Comments on: More NJ Autism Legislation

By: Paying the Bills: Seeking Insurance Coverage in Missouri

Paying the Bills: Seeking Insurance Coverage in Missouri — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:51:33 +0000

[...] New Jersey [...]

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:26:20 +0000

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.

By: Jill

Jill — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:42:59 +0000

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.

By: madam ovary

madam ovary — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:42:42 +0000

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.