Medicaid waivers for autism in Louisiana
Louisianans meeting the state definition of a developmental disability manifested before age 22, who also meet ICF/ID level-of-care criteria.
- Main program
- New Opportunities Waiver (NOW), Children's Choice and Supports Waivers
- Typical wait
- Years — but urgency of need outranks your date on the registry
- Administered by
- Louisiana Department of Health, Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities (OCDD), through local governing entities and Human Services Authorities
- Phone
- 1-866-783-5553
- Age rules
- Children's Choice covers birth through age 20. NOW has no age limit. The disability must have manifested before age 22.
How to get on the list
Contact your local governing entity or Human Services Authority for an eligibility determination. Once found eligible for OCDD services, ask to be placed on the Developmental Disability Request for Services Registry, then request a Screening for Urgency of Need. Call 1-866-783-5553 to confirm your request date.
Open the official Louisiana page →Does autism qualify?
Autism qualifies as a developmental disability. The Children's Choice waiver explicitly names autism and serves ages birth to 20; the New Opportunities Waiver serves any age and is the more comprehensive of the two, with no annual per-person cap on services.
How the waiting list works
Louisiana keeps a Request for Services Registry, and your request date is recorded — but the date is not what moves you. After you are on the registry, OCDD schedules a Screening for Urgency of Need, a face-to-face or virtual assessment of what your child's unmet needs are and how urgent they are. That screening is what determines your position. Two things follow. First, getting onto the registry early still matters, because it is the precondition for everything else and you can ring 1-866-783-5553 to confirm your recorded request date. Second, and more importantly, the screening is the moment to be complete and unsparing about what is not working — the behaviour you manage alone, the nights nobody sleeps, the care that falls apart if one adult gets ill. Families who describe themselves as coping get scored as coping. You are entitled to have the SUN scheduled within ten business days of asking for it.
What it can pay for
- Support coordination
- Center-based and in-home respite
- Family support and family training
- Specialized medical equipment and supplies
- Environmental accessibility adaptations
- Housing stabilisation services
- Music, art and aquatic therapy
- Sensory integration
- Therapeutic horseback riding and hippotherapy
Other programs worth knowing
Children's Choice Waiver
Supplemental support for children birth to 20 living at home or in foster care. Capped, but often reachable sooner than NOW.
Supports Waiver
A narrower program for adults with less intensive needs, focused on employment and community participation.
Louisianaproviders & resources →
Local help you can access now, while you wait.
Waivers explained →
What to do while you're on the list, and what to ask.
Sources · last checked August 2026
- Louisiana Department of Health — New Opportunities Waiver
- Louisiana Department of Health — Children's Choice Waiver
- Exceptional Lives — Louisiana OCDD services for children
Waiting lists and eligibility rules change. Always confirm current details with the agency before making decisions. If something here is out of date, tell us.