Autism in California: Start Here

“Something feels different about my child and I don't know what to do first.”

The First Ninety Days — what to do from today, in order, with the exact words to say on each call and the legal deadlines each one starts. Separate paths for under three and three and over, and every abbreviation explained where it appears.

“I have a list of providers to ring and I don't know what to ask.”

Four Questions First — the four questions in the order that saves the most time, what a good answer sounds like, and a place to write down what each provider told you and when. The first question is the one almost nobody knows to ask.

“There are so many organisations. Who actually handles what, and who pays?”

Three Pockets — explained from zero by following one child from eighteen months to twenty-two. Each organisation introduced the moment it appears; at every step, who pays, who is responsible, and where the trap is. Three pictures of who owes what to whom, a card for each party, and every term explained. Why the third birthday is the hardest day, why the money never passes through you, and which deadline is the one that matters.

“这么多机构，到底谁管什么，谁付钱？”

谁管什么，谁付钱 — 从零开始，跟着一个孩子走一遍：每个机构在它出场时才介绍，每一步说清谁付钱、谁负责、坑在哪。 三岁那天为什么最难，钱为什么不经过你，被拒了该在第几天之前申诉。所有日期都从加州自己的法条里核过。

“What happens to therapy funding when a child turns three?”

The Age Three Handoff — a count each California regional centre has not published, taken entirely from the vendor list it does publish. Switchable across the fifteen centres whose lists can be read.

“Where exactly does this system leak, and whose job was it?”

The Handoffs Nobody Owns — the six seams where one body’s duty stops before the next one’s starts, drawn against the child’s age. What the law assigns at each, what California’s own numbers show happens instead, who stands there now, and what would close it. With the five things the state does not measure about itself.