Services for Families

Hispanic Family. Mother and two boys.Direct Assistance Services

A CARD consultant may work with you by providing specific strategies and resources to meet your family's needs. It can include any or all of the following:

  • Telephone or email contact as well as home consulting
  • Community visits
  • Meeting Attendance
  • Dissemination of research resources
  • Connect families with community resources
  • Assistance with implementing training ideas taken

Direct CARD assistance can be provided to any child or adult but services are limited to what the child or adult, family, professional and agency is involved:

  • Training or other educational resources through videos / CD or printed material
  • Demonstrations
  • Collaborative training plan with a school or agency.

Both families and professionals will be notified of local community activities and will be encouraged to participate as a way to receive CARD services.

Online Resources for Families & Individuals

Anyone can access CARD-USF's resources and materials, including the Autism Library Collection, online trainings, support group listings, and informational materials and links.
View the Community Calendar to find autism events in your community.
The CARD's statewide website, Florida-CARD.org, provides a number of online resources, as well as links to CARD centers throughout the state.

Getting Started

If the child/individual is already a CARD constituent, please contact the child's CARD Consultant for Direct Assistance services.

If the child is not a CARD constituent, the child's parent/guardian will need to register with CARD by following the instructions below. For more information on whether your child may qualify for services, please see our Who We Serve page.

Parent meeting with CARD Consultant.How to Access CARD Services

  1. Contact: Families may contact CARD by phone or email with your questions or your interest in registering with CARD.
  2. Intake: Once we have your contact information and the other preliminary information that you provided, your file will be forwarded to a CARD Consultant on the Early Childhood Team, the School Age Team, or the Adult Services Team.
  3. Consult: The CARD Consultant will contact you within ten business days of receiving your file to discuss your question or concerns. Often times, a phone call will solve your issues at hand. The CARD Consultant will give you resources or help provide you with strategies that you can implement on your own.

Accessing More In-Depth Services

If your situation is more complex and the CARD Consultant feels a visit to your home, school, or in the community is needed, then the Florida Legislature requires that we obtain proof of diagnosis on the autism spectrum before implementing more in-depth service.

CARD will send an information packet to you which will include a return self-addressed postage paid envelope, some brochures, and an Authorization of Information release that you will need to sign and return to us. You will also need to provide CARD with documentation that we can use as proof of eligibility. We describe the type of document(s) we need in the Who We Serve section of our web site. Once eligibility has been determined a CARD consultant will be assigned to your family. The CARD Consultant will decide the level of service that your family needs and will work with you around your main concern(s).