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How to Get Early Intervention Autism Therapy for Your Child

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Great blog you got here. It would be great to read something more concerning this theme. Thanx for posting this info.

StephanJade of AL 11:36PM March 09, 2010

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Reseller Hosting of AL 7:51AM January 03, 2010

E.I is certainly an autism 'best practice', but many programs who claim to be helpful are not set up to deliver a high quality experience for the child. I wrote this blog post awhile back on the crucial elements of a high-quality E.I program. It's academic, and displays citations.
Check it out: http://empowerautism.com/2009/11/early-intervention-is-an-autism-best-practice/

Sylvia of NC 11:07PM December 29, 2009

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velicesulk of AL 10:40AM December 20, 2009

As a mom of a 4-year-old autistic girl who is receiving intensive ABA services and seeing amazing results I applaud you for getting the word out. My daughter was diagnosised at 3 years and 3 months as our Pediatrician told us not to worry when we saw worrying signs 10 months prior to diagnosis. Parents out there, go with your gut and never listen to someone who tells you not to worry. Check into everything because time is of essence with these kids. We are running my 401K fund dry funding this treatment as our insurance company doesn't cover it despite the fact that we live in a state that requires insurers to cover it (if insurer is employer-funded they don't need to follow the laws). Ultimately we are doing this because its our daughter's life we are dealing with but not everyone can do this. Much change is needed to refine these state laws so insurers can't avoid covering this treatment and public schools needs to start stepping up as well. Don't people realize that this our the future adults people are gambling with.

Kate Stentebjerg-Olesen of NJ 4:20PM December 08, 2009

For parents looking for information in the Philadelphia area, check out TALK Institute and School. Formerly the Magnolia School, TALK Institute and School is the nation's most progressive center for the education of children with autism and language disorders outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As teachers, therapists and researchers we are at the forefront of a new, more accurate and person-centered understanding of autism -- one that presents autism as a sensory-based movement disorder profoundly affecting language, social interaction and praxis.
TALK Institute and School
http://www.talkinc.org
395 Bishop Hollow Road
Newtown Square, PA 19073
610.356.5566
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/TALKschool

RGK of PA 4:37PM December 03, 2009

I liked the headline of this article --- too bad it fell flat on delivering HOW TO GET QUALITY HELP!!! As a mom of a 4 year old on the autism spectrum I can tell you first hand that getting evaluated by 18 months was the easy part.
Early intervention services from the state were awful --- frankly a waste of time. Finding quality ABA providers was a difficult and costly task. Ongoing treatments ---- time consuming and VERY costly.
We have had many training sessions for how to best teach our son, but there really isn't anything FUN about it. It's serious and exhausting....

JJ Kard of IL 4:08PM December 03, 2009

At best an early intervention program begins at 18 months, at 3 it is cut off, the services available are minimal but can be a good education to the parents about how to continue therapy on your own, because at 3 you will be on your own. Very little help is offered immediately after that. So it's money out of pocket, and when joblessness is hitting close to 20% in some areas of the Country and threats of foreclosures at 10% there is usually no money at home to help the child that desperately needs these therapies to insure a better chance at independence later on.
As the self employed father of a 3 and a half year old diagnosed with autism living in a State where insurance providers are not required to cover autism or autism related problems we have had to make some hard choices, all of those choices have to do with saving our son. The State is not even accepting applications for assistance, and even prior to that the wait time to receive services was around 3 years. 3 years of do-it-yourself help won't cut it no matter how hard you try, how smart you are, or how self disciplined you as parents are.
A recent study by Harvard University demonstrates that each child in the U.S. diagnosed with autism will cost about $3.2 million in medical and non-medical costs over his or her lifetime. With the rising number of diagnoses of autism, the eventual costs will be staggering.
The study broke down the total costs of autism into two components: direct and indirect costs. Direct costs include direct medical costs, such as physician and outpatient services, prescription medication, and behavioral therapies (estimated to cost, on average, more than $29,000 per person per year) and direct non-medical costs, such as special education, camps, and child care (estimated to annually cost more than $38,000 for those with lower levels of disability and more than $43,000 for those with higher levels).
Making children wait for these services they are entitled to adds to the cost down the road. An ounce of prevention right?
Had my son's injury been caused by a baseball bat he would have the best of care, but because of autism he gets nothing.
One in 91 children have been diagnosed with autism, one in 58 boys.
And for those of you that say that autism isn't deadly, ask yourself what killed John Travolta's son, ask yourself how a 9 year old child can drown in 3 inches of water, ask yourself why over 100 kids die every year from restraints or seclusion in institutions and schools in America. Ask yourself what would you do if you found yourself caring for a child diagnosed with autism.
There are close to 75 million kids in the US under the age of 18. One percent is 750,000. Potentially there are 750,000 kids needing help, that help is critical. What are we as a Nation going to do when these kids grow up and out live their parents? Oh, not your problem huh? We shall see, good luck, I thought the same thing 3 years ago.

bensmyson of NC 12:56PM December 03, 2009