LITTLE ROCK — Advocates for fighting autism met Friday in hopes of crafting a plan to win state funding in 2009 to help toddlers diagnosed with the condition.
The Arkansas Legislative Task Force on Autism wants to develop an "intensive early intervention" program to give one-on-one help to young children with autism or autism-like disorders, such as Asperger's syndrome.
Task force chairman Dianna Varady of Little Rock said the selling point of the idea to legislators and Gov. Mike Beebe's administration should be that working with autistic children early will help prevent the need for more costly treatment, such as placing them in a state human development center.
Erica Suskie of North Little Rock, a task force member and wife of Public Service Commission Chairman Paul Suskie, said legislators can be "shortsighted"regarding such programs and don't think about what life could be like for autistic children when they become adults.
But Charlie Green, director of the Development Disabilities Division of the Department of Human Services, told the task force that deciding which programs to fund can be complicated, especially when there are numerous requests for money.
The task force was created by Act 1016 of 2007 by Rep. David Johnson, D-Little Rock.
Another law sponsored by Johnson and passed this year, Act 1198, urged the Department of Human Services to apply with the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for approval to fund the program.
The federal government pays about three-fourths of Arkansas' Medicaid budget.
During the 2007 state legislative session, Johnson sought funding for Arkansas' share, but the Legislaturedidn't approve it. That request was for about $2 million in state dollars to help nearly 300 children.
Johnson said he hopes the Legislature will see fit to fund the program in 2009.
Funds are available in general social-services programs to help children with autism but Johnson said the waiting list can be long.
Six programs totaling about $208 million for fiscal 2008 serve about 23,000 clients at the Developmental Disabilities Division. Of those, 650 have a primary diagnosis of autism.
In fiscal 2007, Medicaid spent $6.3 million for hospital, medical and prescription drugs for people with autism.
In a survey this year, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences found that about one in about every 145 children had an autism spectrum disorder - the group of developmental disabilities characterized by inappropriate social behavior and difficulty communicating.
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 10/27/2007