We are moving to get better services but havent nailed down a location yet. These are the three states that we have to choose from, wondering if you live in one of them, what services you get and are you happy with them. Names of good towns/ school districts would be helpful too.
Holly
PS we are looking for integerated preschool, good elementary level schools and home ABA.
I'm in AZ and have to say that I think the services here are much better than other places I've heard. My son was diagnosed at the age of 3, he was put into special needs preschool where an IEP was put in place. He gets ST, Hab, Respite and Music therapy at home. We take him out of the home to get OT and PT. Depending on where you live in the state will make a difference on how fast you can start services. Some places, like out in the sticks where I am, may take longer unless you are willing to drive. Anyway, our qualification for the services went pretty quickly and was pretty painless. What I know about ABA is that AZ does not service children over 3. You'd have to pay out of pocket on that. And, we are just getting into kindergarten so I don't have any info on that. Right now my son is being homeschooled.
Im from az and I dont think the services here are that great. My son didnt qualify for anything from the pub. school with moderate delays and we are paying out of pocket for therapy right now. He is in a private preschool and hes had problems there, altho hes still there thank God. Altho he did qualify for DDD just recently altho no services have been started yet and we just had his initial ISP meeting. Were still waiting to see if hes going to qualify for az long term care tho and from what ive heard if he dosnt qualify for that as well, DDD can only provide him with limited services because of funding. Hopefully with az long term care we can access tons of therapy and theyl pay for his medical and medication bills and well get respite etc.. Also DDD is going to talk to the pub. preschool coordinator about them denying him for services thru pub. schooling. Also I should add I live in a small town too.i live in pa. services here terrible. have to fight for everything and then go on a waiting list when you finally get it. know very few people who actually get wrap around services. have to know someone to get them.I'm in Ohio and services are so-so. We are only at the preschool level, though. There is an autism scholarship you can take, but you have to manage it and you are not allowed to use the school district services. We do have home ABA through the scholarship and we supplement above the scholarship. We cannot use the integrated preschool as we are one the scholarship. There are some private schools that are providers for the scholarship, but the money goes fast if you are doing ABA.
I have heard great things about PA. They have wrap around services that you can get your ABA through. Maybe someone who lives there will speak up.
I guess a lot of it depends on what area of the state you want to move to and the local services avaliable. Do you know what cities you are looking at within the states?
we live in northwest Ohio. we found a good pre-schoolWow, that sounds awesome. I'm hoping for more like 20-30 hours a week of wraparound and having him in a typical preschool. I got the school to approve the typical preschool with an aide, but no go on the wraparound. :(
Holly
I'm in PA. I am new to all this, as my son was just Dx a month ago. But, I have been thru the whole process with the medical assistance, school district, and I do recieve wrap-around services. I will give u an idea of what Gavin recieves for support. He is Dx Pdd-nos, but it was a very close call for autism. In fact he presented with 6 of the 12 charachteristics(you need 6 of 12 for autism), but seemed to be higher functioning so on the eval ended up being Pdd-nos.
He is in an emotional support class, which is a self contained classroom run by the local intermediate unit. One of the main reasons he is in this Es class rather than the autism program is b/c the ES class is at our local school, and the teacher has tons of experience with kids on the specturm. I really liked her, so instead of going for the autism class I opted for the emotional support class. Most of his problems honestly are social/behavioral so that is excellent placement for him b/c that is what they focus on mainly in this class. this class has a teacher and 3 TSS aides for 7 children, so you know he is getting his needs addressed at school. A social worker from the intermediate unit spends an hour with him in class a week and works on scripts, and how to have conversation, ect.
He also recieves 1 hr a week speech therapy, with the speech therapist at the school.
His wrap-around services include up to 3 hrs a week with an ABA, in class or at home, and 15 school hrs a week with a TSS, and 5 at home hours a week with a TSS. He is also working with an OT for an hour a week working with him on sensory issues.
I don't know what all this stuff means yet, but I can tell you that I feel as if his needs are met at school. I get great communication with his teacher, and I feel as if at any time I needed something changed or addressed they would be open to talk about it. Im not saying they are perfect but I do believe the SD trys to do the very best they can for him. I am in a very small district tho, out in the sticks, so I think he may be the only pdd kid in the while elementary school. I think sometimes because of his Dx they treat him with kid gloves. But, from what I have read about other parents struggles with the sd's I have to say I think mine is a-ok.
I would consider a NY suburb, but NY services are even more confusing than Ohio, (Dublin is a sub of Columbus btw), I have family in NJ and would love to live there but it is so crowded and expensive.
As far as PA we were thinking possibly WestChester or, is it Bucks co that is getting the new Autism Center? Possibly there, plus York is close to Kennedy Krieger which I hear has a preschool and of course Pittsburgh Ive heard is pretty great all around.
My husband works in Ohio, my parents live in NJ, my sis and step mom live in AZ (she has kids my sons age which is a plus) and my aunts live in CA. My dh will try to get a job wherever we try to move but unless I move to OH, I'd probably be without him (depending on how far away we move) most of the time for about a year or so, but I already only see him on the weekends, but its better than nothing. I think it would be great (not necessary but great) to move somewhere where my son will get great services, good schools AND where we dont want to move again to be closer to family or when we retire.
It just stinks that on average, the better the weather, the worse the schools and the the worse the crime rate...statistically. The farther north you go the more money they spend on the schools and the less the crime rate, go south and its just the opposite, why is that?
Any more info on places is really welcome, and thanks...
