The first week after a diagnosis tends to look the same in every family I meet: a folder full of referrals, a dozen phone numbers, and no clear sense of which to call first. At Little Champs ABA, I work with Denver families at exactly this moment, and I built this guide to be the answer I wish I could hand each of them on day one.
Below you’ll find the autism resources for families in the Denver metro area that I point parents toward every week — the real school contacts, diagnostic clinics, nonprofits, funding paths, and support groups, organized so your next few calls feel like a plan instead of a guess.
Take it one section at a time. Nothing here has to happen all at once.
Autism Resources for Families in the Denver Metro Area: Start Here
A diagnosis opens several doors at once, and they do not all need to be walked through on day one. The families who feel least overwhelmed almost always tackle the same things in the same order. The three habits below set the foundation for everything that follows.
Sort Your Calls Into Three Buckets
Before you dial anyone, group your to-do list into three categories: education (school eligibility and the IEP, or Early Intervention for the very young), funding and case management (Medicaid, waivers, and a coordinator), and community (support groups and connection). When every call has a clear bucket, the list stops feeling endless and starts feeling finite.
You Are Your Child’s Coordinator
One observation from years of intake conversations: parents often assume one “official” program will take charge of everything. No single agency does that in Denver. The system works best when you treat yourself as the coordinator and these organizations as your team. Keep a simple binder or phone folder with dates, names, and what each person told you, it will save you from repeating the same story a dozen times.
Where to Get or Confirm a Diagnosis Locally
If you are still seeking an evaluation or want a second opinion, JFK Partners through Developmental Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora is the metro area’s best-known diagnostic home (720-777-6630).
Their interdisciplinary teams use well-validated tools such as the ADOS-2 alongside developmental interviews. Wait times can be long, so it is reasonable to schedule an evaluation while you begin Early Intervention or school services in parallel. For the clinical detail behind all of this, our overview of the autism diagnosis process walks through what an evaluation involves and what the report means.
Denver Public Schools Special Education Contacts
For school-age children, your child’s right to support runs through the Individualized Education Program (IEP) process. Denver Public Schools handles this through its Exceptional Student Services (ESS) office. Knowing exactly who to call saves weeks of being transferred.
Who to Call at Exceptional Student Services
- Exceptional Student Services (ESS): Emily Griffith Campus, 1860 Lincoln St., 8th Floor, Denver, CO 80203. Main DPS line: 720-423-3200.
- Student Services / center placement: 720-423-3437, for questions about specialized program availability and center-based classrooms.
Child Find and Early Evaluations (Ages 3–5)
If your child is between three and five and not yet in kindergarten, Child Find is your entry point for a free educational evaluation: 720-423-1410. Child Find determines whether your child qualifies for preschool special education services and helps bridge the gap between Early Intervention and the school years.
Making the IEP Process Work for You
A practical tip I share often: request your evaluation or IEP meeting in writing and keep a dated copy. It sets the legal timeline in motion and gives you a paper trail. If a proposed placement does not feel right, you have the right to ask questions, request the data behind the recommendation, and reconvene the team. An IEP is a working document you revisit, not a final verdict you accept once.
The Autism Society of Colorado, a Denver-Based Anchor
Founded in 1970 by Colorado parents and headquartered in Denver, the Autism Society of Colorado (ASC) is the closest thing the metro area has to a central information hub. I regularly send newly diagnosed families here because their staff can match you to services that fit your child’s age and your insurance situation.
What Their Information and Referral Line Offers
ASC’s free Information and Referral line (720-214-0794) connects you with vetted local providers, waiver guidance, and answers to the “who handles this?” questions that stall so many families early on. If you make only one call this week and are unsure where to point it, this is the one I’d make.
Educational Advocacy Through ASC
Beyond referrals, ASC runs an Educational Advocacy Program that helps parents understand their rights, prepare for IEP meetings, and navigate disagreements with a school. Having someone in your corner who knows special education law changes the tone of those meetings in your favor.
Events and Community Connection
ASC also hosts local events, resource fairs, and the annual Walk With Autism, low-pressure ways to meet other families and see what the community looks like in person. For many parents, that first event is where the isolation starts to lift.
Rocky Mountain Human Services and Early Intervention
For children under three, and for families navigating Medicaid waivers, Rocky Mountain Human Services (RMHS) is a key player in Denver City and County. RMHS delivers Early Intervention, developmental screening, autism diagnostics, and case management, and many of these services come at no cost to qualifying families.
Early Intervention for Birth to Age Three
Early Intervention supports a child’s development in communication, motor skills, and social-emotional growth from birth to the third birthday. Reach RMHS at 303-247-8423, or contact EI Colorado statewide at 833-733-3734 (833-REFER-EI). Because Early Intervention is an entitlement program, it does not carry a waitlist, which makes it one of the fastest doors to walk through after a diagnosis.
