| April 23, 2010 | ||
| 10:30 am | ||
| 10:30 am |
Join others in the Kansas autism community when Gov. Parkinson signs Senate Substitute for HB 2160, which will mandate insurance coverage for autism therapy for children covered by state employees’ health plan. The event will be held at 10:30 a.m. at the Kansas City Autism Training Center, 7501 Belinder, Prairie Village, Kan.
By Toni Lapp
With the new year, efforts are under way in both Kansas and Missouri to pass legislation mandating insurance coverage of autism treatment. Activists in both states are redoubling their efforts after seeing proposals go down in defeat in 2009.
So far, 15 states have laws requiring insurers to provide coverage for the treatment of autism. Can Missouri or Kansas become the 16th? With Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon identifying autism legislation as one of his priorities for 2010, chances may favor the Show-Me State.
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Advertise on SpectrumConnection.net and reach bistate families affected by autism.
By Jeanne Holverstott, M.S.
Question: It seems like summer can be full of pitfalls for my son with Asperger’s — the structure has gone away, and he’s no longer in contact with classmates. He is content to play on the computer all day, but seems to get moody more easily. Should we treat summer vacation as a long break from school-year stress, or what?
Answer: Summer vacation presents a contradiction: Children with autism spectrum disorders thrive on structure, routine, consistency. Summer vacation throws these principles of ASD parenting and behavior management in flux.
» READ MOREBy Kate Duffy
A while back, Toni, the SpectrumConnection editor, asked me to write about how far parents should go to help their teens on the spectrum land a job. Since then, several of our Hot Topics parents have shared their kids’ job search stories with me, and I realized there was no easy answer to her question. For the most part, though, their stories revolved around the kids’ inability to accurately read situations, to remember instructions and to multitask to make a deadline. Looking at that list, it sounds like business as usual on the job for most of us — which is why it is so very important that our kids start learning about the world of work as soon as they can.
That’s why the short answer to Toni’s question is this: do what you need to do.
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