Where Do I Get Funding?
 School
districts and regional centers are required by law to provide
services for individuals with developmental disabilities,
including autism. Under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA), with a few exceptions, regional centers have
the responsibility for providing needed supports and services to
qualified children until they are three years old. At that time,
the school districts assume primary responsibility for providing
educational supports and services for disabled children until they
complete their schooling. At that time, regional centers resume
primary responsibility.
If your child is under age 3, the Regional Center is
responsible for providing services through the “Early Start”
program. This program is mandated under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The California legislature has
found that early intervention services “represent an investment of
resources, in that these services reduce the ultimate costs to our
society, by minimizing the need for special education and related
services in later school years and by minimizing the likelihood of
institutionalization.” The Legislature has recognized that time is
of the essence in that "[t]he earlier intervention is started, the
greater is the ultimate cost-effectiveness and the higher is the
educational attainment and quality of life achieved by children
with disabilities." Regional Centers are required to provide
services to infants and toddlers with developmental delays in one
or more of these five areas: cognitive development; physical and
motor development, including vision and hearing; communication
development; social or emotional development; or adaptive
development. Regional Centers also provide services to children
who have conditions that have harmful developmental consequences,
or have a high risk of developmental disability. The regional
center is required to determine a child’s eligibility for services
by conducting an assessment by a multi-disciplinary team of
qualified individuals. Services provided through the Early Start
program include special instruction, speech therapy, occupational
therapy, physical therapy, respite and other services, depending
on the child’s needs. If your child is over the age of 3,
both the school district and the regional center have a
responsibility to provide services. School districts are required
to provide a “Free Appropriate Public Education,” also called FAPE,
which is required under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act (IDEA). School districts must provide specialized
instruction and related services without charge. The services must
address all of the child’s special education and related service
needs, and must be based on the individual needs of the child and
not on the child’s disability. Generally speaking, school
districts must provide a “floor of opportunity” in which the child
may obtain “meaningful educational benefit.” School districts are
not required to provide the best possible educational program.
Special education law also requires that a student be educated in
the least restrictive environment (LRE) and that removal of a
student from the regular education environment occur only when the
nature or severity of the student’s disability is such that
education in regular education classes cannot be achieved
satisfactorily. In 2004, IDEA was amended significantly and passed
into law. Many of the provisions in this new IDEA law will become
effective on July 1, 2005.
Regional Centers provide services to individuals with
developmental disabilities under California’s Lanterman
Developmental Disabilities Act. The Lanterman Act requires
regional centers to provide developmentally disabled people with
those services and supports that will allow them, “regardless of
age or degree of disability, and at each stage of life” to
integrate “into the mainstream life of the community” and to
“approximate the pattern of everyday living available to people
without disabilities of the same age.” The Act also states that
persons with developmental disabilities have the right to
treatment and habilitation services and supports which foster the
individual’s developmental potential and are “directed toward the
achievement of the most independent, productive and normal lives
possible.” The Act contemplates that the regional centers will
work with consumers and their families to secure “those services
and supports that maximize opportunities and choices for living,
working, learning and recreating in the community.” It is possible
for a school district to provide a child a FAPE without providing
those supports and services required for them to meet the
Lanterman standards. In such a case, regional centers are to meet
those unmet needs. However, parents must make a good faith effort
to obtain those services and supports from their school district
before the regional center is required to provide them. Further,
regional centers have a responsibility to advocate for services
from the school district and any other potential “generic” funding
sources.
