If you have a concern about your child’s development, the hardest part is usually not deciding to act. It is figuring out who to call. This guide walks through how to get an autism evaluation in Colorado, from who can diagnose to what it costs and how long the wait usually is.
Colorado has three separate systems that can evaluate a child; they do not talk to each other, and they answer different questions. Families lose months in the gap between them, usually because someone told them to start in the wrong place.
Here is the map.
Who Can Diagnose Autism in Colorado?
A medical or clinical autism diagnosis in Colorado is made by a qualified licensed professional. In practice, that usually means a developmental pediatrician, a psychologist or neuropsychologist, a child psychiatrist, or, in some cases, a pediatrician with specific training.
Schools do something different, and this distinction causes more confusion than anything else in this article. Read the next section before you call anyone.
What’s the Difference Between a School Evaluation and a Medical Diagnosis?
The Colorado Department of Education says it plainly in its own guidelines for the educational evaluation of autism spectrum disorder: educational identification and clinical diagnosis are two different processes. They have different goals, different criteria, different methods, and different settings.
A school evaluation answers one question: does this student have a disability that affects their education enough that they need specialized instruction? If the answer is “yes,” the student becomes eligible under an educational category, and an IEP follows. It is a decision about school services.
A medical evaluation answers a different question: does this person meet the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder? That is a clinical determination, and it is generally the one health plans and Health First Colorado look for when deciding whether to authorize treatment such as ABA, since coverage decisions are made on medical necessity and a clinical diagnosis.
Two consequences follow, and both are useful to know:
A medical diagnosis does not automatically qualify a child for special education. The school still has to determine educational impact.
A school cannot require a medical diagnosis first. CDE states directly that administrative unit personnel may not require families to obtain a medical diagnosis of ASD before proceeding with an educational evaluation. A district cannot tell you to come back with a diagnosis.
Most families in this position eventually need both. Start the school process while you wait for the medical diagnosis, because the school process is free and has a legal clock attached.
How Do I Get My Child Evaluated if They Are Under Three Years of Age?
Call Early Intervention Colorado.
Early Intervention is Colorado’s birth to three system, administered by the Colorado Department of Early Childhood. Four things about it matter:
You do not need a diagnosis. Eligibility is based on developmental delay, not a label. A child qualifies with a delay of 25% or higher in two or more areas of development, a delay of 33% or higher in one area, a diagnosed condition with a high probability of resulting in developmental delay, or a parent with a developmental disability.
You do not need a doctor’s referral. A parent can refer their own child. So can a family member, a neighbor, or a child care provider.
There is no cost to your family. The state rule is explicit: early intervention services are provided at no out-of-pocket cost, with no sliding fee, and with no deductibles or copayments for early intervention services. Families remain responsible for their own insurance premiums when insurance is billed as a funding source, but not for the services themselves.
There is a clock. A care navigator, sometimes called a service coordinator, contacts the family within seven days of referral, and evaluation and the Individualized Family Service Plan must be completed within 45 calendar days of the referral.
The statewide referral line is 833-733-3734. Community Centered Boards (CCBs) are county-specific agencies that also provide referrals.
If your child is approaching their third birthday, start now anyway. The transition to the school system happens at three, and starting the process early makes that handoff much smoother.
What is Child Find, and How Do I Request It?
Child Find is the school system’s obligation to locate and evaluate children who may need special education. It covers ages three years through twenty-one years, and it is run by your local school district or administrative unit.
For children three to five years of age who are not yet in kindergarten, you contact your district’s preschool or Child Find office directly. For school-age children, you contact the school’s special education contact.
Three practical points:
It is free. CDE states the evaluation is free, as are the educational services for children who qualify.
Put the request in writing and date it. An evaluation cannot begin until the family provides written permission, and Colorado’s evaluation timeline is tied to that written consent. An email counts. A hallway conversation does not.
The evaluation must be completed within 60 calendar days. Keep your dated copy so you can tell when the clock started.
Search your district name plus “Child Find” to reach the correct office. Boulder Valley, St. Vrain Valley, Fremont RE-1, Cañon City Schools, and Pueblo City Schools all publish Child Find contacts.
What Happens During a Medical Autism Evaluation?
