It took a while, but I finally received a response from the emails I sent to different Governors around the country. Unfortunately, Gov. David A. Patterson, NY, is not the one who replied. It was Ellen J. Anderson, M.S., Director, Center for Community Health, State of New York, Department of Health. It is a long, three page response, with answers to each of my questions.
You might want to go back and read the last post I did about emailing politicians for their opinions on autism. Here is the first question that I asked.
1. When the CDC announced the new autism rates, 1 in 110 children are diagnosed with autism, what were your first thoughts?
The response:
“During the past decade, there has been growing national awareness and concern about the increasing prevalence of ASD among young children. The recent findings from the CDC Autism Surveillance Network may be the result of a true increase in prevalence of ASD, improvements in the early identification and diagnosis of, improved reporting of diagnoses, or likely a combination of all of these factors.”
You can correct me if you think I am wrong, but that doesn’t read like an answer to my question. To me, it concedes that there is an increase in children being diagnosed, but that it may be because professionals are getting better at diagnosing. I wanted Gov. Patterson’s opinion and I received a non-answer from Ms. Anderson.
I’m not going to post the whole letter here, it is too long. I do want to point out information provided in the answer to the second question:
2. Services for children with autism are limited and difficult to receive. Most are limited to speech, occupational and speech therapy, yet hardly ever enough of these services to make a big impact for our children. Services like ABA and Floortime therapy are usually not available for our children unless we, the parents, pay for them ourselves. Children that receive at least 20 to 25 hours a week of specialized therapy make more progress than those that do not. What do you intend to do to make government paid specialized therapy services available for our children?
“Based on the available scientific evidence, the Autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorders CPG recommends behavioral intervention program for young children with autism. The NYS DOH will be completing a review and update of this guideline based on scientific research completed during the past decade.
The New York State Early Intervention Program currently provides reimbursement for ABA and, through clinical practice guideline, encourages families and providers to use ABA as the cornerstone of individualized family service plans for children with autism.”
Since she says it is through Early Intervention, I am assuming it is available for children ages birth through age three. These are the ages that the Early Intervention Program services. What about older chidren that have not received ABA and would benefit from it? I think it is great that NY is doing this, but I have seen that children older than the age of three are limited in the help they need.
My son would greatly benefit from ABA, but it is not a reimbursable therapy available for children in my state. At least NY is doing something. I am happy about that. I also encourage families in NY to look into this if they are not currently receiving ABA for their young child.
I would still like to see more responses from other states. I am disappointed that Gov. Patterson did not answer the first question, but am satisfied with Ms. Anderson’s answers to the other questions. She provided some useful information, especially on the ABA therapy available for young children. I hope that NY can be an example for other states and I hope that they will look into the fact that children over the age of three need help, too.
You might want to go back and read the last post I did about emailing politicians for their opinions on autism. Here is the first question that I asked.
1. When the CDC announced the new autism rates, 1 in 110 children are diagnosed with autism, what were your first thoughts?
The response:
“During the past decade, there has been growing national awareness and concern about the increasing prevalence of ASD among young children. The recent findings from the CDC Autism Surveillance Network may be the result of a true increase in prevalence of ASD, improvements in the early identification and diagnosis of, improved reporting of diagnoses, or likely a combination of all of these factors.”
You can correct me if you think I am wrong, but that doesn’t read like an answer to my question. To me, it concedes that there is an increase in children being diagnosed, but that it may be because professionals are getting better at diagnosing. I wanted Gov. Patterson’s opinion and I received a non-answer from Ms. Anderson.
I’m not going to post the whole letter here, it is too long. I do want to point out information provided in the answer to the second question:
2. Services for children with autism are limited and difficult to receive. Most are limited to speech, occupational and speech therapy, yet hardly ever enough of these services to make a big impact for our children. Services like ABA and Floortime therapy are usually not available for our children unless we, the parents, pay for them ourselves. Children that receive at least 20 to 25 hours a week of specialized therapy make more progress than those that do not. What do you intend to do to make government paid specialized therapy services available for our children?
“Based on the available scientific evidence, the Autism/Pervasive Developmental Disorders CPG recommends behavioral intervention program for young children with autism. The NYS DOH will be completing a review and update of this guideline based on scientific research completed during the past decade.
The New York State Early Intervention Program currently provides reimbursement for ABA and, through clinical practice guideline, encourages families and providers to use ABA as the cornerstone of individualized family service plans for children with autism.”
Since she says it is through Early Intervention, I am assuming it is available for children ages birth through age three. These are the ages that the Early Intervention Program services. What about older chidren that have not received ABA and would benefit from it? I think it is great that NY is doing this, but I have seen that children older than the age of three are limited in the help they need.
My son would greatly benefit from ABA, but it is not a reimbursable therapy available for children in my state. At least NY is doing something. I am happy about that. I also encourage families in NY to look into this if they are not currently receiving ABA for their young child.
I would still like to see more responses from other states. I am disappointed that Gov. Patterson did not answer the first question, but am satisfied with Ms. Anderson’s answers to the other questions. She provided some useful information, especially on the ABA therapy available for young children. I hope that NY can be an example for other states and I hope that they will look into the fact that children over the age of three need help, too.