Regional Centers
Eastern Los Angeles Regional Center
1000 South Fremont
Alhambra, CA 91802-7916
Gloria Wong, Director
(626) 299-4700
www.elarc.org
Eastern Los Angeles county including the communities of Alhambra
and Whittier Frank D. Lanterman Regional Center
3303 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 700
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Diane Campbell Anand, Director
(213) 383-1300
www.lanterman.org
Central Los Angeles county including Burbank, Glendale, and
Pasadena Harbor Regional Center
21231 Hawthorne Boulevard
Torrance, CA 90503
Patricia Del Monico, Director
(310) 540-1711
www.hddf.com
Southern Los Angeles county including Bellflower, Harbor, Long
Beach, and Torrance Inland Regional Center
674 Brier Drive
San Bernardino, CA 92408
Mary Lynn Clark, Director
(909) 890-3000
www.inlandrc.org
Riverside and San Bernadino counties North Los Angeles County
Regional Center
15400 Sherman Way, Suite 170
Van Nuys, CA 91406-4211
George Stevens, Director
(818) 778-1900
www.nlacrc.com
Northern Los Angeles county including San Fernando and Antelope
Valleys Regional Center of Orange County
801 Civic Center Drive West, Suite 300
Santa Ana, CA 92701
William J. Bowman, Director
(714) 796-5100
www.rcocdd.com
Orange county San Gabriel/Pomona Regional Center
761 Corporate Center Drive
Pomona, CA 91768
R. Keith Penman, Director
(909) 620-7722
www.sgprc.org
Eastern Los Angeles county including El Monte, Monrovia, Pomona,
and Glendora South Central Los Angeles Regional Center
650 West Adams Boulevard, Suite 200
Los Angeles, CA 90007-2545
Dexter Henderson, Director
(213) 763-7800
www.sclarc.org
Southern Los Angeles county including the communities of Compton
and Gardena Westside Regional Center
5901 Green Valley Circle, Suite 320
Culver City, CA 90230-6953
Michael Danneker, Director
(310) 258-4000
www.westsiderc.org
Western Los Angeles county including the communities of Culver
City, Inglewood, and Santa Monica
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School Districts
ABC Unified
16700 Norwalk Blvd.
Cerritos, CA 90703-1838
(562) 926-5566
www.abcusd.k12.ca.us
Alhambra
Unified
15 W. Alhambra Rd.
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 308-2255
www.alhambra.k12.ca.us
Arcadia Unified
234 Campus Dr.
Arcadia, CA 91007-6902
(626) 821-8300
http://site.ausd.net
Azusa Unified
546 S. Citrus Ave.
Azusa, CA 91702-0500
(626) 967-6211
www.azuzausd.k12.ca.us
Baldwin Park Unified
3699 N. Holly Ave.
Baldwin Park, CA 91706-5397
(626) 962-3311
www.bpusd.k12.ca.us
Bassett Unified
904 N. Willow Ave.
La Puente, CA 91746-1615
(626) 931-3000
www.bassett.k12.ca.us
Bellflower Unified
16703 S. Clark Ave.
Bellflower, CA 90706-5203
(562) 866-9011
www.busd.k12.ca.us Beverly Hills
Unified
255 S. Lasky Dr.
Beverly Hills, CA 90212-3644
(310) 551-5100
www.beverlyhills.k12.ca.us Bonita Unified
115 W. Allen Ave.
San Dimas, CA 91773-1437
(909) 971-8200
www.bonita.k12.ca.us Burbank Unified
1900 W. Olive Ave.
Burbank, CA 91506
(818) 729-4400
www.burbank.k12.ca.us
Charter Oak
Unified
20240 Cienega Ave.
Covina, CA 91723-0009
(626) 966-8331
www.cousd.k12.ca.us
Claremont Unified
2080 N. Mountain Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711-2643
(909) 398-0600
www.cusd.claremont.edu Covina-Valley
Unified
519 E. Badillo St.
Covina, CA 91723-0269
(626) 331-3371
www.cvusd.k12.ca.us
