Autism assessment for a child in California: two systems owe you something

The school route, with the numbers

A parent's written request is a legal trigger, not a favour: California defines a "referral for assessment" to include "any written request for assessment… made by… a parent or guardian."¹ From there:

• 15 days — the district must give you a proposed assessment plan in writing, not counting school breaks longer than five school days.²
• You then have at least 15 days to decide and sign.²
• 60 days from your written consent — assessment complete and the IEP meeting held.³
• No cost to you. Special education is defined as instruction "at no cost to the parent," and federal law requires it be "provided at public expense… and without charge."⁴
• If you disagree with the district's results, you can request an independent educational assessment at public expense.⁵

The delay to refuse: many families are steered into a "student study team" or intervention cycle instead of an assessment. California does say a referral should come "only after the resources of the regular education program have been considered and, where appropriate, utilized" — considered, not completed — and federal guidance is explicit that an intervention process "cannot be used to delay or deny" an evaluation.⁶ Once your written request is received, the clock is running. If the district declines, it must tell you why in writing, which is what gives you something to appeal.

The health-plan route

California requires coverage of medically necessary services for every condition in the DSM or ICD, with the statutory test including services for "preventing, diagnosing, or treating."⁷ Separately, behavioural health treatment for autism — including ABA — is a mandated benefit.⁸

Two things changed on 1 January 2026 that save families money. A plan may no longer require a child already diagnosed with autism to be re-diagnosed in order to keep behavioural health treatment coverage, and it may not "discontinue or delay existing treatment while waiting for a rediagnosis to be completed."⁹ Families were being billed for repeat evaluations to keep ABA running. That is now prohibited.

And the school-district excuse is not available to your plan: it "shall not limit benefits or coverage for medically necessary services on the basis that those services should be or could be covered by a public entitlement program, including but not limited to, special education or an individualized education program."¹⁰

Do this: send the written assessment request today — it costs a stamp and starts a statutory clock — and call your plan in the same week to ask what it needs for a diagnostic evaluation. The request letter, with both deadlines → · What autism assessment costs privately →

Sources

1. California Education Code §56029 — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.
2. Ed Code §56321(a) and §56043(a) — 15 days to a proposed assessment plan, breaks over five school days excluded; at least 15 days for the parent to decide.
3. Ed Code §56302.1(a) and §56344(a) — 60 days from parental consent to assessment and IEP meeting.
4. Ed Code §56031(a) ("at no cost to the parent") and 34 CFR §300.17 ("at public expense… and without charge") — ecfr.gov.
5. Ed Code §56329(b) — independent educational assessment at public expense where the parent disagrees with the district's assessment.
6. Ed Code §56303; US Department of Education OSEP Memorandum 11-07, "A Response to Intervention (RTI) Process Cannot Be Used to Delay-Deny an Evaluation" — sites.ed.gov.
7. Health & Safety Code §1374.72(a)(3)(A).
8. Health & Safety Code §1374.73(a)(1) — behavioural health treatment for pervasive developmental disorder or autism, in place since 1 July 2012 (SB 946).
9. Health & Safety Code §1374.73(c), added by SB 402 (Stats. 2025, Ch. 413), effective 1 January 2026.
10. Health & Safety Code §1374.72(h) — ca.gov.

All figures checked 17 August 2026.