Alta Regional Center: Sacramento, Yuba City, Placerville

Where are Alta’s offices, and what are the numbers?

What does Alta Regional do?

• Adaptive skills trainingAlta’s family guide says it builds self-reliance in daily life: self-care, talking, chores and safety. Parents take part, after a group parent class.
• RespiteSomeone watches your family member so you get a break. Alta gives up to 48, 90 or 120 hours every 3 months, and unused hours don’t carry over.
• Behavior servicesShort-term help with behavior that puts health or safety at risk. For a child with autism, Alta first needs a denial from insurance or Medi-Cal.
• Camp, social activities and lessonsUnder Alta’s May 2026 rule, you don’t have to use up IHSS or trade respite hours to get them.
• DiapersMedi-Cal pays after age 5, and sometimes from 3 with a medical need. Alta can help when those sources fall short.
• Independent living skillsTraining for adults, at home or out in town, to live on their own or do more at home.
• Day programsTraining and community programs for adults.
• Travel trainingLearning to ride the bus or train. Rides to school are the school district’s job.

Other help comes first. Alta must try insurance, Medi-Cal and family supports before it pays, and it pays only for what’s in the plan.

Who qualifies for Alta Regional Center, and how do I apply?

The steps

1. Make a My Alta account.Apply online through My Alta. You’ll need an email address, and a computer works best. For help, call (916) 978-6400 and press 0.
2. Alta calls you.Within 15 working days, an Intake Coordinator calls to learn more. Then an Intake Specialist meets with you.
3. Alta decides.A team with a doctor, a psychologist and a social worker decides within 120 days. If your family member qualifies, a service coordinator reaches out within 60 days.

From age 3 up, the person or their family opens the My Alta account. Alta doesn’t take referrals from other agencies at that age. More on who qualifies: our eligibility page.

Alta questions, answered

How do I reach my Alta service coordinator?

• Look them up.Search Alta’s staff directory by name for a direct phone number, or send a message from it. The message form doesn’t send you a copy, so keep your own.
• No promised call-back time.Alta’s site doesn’t say how fast coordinators answer. If you don’t hear back, go to step 2 below.
• No officer of the day.Families search for Alta’s officer of the day, but Alta doesn’t name one. Its reception desk, (916) 978-6400, will connect you with the person you need.
• Step 2: the Client Services Manager.Alta says to call your coordinator first, then their manager. The manager’s name and phone are at the bottom of your coordinator’s emails. Step 3 is a Director of Client Services; their numbers are on the staff directory page.
• Keep a log.The state’s guide on Alta’s site says to write down the day you called, who you talked to and what they said. Note voicemails and emails too.
• New coordinator?Alta’s coordinators work by age group, so a child usually gets a new one at 3 and again at 17. Alta says the old and new coordinators work together when they can. If yours isn’t a good fit, you can ask for someone else.

How do I get adaptive skills training through Alta?

1. Email your coordinator.Say you want adaptive skills training from Aldera, and copy team@aldera.org. Start from this email. List the everyday skills that are hardest now.
2. Take the parent class.Alta’s family guide asks parents to join a group class, Behavior Parent Training, first. Ask your coordinator to sign you up.
3. A meeting within 30 days.The state’s guide on Alta’s site says a planning meeting happens within 30 days of your request. Ask for adaptive skills training to go in the plan.
4. Sign, then we start.Services start once you sign the plan. After Alta approves it, we come to your home and set goals with you and your family member.

Alta’s guide calls it a 3 to 6 month service that also coaches parents, so the skills keep growing after it ends.

How do I get a copy of my family member’s Alta records?

• Ask your coordinator in writing.Ask to see the file or to get copies. Say if you want to pick them up, or get them by email or mail.
• 3 business days.Alta has to let you see the file within 3 business days of your request.
• Intake tests count too.Even if your family member didn’t qualify, you can get a copy of any test Alta did. Ask your Intake Specialist.
• Using them for IHSS.IHSS asks for a health form, the SOC 873, from a licensed professional. An IPP with the same facts can count instead. Alta’s family guide adds that a child needs active Medi-Cal before IHSS can help. If you’ll care for your child yourself, see how parents get paid through IHSS.

How do I get school help in Sacramento and Alta’s other counties?

1. Write to the school.Ask for a special education assessment in a signed, dated letter or email. Sacramento City Unified points out that email leaves a record.
2. A plan within 15 days.The district has 15 days from your request to send you an assessment plan to sign.
3. 60 days to test.Once the district has your signed plan, it has 60 days to test and hold the IEP meeting.
4. Get Alta’s help.Your coordinator can set up a talk with Alta’s Special Education Specialist, who can go over an IEP with you. Elk Grove’s handbook says you can bring your Regional Center worker to the meeting.
5. Plan for preschool early.The state’s guide says the transition meeting with the school comes at least 90 days before your child turns 3.

Special education offices in Alta’s area

• Elk Grove UnifiedGive your written request to your school or the district. Special Education: (916) 686-7780. For a baby or preschooler, ask that office for the preschool program specialist.
• Sacramento City UnifiedSend your request to your school’s principal, by email if you can. Special Education: (916) 643-9174. Child Find and preschool questions go to SELPA@scusd.edu.
• San Juan UnifiedGive your request to the principal or other school staff. If your child isn’t in a district school, send it to the Special Education Office in Carmichael, (916) 971-7525.
• Placer CountyAll 16 districts, from Roseville and Rocklin to Auburn, share the Placer County SELPA, (530) 889-8020. It serves students from birth to 21.
• El Dorado CountyThe county SELPA answers special education questions at (530) 295-2470. South Lake Tahoe and Alpine County have their own: the Tahoe-Alpine SELPA, through Lake Tahoe Unified, (530) 541-2850.
• Yolo, Sutter, Yuba and NevadaEach has a county SELPA. Yolo: (530) 668-3786. Sutter: (530) 822-2907. Yuba: (530) 749-4871. In Nevada County, call the county office in Grass Valley, (530) 478-6400.

Twin Rivers, Folsom Cordova and Natomas run their own special education offices too. Sacramento County’s smaller districts share the county SELPA, (916) 228-2787.

Where can Alta families find parent support?

• WarmLine Family Resource Center.Parent-to-parent help for families in six of Alta’s counties, including Sacramento, Placer and Yolo. Call (916) 455-9500, or (916) 922-1490 in Spanish.
• Sutter, Yuba, Colusa and Sierra.In Sutter, call Family SOUP at (530) 751-1925. Yuba’s county office of education runs a center at (530) 749-4049. Colusa’s is at (530) 458-7678, and Sierra’s High Sierra FRC is at (530) 993-1110.
• Lighthouse Family Resource Center.Alta also lists Lighthouse Counseling and Family Resource Center, (916) 645-3300.