Culver City Unified
4034 Irving Pl.
Culver City, CA 90232-2810
(310) 842-4220
www.ccusd.org Downey Unified
11627 Brookshire Ave.
Downey, CA 90241-7017
(562) 469-6500
www.dusd.net Duarte Unified
1620 Huntington Dr.
Duarte, CA 91010-2534
(626) 358-1191
www.duarte.k12.ca.us El Rancho Unified
9333 Loch Lomond Dr.
Pico Rivera, CA 90660-2913
(562) 942-1500
www.erusd.k12.ca.us
El Segundo Unified
641 Sheldon St.
El Segundo, CA 90245-3036
(310) 615-2650
http://elsegundousd.org Glendale Unified
223 N. Jackson St.
Glendale, CA 91206-4334
(818) 241-3111
www.gusd.net Glendora Unified
500 N. Loraine Ave.
Glendora, CA 91741-2964
(626) 963-1611
www.glendora.k12.ca.us
Hacienda la Puente Unified
15959 E. Gale Ave.
City Of Industry, CA 91716
(626) 933-1000
www.hlpusd.k12.ca.us
Hermosa Beach City School District
1645 Valley Drive
Hermosa Beach, CA 90245
(310) 937-5877
www.hbcsd.org
Inglewood Unified
401 S. Inglewood Ave.
Inglewood, CA 90301-2501
(310) 419-2700
www.inglewood.k12.ca.us
La Canada
Unified
4490 Cornishon Ave.
La Canada, CA 91011
(818) 952-8300
www.lcusd.net Las Virgenes Unified
4111 N. Las Virgenes Rd.
Calabasas, CA 91302-1929
(818) 880-4000
http://corp.lvusd.org
Long Beach Unified
1515 Hughes Way
Long Beach, CA 90810-1839
(562) 997-8000
www.lbusd.k12.ca.us
Los Angeles Unified
333 S. Beaudry Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 241-1000
www.lausd.k12.ca.us
Lynwood Unified
11321 Bullis Rd.
Lynwood, CA 90262-3600
(310) 886-1600
www.lynwoodusd.org Manhattan Beach
Unified
325 South Peck Ave.
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266-2478
(310) 318-7345
www.manhattan.k12.ca.us
Monrovia Unified
325 E. Huntington Dr.
Monrovia, CA 91016-3585
(626) 471-2000
www.monroviaschools.net
Montebello Unified
123 S. Montebello Blvd.
Montebello, CA 90640-4729
(323) 887-7900
www.montebello.k12.ca.us
Norwalk-La Mirada
Unified
12820 Pioneer Blvd.
Norwalk, CA 90650-2894
(562) 868-0431
www.nlmusd.k12.ca.us
Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified
3801 Via la Selva
Palos Verdes Estates, CA 90274-1119
(310) 378-9966
www.pvpusd.k12.ca.us
Paramount Unified
7340 Jackson St
Paramount, CA 90723-4809
(562) 602-6000
www.paramount.k12.ca.us Pasadena Unified
351 S. Hudson Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91101-3507
(626) 795-6981
www.pusd.us
Pomona Unified
800 S. Garey Ave.
Pomona, CA 91766-3325
(909) 397-4800
www.pusd.org
Redondo Beach Unified
1401 Inglewood Ave.
Redondo Beach, CA 90278-3912
(310) 379-5449
www.rbusd.org
Rowland
Unified
1830 Nogales St.
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(626) 965-2541
www.rowlandschools.org
San Gabriel Unified
408 Junipero Serra Dr.
San Gabriel, CA 91776-4500
(626) 451-5400
www.sgusd.k12.ca.us
San Marino Unified
1665 West Dr.
San Marino, CA 91108-2594
(626) 299-7000
www.san-marino.k12.ca.us Santa Monica-Malibu Unified
1651 16th St.
Santa Monica, CA 90404-3891
(310) 450-8338
www.smmusd.org South Pasadena Unified
1020 El Centro St.
South Pasadena, CA 91030-3118
(626) 441-5810
www.spusd.net
Temple City Unified
9700 Las Tunas Dr.
Temple City, CA 91780
(626) 548-5000
www.templecity.k12.ca.us Torrance Unified
2335 Plaza del Amo
Torrance, CA 90509
(310) 972-6500
www.tusd.org West Covina Unified
1717 W. Merced Ave.
West Covina, CA 91790-3406
(626) 939-4600
www.wcusd-ca.schoolloop.com
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