Education: Schools (0-2 Years)

The Achievement Centers for Children’s Autism Program, in collaboration with the Educational Service Center of Cuyahoga County, operates K-6th grade classrooms on the East Side of Cleveland serving children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

They are an alternative public school option, with many local school districts referring and transporting their students to the Achievement Centers. The curriculum is aligned with Ohio’s K-8 Academic Content Standards.

A six-week summer program to complete the 12-month educational and therapeutic focus is included in the yearly tuition.

A school serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade on the West Side in Westlake, Ohio.

They are an alternative public school option, with many local school districts referring and transporting their students to the Achievement Centers. The curriculum is aligned with Ohio’s K-8 Academic Content Standards.

A six-week summer program to complete the 12-month educational and therapeutic focus is included in the yearly tuition.

Bridgeway Academy is a non-profit organization with the mission to meet the educational and therapeutic needs of children with autism and other developmental disabilities. They are a full service Education and Therapy center. They offer full day educational services for preschool through high school aged students as well as a full array of therapeutic services that include speech, occupational, physical music therapy as well as behavioral and psychological services.

They serve students within 9 counties in central and southern Ohio.

They accept some insurance companies for psychological services and publically funded child care (school services) and state plan Medicaid (therapy services). They also accept Level 1, I/O and Self Waivers.

The Clinic Center encompasses a variety of services for individuals with autism in their state-of-the-art autism facility. It is dedicated to treatment, education, and research for children, adolescents, young adults and families dealing with autism spectrum disorders and is uniquely integrated within the healthcare system and housed in the Debra Ann November Wing at Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital for Rehabilitation Campus.

Outreach and consultation services are available for children as young as 3 for initial diagnosis or second-opinion autism evaluations.

Functional behavioral assessments are offered for families to increase a child’s functioning and independence to the fullest extent possible.

The Outpatient Center in Rocky River includes a variety of therapies available on an outpatient basis.

Offers a diagnositic clinic, functional behavior assessments and outreach/consultation. Speech/language assessments are also available.

The Lerner School for Autism serves students from preschool to age 22.

Social SPIES Programs for children with high-functioning Autism/Asperger’s Disorder offers a social skills program in conjunction with a parent training group.

Offers many services for children and young adults (ages 18 months – 22 yrs.) with a multitude of neurological and psychological diagnoses, including treatment services and intervention with an emphasis on prevention, behavior management and positive behavioral supports.

New programs include an autism diagnostic clinic (with a guarantee of 4-week scheduled appointments) ;
A new adult services division called Link Up offering a day program, which will accept the medicaid waivers;
KidsLink Connect — an insurance-based intensive ABA home and/or center programming

All professionals are experts in behavioral intervention.

These therapists have experience working with children and adolescents with autism: Michele DePolo; Richard Cowan

Offering programs for children of all abilities.
Offers preschool inclusion classes and summer camp programs for children ages 2 1/2-5 years old.

Tutoring services throughout the school year available for children through third grade.

School age summer camp for children kindergarten through age 10.

Reach Educational Services offers a variety of services to children with special needs in Central and Northwest Ohio. The services they provide varies depending upon which part of Ohio your family lives in. Their focus is working with learners who have autism spectrum disorders and associated behavior and learning differences.

Reach clinic-based services (Columbus) provide special education and behavior analytic services (ABA Therapy) to students with autism between the ages of 3 and 21. They offer small group as well as 1:1 services. The clinic is open year round and follows a traditional school calendar with classes held Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.

In-home ABA services and county-funded services are also available.

Reach Services can be fully funded by the Autism Scholarship Program, Private Health Insurance, and via school district contracts. They do not accept Medicaid or CareSource.

The Golden Key Center is a charter school open to children with disabilities and places a special focus on children (ages 2 1/2 through 22) who require nursing services and are qualified as medically fragile, although they welcome all children.

They offer special needs and typically developing child care, before and after school care, School Aide/Paraprofessional training, Tutoring services, Consultation for school programs, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and medical support.

The overall vision of The Learning Spectrum is to provide families with services designed to meet the individualized needs of children with autism and related services in and out of the school setting.

The Learning Spectrum provides OT, Speech therapy, music therapy, 1-on-1 Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), support groups, and educational services to with autism spectrum disorder.

There are four locations throughout Central Ohio (Columbus area). Visit their website for specifics.