ASO Legislative ALERT - Targeting State Reps. for Early Screening Initiative

[Guest guest]

Dear Friend of ASO:

The House bill for early screening, Autism Diagnosis Education Pilot Program is just about to be introduced! The legislation, which has not yet been assigned a number, will provide an appropriation to the Department of Health to conduct a pilot program for early screening for autism and other developmental disabilities. For additional information on what this legislation includes, please read the write up following my signature.

We are targeting key Representatives to support this legislation. THIS IS WHERE WE NEED YOUR HELP! The legislators we are targeting are Rep. Matt Dolan, whose district covers Geauga County and a small part of Cuyahoga County, Rep. Bill Coley whose district covers the eastern part of County and Rep. Widener whose district covers Madison County and parts of Greene and Counties. If one of these gentlemen is your representative - we need you to contact them ASAP! Please contact these representatives ONLY if you are a constituent.

How do you contact them - phone, fax or email are all good ways, although phone and fax are best. Contact information for each Representative follows my signature. If you are contacting by email, please use the subject line: PLEASE SUPPORT EARLY SCREENING INITIATIVE.

What should you say? Share with them the following:

Representative Bacon is sponsoring legislation for an Early Screening initiative for autism and other developmental Disabilities in Ohio. Currently he has 17 co-sponsors from both parties and there is a companion bill in the Senate (SB 98) which is sponsored by Senator Schuring and 11 others.

Briefly, the bill includes an $800,000 appropriation over the biennium which will be used for the following:

Promote appropriate standards for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders

Encourage the regional coordination of services to facilitate effective and timely treatment of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders

Educate health care professionals, teachers, child care providers, parents and others on autism spectrum disorders

This legislation has the support of the Ohio Academy of Pediatrics, the Autism Society of Ohio and the Ohio Autism Coalition (a coalition of autism advocacy groups from throughout Ohio).

I urge you to support this legislation!

We at ASO will keep you posted on the progress of this initiative.

Thanks for your help!

Barbara C. YavorcikPresidentAutism Society of Ohio701 S. Main St.Akron, OH 44311(330) 376-0211fax: (330) 376-1226email: askASO@...home: byavorcik@...web: www.autismohio.org--------------------------------------

Representative Bill Coley

77 S. High St11th FloorColumbus, OH 43215-6111Telephone: (614) 466-8550Fax : (614) 719-6955Email Address: district55@...

Representative Matt Dolan

77 S. High St13th FloorColumbus, OH 43215-6111Telephone: (614) 644-5088Fax : (614) 719-6998Email Address: district98@...

Representative Widener

77 S. High St12th FloorColumbus, OH 43215-6111Telephone: (614) 466-1470Fax : (614) 719-6984Email Address: district84@...

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The Pilot Program created under this bill will strive to:

Promote appropriate standards for the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders in children, including screening tools and treatment planning for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders; Encourage physicians and other health care professionals with expertise in screening, diagnosing, and treating autism spectrum disorders to share that information with other health care professionals in this state; Encourage the regional coordination of services to facilitate the effective, timely treatment of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders; Educate health care professionals, teachers and other educational personnel, child care providers, parents, early intervention and developmental disabilities providers, and other community-based services providers in this state regarding the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders, including the range of symptoms that may indicate autism spectrum disorders and screening tools.

The bill will also provide funding for the Pilot Program as well as direct the Ohio Department of Health to report to the Governor and the General Assembly on the progress of the Program.

It is important to note that this legislation does not mandate that physicians utilize a specific test or screening tool.

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