Medicaid Waivers and Case Management
RMHS coordinates the Children’s Extensive Support (CES) waiver and the Children with Autism Waiver, both of which can help fund behavioral therapies. A service coordinator builds an annual plan with your family and reviews it quarterly. Eligibility for the more intensive waivers is specific and the paperwork is real, so I tell parents to start the conversation early even if they are unsure they qualify, the assessment itself often clarifies what your child is entitled to. Their main referral line is 1-844-790-7647.
Autism Diagnostics Through RMHS
RMHS also provides diagnostic evaluations for young children in Denver, and for some children over three when an insurance contract is in place. If a private evaluation feels out of reach financially, this is worth asking about as a more affordable local path to a formal diagnosis.
Understanding Funding: Insurance, Medicaid, and Waivers
The cost question sits underneath almost every other decision. The good news is that Colorado families have more coverage options than many realize. Here is how the three main funding paths tend to work.
Colorado’s Autism Insurance Mandate
Colorado’s autism mandate, rooted in Senate Bill 09-244, requires many state-regulated private insurance plans to cover medically necessary autism therapies, including ABA. Coverage specifics vary by plan, so it is always worth requesting a written summary of your benefits before committing to a provider.
How Medicaid Covers ABA
Health First Colorado, the state’s Medicaid program, covers ABA for eligible children when it is deemed medically necessary. Many of the families we work with use Medicaid as their primary funding source, and we are glad to help parents understand what their plan includes and how to get started.
When Waivers Fill the Gaps
For children with more intensive needs, Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) waivers, such as CES, can cover supports beyond what standard insurance offers, including respite and certain therapies. Your local case management agency can help you figure out which waivers your child may qualify for. If you want broader context on local need and trends, our breakdown of autism statistics in Colorado adds useful background.
Denver-Area Parent Support Groups Worth Knowing
Information solves logistics. Other parents solve the loneliness. The families who do best over the long run almost always have at least one community they can text on a hard day. Here are four local options, each with a different flavor.
Spectrum Parent Adventures
Hosted at the Autism Community Center inside the Autism Community Store in Aurora (14095 E. Exposition Ave.), this caregiver group meets the second Saturday of each month and periodically organizes “parents’ night out” outings to sensory-friendly venues. It is warm, social, and refreshingly practical, less lecture, more real talk over light refreshments.
Autism Society of Colorado Support Groups
ASC runs facilitated groups for parents and caregivers as well as a well-loved support group for autistic adults. Because they are tied to the statewide organization, these groups pair naturally with advocacy and events. Call 720-214-0794 for a current schedule.
Grupo VIDA for Spanish-Speaking Families
For Spanish-speaking parents in the Denver area, Grupo VIDA offers culturally grounded support and connection (303-355-9875). Being able to process everything in your first language can make an enormous difference, and I am glad this exists locally.
Parent to Parent of Colorado
Parent to Parent of Colorado (P2P-CO) matches you with a trained “support parent” who has walked a similar road. If group settings are not your style, this one-to-one model can be a gentler way to find someone who simply gets it.
Advocacy and Legal Support for Denver Families
Sometimes you need more than information, you need someone who knows the rules and can stand beside you when a system pushes back. These Colorado organizations exist for exactly that moment.
PEAK Parent Center
PEAK is Colorado’s federally designated Parent Training and Information Center, founded in 1986. Trained parent advisors offer free and low-cost support on special education, inclusion, and behavior, and they reach tens of thousands of families each year. If you feel out of your depth before an IEP meeting, PEAK is built to help you walk in prepared.
AdvocacyDenver
AdvocacyDenver is a civil-rights advocacy organization serving children and teens with disabilities and their families across the Denver area (303-831-7733). When concerns rise to the level of a formal complaint or a serious disagreement with a district, this is a local team worth knowing.
The Arc of Colorado
The Arc of Colorado (1580 Logan St., Suite 930, Denver; 303-864-9334) protects the rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and offers county-level educational advocacy through its chapters. Their advocates can help with everything from school disputes to long-term planning.
Respite, Recreation, and Family Wellbeing
Support for your child only holds up if the adults around them are not running on empty. These resources exist to give families breathing room and to give kids joyful, accessible places to play.
Respite Care Options
Night Lights provides free monthly respite evenings for children with special needs and their siblings, staffed by trained, background-checked volunteers. The Colorado Respite Coalition, a program of Easterseals Colorado (303-233-1666), helps caregivers find and access respite across the state. A few hours of trusted childcare can reset an entire household.
Adaptive Recreation and Sports
The National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) is a nationally recognized adaptive-sports organization, and Special Olympics Colorado (720-359-3100) offers year-round programs and competition. Many local parks-and-recreation departments also run therapeutic recreation programs worth asking about by neighborhood.
