Autism and ADHD Resources for Teens and Young Adults on the Colorado Front Range

You have a teenager or a young adult who is autistic, or has ADHD, or both, and you are trying to find the right kind of help. You have probably already discovered the problem: the options are scattered. One list is for little kids. Another is Medicaid only. A third is a therapist directory that does not tell you who actually works with a 19-year-old who will not leave his room. You end up with eleven browser tabs and no clearer idea of where to start.

This is the map we give families who call us. It covers autism and ADHD resources across the Colorado Front Range for ages roughly 13 to 30, from Boulder and Longmont down through Denver and out to Colorado Springs. We checked every organization below in September 2026. Things change, so call before you count on anything, but this should save you the eleven tabs.

If you are a clinician or school counselor looking for referral options for a family, this list is for you too.

Start with a directory, not a search engine

Three curated directories cover most of what exists on the Front Range. They are maintained by people who know the field, and they will get you further in twenty minutes than an evening of Googling.

Next Steps Neurodiversity keeps a Colorado-focused resource guide for autistic, ADHD, and AuDHD people of every age. Listings are sorted into categories that match how parents actually think, including coaching and executive functioning, social and community, and a section specifically for transitions and young adults. Every listing is reviewed for neurodiversity-affirming values before it goes up. Noble Mentors is listed there.

CHADD’s ADHD Professional Directory is national, so filter it by Colorado. It covers psychiatrists, therapists, coaches, tutors, and clinics, and you can narrow by who they serve (children, adolescents, adults) and whether they work remotely. CHADD is the largest ADHD organization in the country; we are a Professional Member. One honest note: listings come from paid members and CHADD does not vet individual providers, so treat it as a starting list, not a recommendation.

The Autism Society of Boulder County resource directory is the one to use if you live in Boulder or Broomfield County. You can filter by service type, by insurance accepted, and by city, and it runs from early childhood through adulthood. The Society also hosts a Discord for autistic adults 18 and up and a monthly online group for autistic adults over 30. We are listed in the directory.

Organizations and programs worth knowing

Evaluation and diagnosis. If your young person has never had a formal evaluation, or the last one was in third grade, start here. JFK Partners at CU Anschutz is Colorado’s university center for developmental disabilities. They run interdisciplinary evaluations for autism from toddlers through adults, including a dedicated adult evaluation clinic for people 18 and older, plus social skills groups and a program for anxiety in autistic kids. Their clinical services are scheduled through Children’s Hospital Colorado Developmental Pediatrics. Children’s Hospital Colorado itself handles developmental and cognitive assessment and autism diagnosis through adolescence, and its Pediatric Mental Health Institute does ADHD assessment, behavior therapy, and medication management. Be aware that it is a pediatric system, so most services end somewhere between 18 and 21, and waits for evaluation can be long. Ask about the waitlist when you call.

Social skills. For a teen or young adult who wants friends and does not know how to get there, the most studied program is UCLA’s PEERS curriculum. PEERS Denver runs the full 16-week version for teens 13 to 17 and young adults 18 to 30, with a parent or “social coach” group meeting at the same time, in person and virtually. Parent participation is required, which is part of why it works. Fees are not published, so ask. Neurodiverse Connections offers a virtual PEERS course for young adults 20 to 38 if the Denver schedule does not fit.

Support groups and community. The Autism Society of Colorado runs an online support group for 15 to 22 year olds, a parent and caregiver group, community events in Denver and Colorado Springs, and a Preferred Partners provider list. Call them for the current schedule; it is not posted. For ADHD, the only Colorado chapter of CHADD is Denver Metro CHADD, a volunteer group that has held virtual meetings on the third Monday of the month for adults with ADHD, parents, partners, and educators. It is volunteer run and its activity comes and goes, so confirm before you plan an evening around it. In Denver, REVEL is a nonprofit built for exactly the gap this post is about: neurodiverse teens and adults whose services end at 21. They run a teen program for ages 14 to 17, daily enrichment and independence programming, employment exploration, and outdoor adventure trips.

