ABA therapy in The Woodlands, Spring and Humble: who to call first

Finding ABA therapy in The Woodlands, Spring and Humble means dealing with two counties, five state-listed early intervention programs, four school districts and two local IDD authorities, and which ones apply depends on where you live. For a child under 3, call the Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) program that covers your county. For a child 3 or older, ask your school district for an evaluation. For waiver interest lists, call Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare if you live in Montgomery County, or The Harris Center if you live in Harris County. This guide also covers Kingwood and Atascocita, which sit in the same north-side corridor.

The free public routes below can run alongside a provider search. None of them requires you to have chosen a provider.

Which county and which agencies apply to my address?

No agency publishes these contacts together, so we built this table from each one’s own pages.

The Woodlands crosses county lines in places, and Spring addresses can fall in more than one school district, so confirm your own address with the district’s school zone finder before you call. Humble ISD, Kingwood and Atascocita are listed together because the district’s offices handle referrals for its own campuses, but check your home address the same way. For the ECI column, we only list what the state and The Harris Center publish. If your ZIP is not on The Harris Center list, another Harris County program serves you, and the state search tool is how you find which one.

Which ECI program serves my child if we live in Montgomery County?

For The Woodlands and the rest of Montgomery County, the state’s ECI program search lists Easterseals Greater Houston. It gives a referral line of (713) 838-9050, extension 385. Easterseals’ own page also lists 1-877-787-8999, which is the HHS Office of the Ombudsman line (choose a language, then option 3 for ECI), and says anyone can refer, including a parent, doctor or child care provider. After a referral, the program contacts the family to schedule an evaluation at home or by video at no cost to parents.

ECI covers children from birth to 36 months. A child can qualify through a qualifying medical diagnosis, a hearing or vision impairment, or a developmental delay of at least 25 percent in one or more areas (33 percent if the only delay is expressive language). Evaluation, case management, the family service plan and interpreting are free. Other services use a sliding-scale family cost share, and the state says no family is turned away for inability to pay. Insurance can be billed, but only with your permission.

Autism is not named as a separate path, but a child with a qualifying diagnosis or a measurable delay in communication, social-emotional development or other areas can qualify. You do not need a diagnosis to ask for an evaluation.

Which ECI program serves my child if we live in Harris County?

Harris County is harder. The state search tool lists five programs under Harris County: BACH, Bay Area Rehabilitation Center, The Harris Center, Easterseals Greater Houston and Katy ISD’s ECI project. The page does not say which part of the county each one covers.

The Harris Center is the only one of the five we found that publishes a ZIP list. Its ECI program serves the ZIP codes on that list. In this area, the list includes 77068, 77069, 77070, 77073 and 77090 in the Spring area and 77396 in Humble. It does not include 77338, 77339, 77345, 77346, 77347, 77373, 77379, 77388 or 77389, which cover much of Humble, Kingwood, Atascocita and the rest of Spring. For those ZIPs the Harris Center’s own page points families to the state search tool. The Harris Center’s ECI referral line is 713-970-4800, and it takes referrals by email at ecireferrals@theharriscenter.org.

Enter your ZIP in the state’s ECI program search. If the result is unclear, call the number it gives, and say your child’s age and ZIP code first.

How do I ask my school district for an evaluation?

At age 3, ECI ends and the school district takes over for children who may need special education. The state says families can request an assessment by contacting the district’s director of special education. These are the contacts each district publishes today.

Conroe ISD (The Woodlands and Montgomery County addresses in the district): the Special Education Department at 936-709-7813, or your child’s home campus. The district’s page lists feeder-zone coordinators for The Woodlands and College Park, so ask for the coordinator for your child’s feeder zone.

Spring ISD: for ages 3 and 4, call the Special Education Department at 281-891-8290 to schedule a screening. The district says its appraisal specialists screen 3- and 4-year-olds, and a full evaluation follows with your consent if the screening finds a deficit. For age 5 and older, contact your campus Student Support Specialist, or the principal of your zoned campus if you cannot reach them.

Klein ISD: the district’s Child Find contact is listed on its special education page at 832-249-4353. Klein ISD says Child Find covers children from birth to 21 who may need special education.

Humble ISD: the district’s Special Education Department is 281-641-8410, and its Early Childhood Department is 281-641-7409. Both numbers appear on the district’s own Early Childhood Intervention page, so if one does not connect, try the other. The page also says anyone can start the process, including a doctor or a relative.