The medical route usually starts with your pediatrician. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends autism specific screening at the 18-month and 24-month well visits, most commonly using a parent questionnaire called the M-CHAT. Colorado’s health department recommends broader developmental screening at 9, 18, and 24 or 30 months.
A screening is not a diagnosis. A positive screen is a reason for referral, nothing more.
A comprehensive diagnostic evaluation typically includes a detailed developmental and family history, direct structured observation of your child, standardized measures, and input from people who see your child in other settings. Children’s Hospital Colorado describes using two gold standard measures, the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised. Many evaluations also include a measure of adaptive functioning, cognitive testing, and speech and language assessment.
Expect it to take several hours, often split across more than one appointment, and expect a written report some weeks later. That report is the document that matters. Ask when you will receive it.
Where Do I Go in Colorado?
Children’s Hospital Colorado, Developmental Pediatrics. The primary scheduling line is 720-777-6630. Their developmental pediatrics program diagnoses and treats autism spectrum disorders and runs outpatient autism clinics within the Children’s Colorado system. They do not publish a list of which locations hold those clinics, so ask when you call rather than assuming your nearest campus offers it.
JFK Partners at the University of Colorado Anschutz. Colorado’s university center for developmental disabilities, in Aurora. Interdisciplinary assessment across the lifespan, and notably one of the few places in the state with a dedicated Adult Evaluation Clinic for people 18 and older. Access is through the same Developmental Pediatrics number, 720-777-6630.
Private psychology and neuropsychology practices. These exist across the Front Range and generally have shorter waits than academic centers, at a higher cost. Some accept Medicaid for autism testing and some are private pay only. Always ask both questions when you call: do you take my plan, and what is the self pay price.
Telehealth diagnostic services. Several national telehealth companies offer autism diagnostic evaluations, typically for young children. If you go this route, confirm three things before paying: that they are licensed to evaluate in Colorado, that they accept your specific plan, and that the resulting report will be accepted by your insurer for treatment authorization. Ask the third question in writing.
A note on who does not diagnose. Case management agencies, formerly known as community centered boards, are your door into Colorado’s developmental disabilities service system and waiver programs. They provide case management, not diagnosis. ABA providers, including OGBC, provide treatment, not diagnosis. If someone offers you a diagnosis as part of a therapy intake, ask who is making it and what their license is.
What Does an Autism Evaluation Cost in Colorado?
Costs vary widely, and the honest answer depends entirely on which door you use.
The school route is free. Child Find evaluations cost families nothing.
Early Intervention is free for children under three.
Private pay evaluations are the expensive route. CDE’s own comparison table estimates a clinical diagnosis at $1,500 to $3,500, sometimes covered by insurance and sometimes not. Published self pay prices at Colorado practices bear that out and stretch further in both directions, from around $600 for a shorter psychiatric evaluation in Colorado Springs to $2,500 to $2,900 at a Fort Collins assessment center and up to $4,200 for a comprehensive adult evaluation in Denver. Deposits of a few hundred dollars are common to hold an appointment.
Colorado’s insurance mandate covers evaluation, not just treatment. State law requires health benefit plans issued or renewed in Colorado to cover the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of autism spectrum disorders for a child, and the statutory definition of treatment expressly includes evaluation and assessment services. The current statute does not impose a special dollar cap on that coverage.
The exception that catches families off guard. Colorado’s insurance mandates do not apply to self funded employer plans, which are common at large employers and are governed by federal law instead. They also do not apply to union plans, federal employee plans, TRICARE, Medicare, or plans issued in another state. If your employer self insures, your plan document controls. Ask your HR benefits contact whether your plan is fully insured or self funded. It is a normal question and they will know the answer.
Health First Colorado. For members age 20 and under, the EPSDT benefit requires that when a screening indicates a need for further evaluation, diagnostic services must be provided, and prohibits arbitrary limitations on services. This is the strongest coverage language in the system.
One more practical note. A Colorado assessment practice warns on its own site that most insurance plans limit coverage to a minimal number of testing hours. Verify your testing benefit specifically, not just your mental health benefit. They are often different.
How Long Is the Wait for an Autism Evaluation in Colorado?
No Colorado hospital or state agency publishes an average wait time, so anyone quoting you a specific number of months is estimating.
