Disability Day on the Hill

Today was Disability Days on the Hill for the Middle Tennessee area.

Tamar and I dressed in our nice clothes (heels included) headed to the Capital. We circled downtown several times, with me thinking, "thank goodness our office isn't downtown and we don't have to do this everyday." We finally found parking three blocks from the Capital and started the hike up the Hill to Legislative Plaza.

I've been sort of down with the winter we've had. It's been overcast and we've had multiple snows this year. It's been very draining, but I couldn't be more thankful for the freezing temperatures this morning, as Tamar and I laughed that everything from the waste down was numb and we couldn't feel our heels digging into our feet. I was trying to balance 2 dozen donuts and Tamar was lugging poster boards and boxes of brochures. I had spent hours the night before typing in colorful fonts various statistics on Autism (see below) and cutting and pasting, then typing up these statistics to hand to legislators for their support.

We finally made it there only to find out that all the tables we taken. I was able to snatch a table at the other end of the building from the Dental Hygentist's Association (not quite sure why they were there) and sneak down to our end of the building. We were able to secure a spot only half way covering up the elevator. After we got the table set up I had to leave Tamar to attend two other meetings before returning. I'm sure Tamar has quite a few stories about what happened while I was gone. When I returned a few hours later she was in a new spot, had gathered some hershey's kisses to offer in addition to our donuts and had made friends with several people in legislative plaza.

All in all, it was a good day. I'm not sure how many people we got to, but our issues are listed below. Please read them and contact your legislator about what can be done.

1 in 91 children are diagnosed with Autism
1 in 205 students, ages 3-22 are in our state school system (note that does not account for students not registered in the school system)

Research recommends early intervention prior to age 4 that is intensive 25-40 hours per week. Current research shows that this level of intervention for three years shows significant increases in cognitive, communication and adaptive testing. Some children, after only two years were able to mainstream into a classroom with peers, with minimal to no support.

This level of intervention on average costs approximately $54,000/ annually. Life long care for someone with Autism currently costs between $3.5 million and $7 million.

So, just to be blatent, in case it's difficult to understand, but even if every child doesn't mainstream, those that do would save tax payers, families, everyone a considerable amount of money, if you're comparing ~$150,000 to $7 million (or even $3.5 million).

Our biggest issue we wanted to target with legislators is the current TennCare situation. If you have worked with us for long, then you are aware of the recent problems we've had with TennCare. It has been difficult, at times wondering if our doors would stay open, and on several occassions having to discharge families, due to their lack of or slowness in payment. What we have found through all of this is that TennCare guidelines allow programming to be developed and monitored by a BCBA only, but it does allow for BCaBAs or those equivalent to implement it. So then why won't the MCOs (Managed Care Organizations) allow it? There is a breakdown somewhere. Tenncare does allow programs to be run as intended and as our field normally practices, it is the MCOs that prevent it by refusing to contract with agencies that can provide care like this and individuals that meet the requirements of a BCaBA or equivalent.

Hopefully we made some headway and put this bug in the right person's ear....