Whatever district you use, put the request in writing. The Texas Education Agency says a written request for an initial evaluation goes to the director of special education or an administrator such as a principal. The district then has 15 school days to respond with written notice of whether it will evaluate, plus a copy of the procedural safeguards. A verbal request is allowed, but the 15-day deadline does not apply to it. After you give written consent, the district has 45 school days to finish the evaluation, with an extension if your child is absent three or more days and a June 30 rule near the end of the school year. You are entitled to the report at no cost, no later than five school days before the meeting that decides eligibility.

For more on how districts treat autism, ABA and behavior services, see our guide to Houston school districts, autism and ABA. Texas also runs SPEDTex, a free information center for families, at 1-855-773-3839, which both Humble ISD and Klein ISD list on their pages.

Who handles waiver interest lists: Tri-County or The Harris Center?

Texas Medicaid waivers pay for in-home and community supports. They are separate from Medicaid ABA, and the wait is long.

For the Home and Community-based Services (HCS) and Texas Home Living (TxHmL) waivers, the local intellectual and developmental disability authority (LIDDA) keeps the interest list for its service area. You get on the list by telling the LIDDA that you want the program. The date of that conversation becomes your request date, and the state offers services in order of time on the list.

• Montgomery County (The Woodlands): the LIDDA is Tri-County Behavioral Healthcare, based in Conroe. Tri-County’s intake steps say to gather any psychological assessment and school or medical records, call its main line at 936-521-6200, and ask for IDD Authority Support Staff. Its HCS page gives the same number for questions about the wait list. For other IDD questions, Tri-County lists 936-521-6228 or 936-521-6203. A psychologist then reviews the records and schedules an evaluation to confirm eligibility.
• Harris County (Spring, Humble, Kingwood, Atascocita): the LIDDA is The Harris Center for Mental Health and IDD. Its IDD and autism questions line is 713-970-7799, and its intake begins with an online packet. The Patient Access Line is 713-970-7000.
• Other waivers (CLASS, MDCP and others): Tri-County’s FAQ says families can join those interest lists by calling HHSC at 1-877-438-5658.

Tri-County’s IDD page also lists an autism services program for children ages 3 to 15 with a parent training requirement and a monthly cost based on a financial assessment. That program has been in flux at the state level, so ask intake whether it is open before you plan around it.

We cover the full interest-list process, including how to check that your name is still on the list, in our guide to the Texas Medicaid waiver interest list in Houston. Call now. The list is ordered by time waiting, and your request date is the part you control.

Are there autism parent groups and sensory-friendly places up here?

We looked for local groups and sensory-friendly options that have a current official page. We left out anything we could only find in old directories.

Parent support:

• The Autism Society of Texas lists a Houston Parent/Caregiver Online Connection Group, a Spanish-language parent group and statewide virtual parent meetings. It did not list in-person groups for The Woodlands, Spring, Humble or Kingwood. Its Navigating Autism line is 512-479-4199, extension 2, for free individual guidance.
• Texas Parent to Parent runs weekly parent support calls on Zoom, in English on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. and in Spanish on Mondays at noon, and a helpline at 866-896-6001.

Sensory-friendly places:

• The Woodlands Children’s Museum has a sensory-friendly visiting page. It recommends Tuesday through Friday afternoons from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for a quieter visit and says it holds sensory-friendly special events through the year. Call 281-465-0955 for the next date. Its summer Quiet Discovery Hours have ended for the year as of this guide.
• Harris County Public Library offers Comfort Kits for in-library use, with noise-canceling headphones, sunglasses and a fidget, and a pop-up pod you can request for programs. Ask at the circulation desk, and request accommodations at least three business days before a program.

If you know a local group with a current official page, tell us at the contact page on this site and we will review it.

What should I ask ABA providers in The Woodlands, Spring and Humble?

A directory listing tells you a provider exists. It does not tell you whether the fit is right or whether there is room. Ask each provider directly. Our guide to choosing an ABA provider in Houston adds red flags to watch for.

1. Do you need a diagnosis, an evaluation or a referral before intake, and who completes it?
2. How long is the wait between my first call and the first session, and do you keep a list I can join?
3. Do you accept my insurance or Medicaid plan, and who handles prior authorization?
4. Where are sessions: at home, at a center, in school, or by telehealth? Which can you offer for my address?
5. Do you offer after-school or weekend hours?
6. Who writes the treatment goals, and how do we choose them together?
7. What is my role as a parent, and how is parent training scheduled?
8. How often do you share progress, and what happens if I disagree with a goal?
9. Who supervises my child’s sessions, and how often do I meet that person?
10. Which languages can you use with my child and with me?

Browse providers by area on our directory pages for The Woodlands, Spring, Humble, Kingwood and Atascocita. If you want to narrow by funding or setting, the Medicaid, in-home, center-based and telehealth pages help. Counts are small, so check neighboring cities too.