What is documented is the shortage that drives the wait. Fewer than 800 clinicians in the entire United States specialize in autism diagnosis and management. Colorado news coverage in 2026 described families waiting months, and sometimes longer, for autism services, attributing it to a shortage of developmental pediatricians and neurologists who can diagnose.
Nationally, the gap between first concern and diagnosis is well documented. In the CDC’s most recent surveillance data, the median age of earliest known autism diagnosis was 47 months, and about half of eight-year-olds identified with autism had been evaluated by 36 months.
What you can control:
- Get on more than one list. Waitlists are not exclusive.
- Start Child Find or Early Intervention on the same day you request a medical evaluation. Those have legal timelines. Private waitlists do not.
- Ask to be called for cancellations, and say yes when they call.
- Ask your pediatrician to send the referral directly rather than handing you a phone number.
What if We Live in Southern Colorado?
This is where the map gets thin.
The academic diagnostic centers are in Aurora. From Florence or Cañon City. that is a drive of well over two hours each way, for an appointment that may run most of a day and may require more than one visit. Colorado Springs has private practices, but the ones publishing prices tend to be private pay. The state’s own Autism ECHO program at CU Anschutz exists precisely because of this gap, and reports that 20% of its Colorado participants come from rural or frontier counties.
Practical adjustments that help:
- Use Early Intervention or Child Find first. Starpoint serves Fremont, Custer, and Chaffee counties for birth to three years of age locally, at no cost. Fremont RE-1 and Cañon City Schools handle Child Find. Neither requires a drive to the Denver area.
- Ask about telehealth explicitly. Some evaluation components can be completed remotely even when the appointment itself cannot.
- Ask about combining visits. If you are making the drive, ask whether speech, occupational therapy, and psychology components can be scheduled the same day.
- Ask your pediatrician about Project ECHO. Colorado trains rural primary care providers to evaluate patients in partnership with Children’s Colorado developmental pediatrics. Your local provider may have more capacity than you assume.
We run our Florence clinic partly because of this gap. Fremont County families should not have to move to the Front Range to get services.
What should I bring to the evaluation?
There is no universal checklist, but these consistently help:
- A written timeline of your concerns, with rough dates. When did you first notice, what did you notice, what changed.
- Video from home. Two or three short clips of ordinary moments. Clinicians see your child on one unusual day in one unusual room. Video shows them the other 364.
- Reports from anyone else who has assessed your child: speech, occupational therapy, school, prior evaluations.
- Teacher or child care input, written down. Ask them before the appointment, not after.
- Your insurance information and a note of what you verified, including who you spoke with and when.
- Snacks, a preferred item, and low expectations for the rest of that day. These appointments are long and demanding for kids.
What Happens After a Diagnosis?
A diagnosis is a key, not a verdict. It opens doors to services, and it does not change who your child is.
The immediate next steps are usually to share the report with your school team, contact your insurer to understand which services are covered and what authorization requires, and connect with your regional case management agency about Colorado’s developmental disabilities services. Then decide what your family actually needs right now, which is often less than the internet suggests.
We wrote a full guide on where to start for exactly this moment. If you are trying to work out whether behavior support is part of the picture, signs your child may benefit from ABA and our plain language explanation of what ABA therapy is are the two most useful places to go next. For the money side, see how ABA coverage works in Colorado and Health First Colorado and ABA therapy.
What About Adults Seeking a Diagnosis?
Adults have far fewer options.
The clearest starting point in the state is the Adult Evaluation Clinic at JFK Partners, which serves people 18 and older seeking evaluation for autism, intellectual disability, and co-occurring mental health conditions, or updated testing to qualify for services. Access is through 720-777-6630. Beyond that, a small number of private psychology practices in Denver and Colorado Springs offer adult assessment, generally private pay, with published prices in the low thousands.
Colorado’s autism insurance mandate is written to cover assessment, diagnosis, and treatment “for a child,” and does not define an age for that term. Do not assume adult evaluation is covered. Verify with your specific plan before scheduling.
You Don’t Have to Figure This Out Alone
OGBC does not diagnose autism. We provide ABA services after a diagnosis, in our Louisville and Florence clinics, in homes, and in schools.
But we frequently talk to families in the middle of this process, and we are happy to help you figure out which of the three doors is the right one for your child, whether or not you ever become a client.
We’re here when you’re ready to talk.
Reach Out
Contact us with a question about where to start.
