Very Import- please act....

[Guest guest]

If the below was for a program to teach problem solving or social

skills to children with Conduct or Oppositional definat disorder,

would it be cut? Please let them hear from you...

Joe

Medicaid funds cut for autism education program

Posted by: " specialeducationiep " asearchers@...

specialeducationiep

Tue Oct 31, 2006 7:21 am (PST)

Medicaid funds cut for autism education program

The Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C. | A program that teaches autistic children at public

schools will lose more than $1 million in Medicaid funding at the end

of the year.

The state Department of Health and Human Services said it will

provide enough funding to get programs through the end of the school

year, but then schools will have to come up with other ways to pay

for the programs.

The program is called applied behavioral therapy and teaches new

skills to children with the brain disorder.

About 40 school districts are reimbursed by Medicaid for applied

behavioral therapy, which breaks learning down into tasks. About

3,000 children participate in the programs.

Medicaid will no longer pay for the program because it teaches new

skills instead of teaching lost skills, is limited to children with

autism and is only offered in schools, according to a memo from the

state Health and Human Services Department.

The agency has suggested schools try to get funding under the federal

Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act. But

educators say that's not enough to cover the programs.

" If that funding wasn't suffering in the beginning, we would never

have sought additional funding, " said Barbara Drayton of the state

Education Department.

Autism is a brain disorder that often interferes with a person's

ability to communicate and relate to others. Symptoms include

problems developing nonverbal communication skills, such as eye-to-

eye gazing, facial expressions and body posture.

Craig Stoxen, president of the South Carolina Autism Society, says

early intervention is key to improving an autistic child's skills.

" Do we pay more now or do we pay more later? " he asked. " You'll be an

adult a lot longer than you're a child. "

Kershaw County, which received about $37,000 in federal funds last

year, also offers the therapy techniques for students who don't have

autism but do have social and behavioral problems.

The district serves 43 students with autism, 35 of whom qualified for

Medicaid.

Virgie Chambers, director for the state Education Department Office

of School-based Health Finance, said the state is willing to open up

the programs to all students and change goals to maintain the

Medicaid funding.

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Information from: The State, http://www.thestate.com