Nik
Yes, they use the scholarship but only for the BCBA oversight and training, they dont provide the ABA therapists, that gets paid for through the waiver once your name comes up on the waiting list which is about 2-3 years long
Unfortunately... thats really the only thing thats missing for us in Ohio
Nik
In our area, they have tutoring companies that provide the tutoring (therapists) which may be separate from the BCBA oversight. Our tutors are covered through the scholarship as well. Have you checked the provider list in your county to see if they have tutoring agencies? We have been doing a VB/ABA home program through the scholarship this past year. I knew of columbus Children's Hospital because they have a BCBA that works in our area and some folks use them and a couple different tutoring agencies to fufill their programs. The BCBA still has oversight of the program and trains them on your child's programs. Columbus Children's Hospital has an ABA program that I believe is covered under the Scholarship if you go the route.We're in Chandler, and so far it's the best you can get. My first DDD SC wasnt' that great but the 2nd one definitely is and I can tell you which therapists are good or bad. It will depend on zipcode where your kid will get placed for preschool.
There's Phoenix Autism Support Group on Yahoo Groups and also several organizations here:
Arizona Autism Coalition, Arizona Autism Support,
Autism Society of America, Phoenix Valley Parents Autism Group, S.A.N.E.*
Next week there is going to be a meeting about the Arizona Autism Insurance Bill.
If you have any questions, let me know.
Flip, where are you located?
Mom2luc- What insurance Bill? I would love to know more about that...
Nik
Hi! I'm from Eastern PA (northwest of Philly), and I am not terribly sure[QUOTE=143hayden]Im from az and I dont think the services here are that great. My son didnt qualify for anything from the pub. school with moderate delays and we are paying out of pocket for therapy right now. He is in a private preschool and hes had problems there, altho hes still there thank God. Altho he did qualify for DDD just recently altho no services have been started yet and we just had his initial ISP meeting. Were still waiting to see if hes going to qualify for az long term care tho and from what ive heard if he dosnt qualify for that as well, DDD can only provide him with limited services because of funding. Hopefully with az long term care we can access tons of therapy and theyl pay for his medical and medication bills and well get respite etc.. Also DDD is going to talk to the pub. preschool coordinator about them denying him for services thru pub. schooling. Also I should add I live in a small town too.[/QUOTE]
I sorry you are having such problems here. We were treated very well and my son was in a public preschool and we never had problems with him getting services while there.
We are in Phoenix. My son is 6 and has long term care. He gets 25 hours of Hab a week, music therapy, speech therapy and respite. The school really depend on which district you are in. Ours is pretty lousy for my kiddo with Autism (but incredible for my son with CP and a visual impairment). I think you said you were looking at Gilbert. They are supposed to be very good. Our Educational Consultant (who has a kid with Autism) lives in Gilbert. I can put you in touch with her if you like.
Raquel
Wow,
I thought PA was one of the best too. I'm sorry to hear that youve had such problems. And as far as AZ goes, I thought that with AZ Long Term Care that you could get Hab hours that you could use for ABA after the age of three. I guess I'll have to check on that.
As far as cities, we are looking in Oh at Dublin and Delaware, in AZ we are looking at Gilbert and PA we are looking at Pittsburgh, York and outside of Philly. Anyone else have any recomendations or experiences?
Thanks, Holly
Not sure where Dublin is. What is that a suburb of? I've heard good things about the Pittsburgh area from several people. I did some research about that area a couple of years ago when we were looking at relocating. I also bet big city areas are going to have more to offer.The following info was passed onto me and now to you:
Update on Arizona Autism Insurance Bill
The insurance bill has been drafted. It's real! It will be
introduced in January.
I learned today that the insurance industry lobbyists are convening
next
week to initiate their attack on this bill, including securing "no"
votes
from legislators. Consequently, immediate outreach is CRUCIAL - once
legislators promise the insurance industry that they will oppose the
bill,
changing their minds will be next to impossible.
Insurance Overview/Talking Points
The insurance bill would require insurance companies to pay for
behavioral
interventions for Autism, Asperger's and PDD-NOS. Here are some
arguments
that you can expect to get from the opposition, and related
counter-arguments:
* Argument: Autism is a permanent disability and the government
always
pays for disabilities, not the private sector
o Counter: Autism is treatable relative to other disabilities;
children can make progress with proper treatment
o Counter: Private insurance pays for other terminal diseases
until
the time of death (i.e. cancer), so this is not a valid argument
o Focus on
* Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) - based therapies work and
when
delivered early, save money over the lifetime
* Argument: Consumers will bear the cost of this mandate
o Counter: Other states have identified <1% impact on premiums
annually
* Ex: /year total identified in Wisconsin - that's an
increase of
a month, which would be affordable to almost anyone
* Argument: the State of Arizona cannot afford the fiscal
impact of
this mandate
o Counter: There are potential savings to the State of Arizona
o New Costs - DDD Savings = Net Cost to State
* DDD is payor of last resort: all other payors must be
billed
first. If there is an insurance mandate, insurance companies would
pay for
the habilitation, and DDD would make far fewer (or no) payments to
service
providers
* New Costs to State
* AHCCCS Health Plans would be required to provide the benefit
* State Employee Health Plans would be required to provide the
benefit
o A major insurer, Schaller Anderson, has already indicated
that they
would SUPPORT this bill
* Avoid debating ideological comments such as (you will hear
these
things):
o The most sympathetic issue gets coverage
o State shouldn't interfere in the "business" of autism
o Let the "bad guys" self-destruct
* Parents: tell your story
o Out-of-pocket costs to family
o Progress your child has made as a result of behavioral
intervention
o Avoid emotion
Again, the proposed legislation only deals with mandating private
health insurance coverage, not ALTCS (Medicaid) funded DDD
services. If by some miracle the legislation passes both the AZ
House & Senate and is then signed into law by Governor Napolitano,
it still won't change ANY of the therapies and services provided to
your child through DDD that are funded by ALTCS. As long as
therapies and services are written into your child's ISP, s/he is
entitled to those services.