for autism therapy.
Kate Robertson, M.A., CCC-SLP, founded The Speech Spot in Kirkwood (St. Louis area) in 2014, building a team that delivers both speech-language and occupational therapy for young children — pediatric, ASHA-certified, and family-centered.
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.
Washington University's developmental-behavioral pediatricians at St. Louis Children's Hospital provide expert diagnosis and management of autism, ADHD, developmental delay, and learning disorders — academic, board-certified care that informs your child's school plan.
Cardinal Glennon's developmental pediatrics team diagnoses and treats autism, ADHD, and developmental concerns — a second strong academic option for a formal evaluation in St. Louis.
The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates' directory lists active, vetted special-education advocates and attorneys serving greater St. Louis — the field's real professional standard.
Beyond information, MPACT's trained parent mentors can help you prepare for and understand IEP meetings at no cost — a respected free alternative to hiring a private advocate first.
Legal Services of Eastern Missouri provides free civil legal help to income-eligible families across the St. Louis region — a no-cost route to legal assistance, including some education and benefits matters.
SLU's Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic (McGannon Hall) provides low-cost evaluation and therapy, including its Early Childhood Language/Literacy Center for young children ages 2.5–5 with communication needs — delivered by graduate clinicians under ASHA-certified supervisors.
MPACT offers free workshops, one-on-one mentoring, and resource navigation for Missouri families — a rich free resource for learning your rights alongside clinical services.
For children birth to 3, Missouri First Steps provides free developmental evaluations and early-intervention therapies — the earliest, no-barrier place to start.
Federally funded and free — they help Missouri families understand their rights, the IEP/504 process, evaluations, and meetings. A great first call.
Missouri's protection & advocacy agency — free legal-rights information and help if your child's rights are being denied.
A short message — your child, your St. Louis 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 St. Louis providers from the vetted directory above.
A clear written plan, plus a vetted St. Louis 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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