School, IEPs, and the transition years. If your student has an IEP, Colorado requires a transition plan in the first IEP after they turn 15, a year earlier than federal law, and services can continue through age 21. The Colorado Department of Education’s secondary transition page has the parent toolkit. Both big districts run programs for 18 to 21 year olds who need more time on their post-secondary goals: Boulder Valley’s special education department runs a Transitions Program and the School to Work Alliance Program, and Denver Public Schools runs the Transition to Independence Program. If you are new to IEP or 504 meetings, or a meeting has gone badly, PEAK Parent Center is Colorado’s federally funded parent training center. Their parent advisors are free, they cover ages 14 to 26 for transition questions, and they publish a Colorado transition resource guide.

Work. The Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation provides pre-employment transition services starting at 15 (career exploration, workplace skills, real work experiences) and job placement help for young people with a documented disability, which includes autism and ADHD. It is a state agency, so expect paperwork, but it is free and it is real.

Medicaid waivers and developmental disability services. If your young adult may qualify for a developmental disability determination, the door is your county’s Case Management Agency. For Denver County that is Rocky Mountain Human Services. For Boulder, Broomfield, and Gilpin counties it is A&I Avenues in Lafayette (this changed in 2024; Imagine! now provides direct services rather than case management). The agency determines eligibility and coordinates Health First Colorado waiver services. Most of what they fund runs through Medicaid, and adult waivers have had waitlists, so start early.

College students. CU Boulder’s counseling center uses ThrivingCampus to refer students to off-campus therapists, psychiatrists, and coaches, filterable by specialty and insurance, and it also runs an autism spectrum support group for enrolled students. If your student is at CU, that is the first call. Noble Mentors is listed on ThrivingCampus as well.

Colorado Springs. Autism Vision of Colorado runs free in-person social events, including an adult game night, and online support groups for autistic people and their families.

Which kind of support fits which situation

Families often come to us having tried the wrong thing first. Not a bad thing, just the wrong tool for the moment. Here is the sorting we use on the phone.

If you do not have a clear diagnosis, or the last evaluation is years old and the picture has changed, get an evaluation. Everything else works better when everyone agrees on what is going on.

If the main problem is inside, meaning anxiety, depression, trauma, meltdowns, or a young person who cannot regulate at all, start with therapy, and if medication is on the table, a prescriber who knows ADHD and autism well.

If the young person wants friends and does not have the skills, a social skills group like PEERS is the most direct route.

If school is where it is falling apart, the lever is accommodations: the IEP or 504 plan, and the district transition program once they are 18. Do not skip this because they are “too old for it.”

If the diagnosis is known, the therapist is in place, and the problem is that nothing is happening between appointments (the applications are not sent, the days are asleep, the job lasted two weeks, the friends are all online), that is where coaching or mentoring belongs. Coaching tends to be goal-focused and structured. Mentoring is relationship first and happens in the young person’s real life. Neither one replaces therapy. Both tend to make therapy work better, because someone is there for the other 167 hours a week.

Where Noble Mentors fits

We are the last category. Our mentors spend real time each week with autistic and ADHD teens and young adults, on a trail, at a climbing gym, at the kitchen table with the pile of forms, in the car on the way to a job interview. The work is practical and relational: routines, executive function, friendships, the first apartment, the college semester that has to be finished. Mentors are matched by personality and interests, so a young person who lives in a game gets a mentor who speaks gaming. Every match starts with a no-charge period so the fit is right before anyone commits, and mentoring happens with clinical oversight from our Clinical Director, Joseph DeNicholas, LCSW. It is not therapy, and we will say so plainly if therapy is what your kid needs.

You can read more about our autism support for teens and young adults, our ADHD support for young adults, and executive function coaching. If you want to see what a mentor with this background looks like, Lexi’s bio is a good place to start. Two related posts: what an ADHD coach actually does (and doesn’t) and why ADHD falls apart after high school.

The first conversation is a free 40-minute call. The first session, if we are the right fit, is usually within the week. And if we are not the right fit, we will point you to who is. Most of the organizations above are people we already send families to.