Sensory-Friendly Community Events
AMC Theatres partners with the Autism Society to host Sensory Friendly Films, screenings with the lights up and the sound down, on select Saturdays and Wednesday evenings each month. Outings like these let families enjoy ordinary fun without the usual sensory stress, and they are often a child’s first taste of an event built with them in mind.
Where In-Home ABA Fits Into the Wider Support Picture
Schools, waivers, and support groups each carry part of the load. Applied Behavior Analysis carries another part, the direct, daily skill-building. Understanding what it does, and does not do, helps you decide whether and how it belongs in your child’s plan.
What are the Benefits of In-Home ABA?
ABA is an evidence-based approach that breaks larger goals like communication, self-care, and emotional regulation into teachable steps, then uses positive reinforcement and consistent practice to help those skills stick. Modern, individualized ABA is collaborative and play-informed, built around your child’s strengths rather than a one-size template.
Why the Home Setting Helps Skills Generalize
The reason in-home ABA complements school services so well is environment. A child may follow a routine perfectly in a classroom and struggle at the dinner table or at bedtime, because skills do not automatically travel from one setting to another. Working in the home lets us teach where the challenges actually happen, and it pulls parents and siblings directly into the process so progress holds after the session ends.
Setting Realistic Expectations
An honest note on expectations: ABA is not a switch that flips. Progress tends to look like small, steady wins, a first independent request, a calmer transition, a tooth-brushing routine that finally sticks, that add up over months. A program supervised by a BCBA and delivered by trained Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs), adjusted as your child grows, is what makes those wins durable.
How We Support Denver Families at Little Champs ABA
We design individualized ABA programs across Colorado and Utah, built around each child’s strengths and each family’s goals. The right setting depends on your child’s age, schedule, and needs.
Our Range of ABA Services
- Center-based ABA therapy – structured learning in a supportive clinic setting.
- ABA therapy at home – skill-building in your child’s natural environment.
- ABA therapy in school – support that aligns with classroom and IEP goals.
- ABA therapy in daycare – early support woven into your child’s daily routine.
- ABA therapy for teenagers – goals focused on independence and life skills.
- Telehealth ABA – expert guidance and parent coaching from home.
Getting Started With Us
Starting usually begins with a simple conversation: what your child needs, what your days look like, and what coverage you have. From there we help verify benefits, talk through goals, and recommend the setting that fits, without pressure to commit before you are ready.
Ready to explore ABA therapy in Denver? Little Champs ABA is here to help. Connect with our Denver team to ask questions and find out what fits your family.
Frequently Asked Questions
A few questions come up in nearly every Denver intake conversation. Here are straightforward answers.
Where do I start after an autism diagnosis in Denver?
Separate your calls into three buckets: education (DPS Child Find at 720-423-1410 for ages 3–5, or your child’s school for an IEP), funding and case management (Rocky Mountain Human Services), and community (the Autism Society of Colorado at 720-214-0794). You do not have to do all three at once.
Does insurance or Medicaid cover ABA therapy in Colorado?
Colorado’s autism mandate requires many private insurance plans to cover medically necessary ABA, and Health First Colorado (Medicaid) covers ABA for eligible children. Coverage details vary by plan, so we recommend verifying benefits, and we are glad to help families understand what their plan includes.
How is in-home ABA different from school services?
School services support educational goals during the school day, guided by the IEP. In-home ABA targets daily-living and behavior goals in the setting where they occur, mealtimes, transitions, bedtime, and brings the family into the teaching. Many children benefit from both working together.
How early can my child begin getting support?
Very early. Early Intervention through Rocky Mountain Human Services serves children from birth to age three with no waitlist, and the research consistently favors starting support sooner rather than waiting for a “perfect” moment.
What can I do if I disagree with my child’s IEP?
You have real rights here. You can request the data behind a recommendation, reconvene the team, and bring an advocate from PEAK Parent Center, the Autism Society of Colorado, or AdvocacyDenver. If a serious dispute remains, formal options like mediation exist, but most disagreements are resolved by coming back to the table with support.
Are there free or low-cost autism resources in Denver?
Yes, many. Early Intervention, Child Find evaluations, ASC’s referral line, PEAK’s parent advisors, Night Lights respite, and the statewide 211 helpline are all free or low-cost. Medicaid and waivers can cover therapies for eligible families, so cost should never be the reason you delay reaching out.
Sources:
- https://www.peakparent.org/
- https://hcpf.colorado.gov/pediatric-behavioral-therapies
- https://elgrupovida.org/
- https://www.childrenscolorado.org/doctors-and-departments/departments/psych/mental-health-professional-resources/primary-care-articles/autism-spectrum-disorder/
- https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/groups/co/denver?category=autism
About the Author
This article was written and clinically reviewed by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) on the Little Champs ABA team, drawing on direct experience supporting children and families across Colorado and Utah. Little Champs ABA provides individualized, evidence-based ABA therapy at home, in school, in daycare, in-center, and via telehealth. Learn more about our Colorado ABA services.