More NJ Autism Legislation
February 21, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Last September, New Jersey Governor Joseph Corzine signed a package of seven bills relating to autism; go here for details about the bills. Next Monday, the New Jersey State Legislature will consider a second round of autism bills, again sponsored by Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts, D-Camden. Under the new legislation, New Jerseyans with autism would have their own government advocate, insurance coverage for promising treatments, help with living arrangements, and a student peer program for students in grades 7-12 to interact with autistic students. Today’s Bergen Record provides specifics—-am glad to be here and home in Jersey.
The Legislature and Corzine have identified autism as a prime concern. In September, the governor approved the state’s most comprehensive autism-related legislation ever, including establishing a council for adults, mandating childhood screening and dedicating millions of dollars to research.
Some of the legislation described Wednesday is based on existing services.
The Office of the Advocate for Persons with Autism, for instance, would be created within the Department of the Public Advocate, whose divisions work on issues important to consumers, voters, senior citizens, those with mental illness and others.
One bill would encourage people with autism to find their own living arrangements, with supervision. The idea is to decrease the number waiting for placement in state-run residences, and it resembles the state’s “aging in place” initiatives dating to the mid-1990s.
The bill to require insurance coverage for therapies is similar to the mental-health parity requirement, enacted in 1999.
The three other pieces of legislation would create identification cards, establish a Web site as a clearinghouse for all autism-related services available in New Jersey and set up a student peer program in Grades 7-12, for typical students to interact with those who have autism.
Use of the ID cards would be voluntary. Some people with the diagnosis are sensitive to light and sound and they may not comply with a police officer’s order to freeze or a firefighter’s request to evacuate. In such a situation, an ID card could convey that the bearer may act atypically, but is not a danger.
I like the idea of state ID cards because they would hopefully educate police and other community workers on a statewide basis. Small town police especially do not have the resources to get training on autism.
This is somewhat related but we are having changes here in Ohio. The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services and the Ohio Department of MRDD has cut autism related services in Medicaid. Many parents, like myself, are very upset about this. My children had received 1:1 ABA therapy using Medicaid for a year. Other children are still using this service. My children made great progess with ABA. I was wondering what your opinions are on ABA and do you think the state or insurance (in some way) should fund ABA for children with autism.
6 more autism bills were released by the New Jersey Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee today. The measures would:
1) Require health insurers to cover certain autism-related therapies and treatment, known as applied behavioral analysis (A-2238, released 7-0-3), sponsored by Prieto, Roberts, and Voss;
2) Establish a new office to handle autism-related issues in the Department of the Public advocate to pair families with services (A-2256, released 7-1-2), sponsored by Voss, Prieto, Roberts and Gary Schaer (D-Bergen) ;
3) Require the department of Health and Senior Services to create a one-stop shop autism Web site to make it easier for families in-need of assistance (A-2257, released 9-0-1), sponsored by Schaer, Roberts, Vas and John F. McKeon (D-Essex);
4) Create a special identification card in the case of emergencies for autistic residents who may speak or who have trouble communicating (A-2258, released 10-0), sponsored by Connie Wagner (D-Bergen), Voss, Prieto and Roberts;
5) Support choice in housing by supporting autistic adults who have aged out of the juvenile system living independently with assistance (A-2259, released 10-0), sponsored by Voss, Schaer, Wagner and Roberts;
6) Urge the establishment of new peer-programs to partner students and autistic classmates to foster social interaction among all students in middle and high school (AR-105, released 10-0), sponsored by McKeon, Wagner, Roberts and Schaer.