Early Intervention Proved Again To Improve Outcomes For Autistic Toddlers
A December 2, 2009 article in U.S. News & World Report by Nancy Shute highlights the importance of early intervention to improve outcomes for autistic children, this time with backing evidence from a recent study about the U.C. Davis Mind Institute's Early Start Denver model of early intervention. According to Shute, the study reveals that early intervention conducted before the age of 2.5 has significant benefits for children including increasing IQ scores and improving social and language skills.
How To Find Early Intervention And Autism Services In The Philadelphia Area
The article goes on to state that services for early intervention may be difficult to locate or to pay for and outlines several concrete steps for finding services locally as well as ways to finance helpful therapies. Below, please find each of the points that Nancy Shute makes addressed for the state of Pennsylvania and specifically, for the Philadelphia area.
- Find your state's early intervention program: Pennsylvania's early intervention program is administered by the Department of Public Welfare (DPW). Information about Early Intervention may be found on the DPW web site under Child Care and Early Education.
- Push hard to get your child evaluated as quickly as possible: The article recommends evaluation through the state's Early Intervention program, families can get started by calling the CONNECT helpline at 1-800-692-7288. Another avenue for getting the process started is to contact your local school district and ask for information about Early Intervention. The number of school districts in the City of Philadelphia and 5 surrounding counties is too extensive to list here, however, Philly.com published an interactive map of PA and nearby NJ school districts in April of 2008 as part of its annual Report Card on the Schools feature that may be useful for finding your school district and some preliminary information.
- Find treatment in your area: For both Early Intervention and starting treatment, an invaluable resource may be found in your county's Intermediate Unit. Please see our feature on Philadelphia-area IUs for more information. Beyond the Intermediate Unit, there are many local services available, at the county level, call your county's Department of Human Services, or similar department to make inquiries. Community Care Behavioral Health is another touchpoint for information across several Philadelphia-area counties and is typically involved in providing wraparound services for children with autism.<
- Ask other parents how they’re getting the services their child needs: Connect with other parents in Pennsylvania through some of the following: Parent-to-Parent, The Autism Child Care Connection, sign up for the Autism Society of America, Philadelphia Chapter's Yahoo Group.
- See if your state requires insurers to pay for autism therapy: Yes. Pennsylvania's Act 62 requires insurers to pay for autism therapy as of July 2009.
- Do the therapy yourself: Nancy Shute's article in U.S. News & World Report suggests using books about the Early Start Denver Model to begin trying some at-home therapies. Beyond these books, online and printed resources about other methods may be helpful such as Floortime, ABA and some simple beginning strategies such as developing visual cue cards using clear pictures to help provide young autistic children with a means of making choices and expressing themselves, teaching some rudimentary sign language to bridge the communication gap and using "First ... Then ..." sentence structure to help toddlers with autism to make transitions better.<
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