How Do I Contact BabyNet in South Carolina, and Does BabyNet Actually Provide ABA Therapy? The Referral Number, the 45-Day Rule, and the Faster Path to ABA

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Anyone can refer a child, including a parent. It is not, however, where ABA therapy comes from.</p></div></div> <div class="quick-info"><div class="info-item"><div class="info-label">Referral Line</div><div class="info-value">866-512-8881</div></div><div class="info-item"><div class="info-label">Ages</div><div class="info-value">Birth to 3</div></div><div class="info-item"><div class="info-label">Deadline</div><div class="info-value">45 days</div></div><div class="info-item"><div class="info-label">Funds ABA?</div><div class="info-value">No</div></div></div> <div class="content"> <section><p>BabyNet is South Carolina's birth-to-3 early intervention system, with SCDHHS as lead agency since 2017. To refer, call <strong>1-866-512-8881</strong> or use the online referral portal. A parent can refer their own child. No doctor's permission, no diagnosis required.</p> <p>Federal law then starts a clock: the evaluation and the first Individualized Family Service Plan meeting must be complete <strong>within 45 days of the referral</strong>. Eligible children do not need an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis to qualify. Write down the date you called.</p></section> <section><h2>Does BabyNet do ABA? Not really</h2><p>BabyNet funds early intervention services for infants and toddlers: evaluations, service coordination, speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, family coaching. Intensive applied behavior analysis is not a standard BabyNet service.</p> <p>Families hear that and assume they must wait until age 3 for behavior therapy. They don't.</p> <div class="highlight-box"><p><strong>Medicaid, not BabyNet, is the ABA funding route in South Carolina</strong>, and it can start earlier than most parents realize. South Carolina Medicaid has a presumptive eligibility pathway that lets ABA begin for at-risk toddlers roughly 18 to 36 months old while the full diagnostic evaluation is still in process. You may not have to hold your child out of therapy waiting on an evaluation slot.</p></div> <p>Run both. BabyNet for the IFSP, the coordination, the speech and OT. A Medicaid ABA provider for the behavior work. They are not in competition, and doing them in sequence instead of in parallel costs a toddler months in the window where intervention matters most.</p></section> <section><h2>What happens at age 3</h2><p>BabyNet ends at the third birthday. From there a child typically moves to the local school district under IDEA Part B, with an IEP replacing the IFSP. School services are educational, and they usually shrink from what a family had. Line up private ABA before the birthday, not after.</p></section> <section><h2>Frequently Asked Questions</h2>

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