ASO Email Action Alert - OAT Update

[Guest guest]

Dear Friend of ASO:

Now that summer is over and school is back in session, I'd like to take this opportunity to bring you all up to date on the efforts of the ASO and others regarding the Ohio Autism Taskforce Recommendations.

You should be aware by now that the Ohio Legislature passed at the end of June, as part of HB66 - the Ohio Budget, four of the recommendations of the Taskforce:

1. Creating an Ohio Center for Autism and tasking the center with, among other things, implementing a regionalization effort in Ohio.

2. Continuing the Autism Scholarship Pilot and increasing the allocation for that to $20,000 per student.

3. Creating an Autism Waiver.

4. Increasing Catastrophic Funding to schools to $19M over the next two years.

But there are still many more recommendations to be addressed! ASO has met with Rep. Jon , Mike Armstrong from ODE, Bill Shackleford from MRDD and Doug Krinsky to continue to move forward on the other recommendations. I'd like to share a few things that have happened over the summer.

Many of the recommendations do not require legislative changes, but could be addressed administratively within the various departments in Ohio. Small group meetings have been held with various members of Ohio Department of Health (ODH), Ohio Department of Education (ODE), Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS), Ohio Department of MRDD and the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence (OCALI) to address specifics on different recommendations. These meetings will continue throughout the fall and include various members of the Ohio Autism Taskforce.

OCALI, the newly created Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence will be taking the lead of many of the recommendations. Once HB66 was passed, ODE was able to move ahead and aggressively pursue staff for OCALI. A new Executive Director has been named - Mr. Henry. was most recently the Program Director for Training and Evaluation for the Kentucky Autism Training Center. Originally from the Columbus area, he is a former special education teacher, who work collaboratively with other professionals serving students with autism. He has also taught at the University of Louisville. officially starts with OCALI on September 12, 2005. ASO was very pleased to have been part of the interview team for the OCALI Executive Director and we hope you will join us in welcoming back to Ohio.

OCALI has also announced that Ann Pilewski is the Director of Autism Services. Ann was a special education with extensive experience in working with students with autism and held a variety of positions with the Columbus Public Schools. Since starting with OCALI at the beginning of the summer, she has pursued additional staff for OCALI, acted as interim Executive Director, organized the OCALI Autism Summer Institute and spoke at many other conferences around the state - even networking at and attending the ASA Conference in Nashville. We at ASO will be working closely with both Ann and on the OAT Recommendations.

The ASO has put together a matrix of the recommendations which includes the recommendation, narrative information, status, and any action that can be taken to help make that recommendation a reality. This matrix is now posted on the ASO website - www.autismohio.org. Click on "Autism Taskforce" in the sidebar for the matrix and a listing of all the action alerts regarding the recommendations. The matrix will be updated as new developments occur so check back periodically.

The Ohio Legislature has been in recess since the budget bill was passed in late June, but they will be returning to Columbus for the fall session. We will be sending out action alerts to keep you posted on legislation pending related to the recommendations including mental health parity and the Autism Awareness License plates.

Please become part of the process! Encourage others to sign up to be part of the ASO Email Action Alerts! Sign up yourself, if you are not currently receiving action alerts. To do this, mail name and address, city, state, zip+4, and phone number to askASO@... - be sure to put ASO MAILING LIST in the subject line. Not sure how to find a zip+4? Go to http://www.ups.com and click on "Find a Zipcode".

And please don't forget the 2005 ASO Bi-Annual Conference, "Reaching Beyond the Horizon - Challenging the Autism Spectrum", Friday and Saturday, October 14-15, 2005 at the Kingsgate Marriott in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our keynote speakers will be Dr. Vince Carbonne speaking on Verbal Behavior and Dr. Theresa Grossi speaking on Transitions to Adulthood. For more information and a complete listing of speakers, please visit our website, www.autismohio.org and click on "ASO Conference" in the sidebar or visit http://www.autismohio.org/2005_conference/index.html.

Thank you for your help in making the recommendations of the Ohio Autism Taskforce a reality! We really count on you all to make your voices heard!

Sincerely,

Barbara C. YavorcikPresidentAutism Society of Ohio701 S. Main St.Akron, OH 44311(330) 376-0211fax: (330) 376-1226email: askASO@...home: byavorcik@...web: www.autismohio.org2005 ASO Bi-Annual Conference"Reaching Beyond the Horizon - Challenging the Autism Spectrum"Friday and Saturday, October 14-15, 2005 Kingsgate Marriott in Cincinnati, Ohio