Step 1: Connect to Your County Board for Developmental Disabilities

AGE SPECIFIC GUIDANCE

Ages 0-3: All referrals for children under the age of 3 are made through Ohio Early Intervention (formerly known as Help Me Grow). Your County Board of DD (CBDD) works in partnership with Ohio Early Intervention to provide developmental evaluations for children who have a suspected delay or who have a medical condition that has a high probability of resulting in a developmental delay.

Ages 3-5: There is a County Board of Developmental Disabilities (CBDD) in each of Ohio’s 88 counties. This is the government agency that provides funding and oversees and administers services to individuals with developmental disabilities, including Autism. Services include information and resources, Individual Service Plan (ISP) development and revision, assistance in selecting providers and accessing services, service coordination, quality assurance monitoring, and crisis intervention. (Notably, the eligibility criteria and the services described here are separate from those involved in Medicaid home and community-based services.)

If your child is between the ages of 3-5 and has an IEP, they are already eligible for services from your CBDD. Simply call the CBDD office in your county to discuss eligibility criteria and to schedule an Intake Interview. Take your child’s official IEP document, Social Security card, and birth certificate to the Intake Interview appointment. Shortly after the interview, the CBDD will contact you to begin planning services.

Ages 6-15: Whether your child becomes eligible for CBDD services through Early Intervention or an earlier Intake Interview, at the ages of 6-15, another Intake Interview will be scheduled for your child so CBDD staff can determine continued eligibility. The CBDD will also complete the Children’s Ohio Eligibility Determination Instrument (C/OEDI) a tool that records information about a person’s current functional abilities.

A Note About Intake Interviews: Parents may be embarrassed and not want to admit their child has behaviors. For this reason and others, a parent may not fully convey how a child’s Autism impacts the child and family. This is not the time or place to tell all the glowing things about your child; you are there to gain eligibility for services and funds. So focus on highlighting how your child’s disability affects their ability to learn, safety, capacity to make friends, emotional regulation, and relationships with siblings and relatives. Stress how disability affects your family life, your ability to work outside of the home, your emotional balance, etc. Do not just think about the last few days; think about the last 6 months. If your child is not doing things the way same-age peers are, then make that known during the Intake Interview.

Once your child is deemed eligible for services/funds through your CBDD, they will be assigned a Service and Support Administrator (SSA) who will be your point of contact while your child is eligible for services. The SSA is your touchpoint for services and resource referrals, any funding programs or scholarships offered, and paperwork for other statewide services in Ohio. At the time of this guide’s publication (July 25), many CBDDs offer family engagement funds to support and empower families of individuals with developmental disabilities by covering the cost of things like respite or counseling services, purchase of sensory items, or fees to attend trainings. Tell the CBDD staff what you need and ask if the Board can offer any help with the problem. Individual needs are different, and each County Board of DD has slightly different services and funding. If you feel your needs are not being addressed, individuals can request a different SSA.

Income does not impact eligibility. There is no income restriction for service coordination.

Age 16: For individuals who are 16 and older, eligibility requirements are again assessed by the CBDD. This is called redetermination. The Ohio Eligibility Determination Instrument (OEDI) is commonly used to measure an individual’s need for continued services and resources.  Both the COEDI and the OEDI are designed to be user-friendly documents that anyone rating the scores (an individual, guardian, or advocate, for instance) can readily understand. Evaluation Specialists are available to assist families through the redetermination process and to answer any questions.

 Age 22+: This means that an individual 22+ years old can continue to receive services and resources through a CBDD if they have been found eligible before the age of 22. However, it is very difficult after the age of 22 years to be deemed newly eligible for services or resources. ASGA recommends an Intake Interview shortly after a formal, medical diagnosis to avoid the 22-year cut-off.