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From: "Meinhart, Mark" <>
Subject: [OHMEIGS] Hunter in Today's Paper (Not Genealogy)
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2003 08:46:37 -0400


Marcie, Hunter's Mother, wrote a letter to the local Cols. Dispatch and it is in the paper today, FYI.
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Publication: The Columbus Dispatch; Date: Jul 8, 2003; Section:Editorial/Letters; Page:6

Families still waiting for help from the state

As the parents of a 5-year-old boy with autism, we applaud The Dispatch for its efforts to make the public aware of this disorder ("Hard-won victories,'' article, June 23). As the article noted, early intervention is key when it comes to autistic children. The problem is that the best intervention for children with autism is so costly.

Schools like Step By Step Academy cost upwards of $45,000 per year. Unfortunately, this is simply out of our reach.

On July 10, 2002, parents of children with autism were told by the Franklin County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities that the county would be giving Medicaid waivers to children with intensive behavioral needs. These waivers help pay for programs such as applied behavior analysis, which has been proved to help children with autism.

We were given a date that our waiver would take effect: November 2002. We and many other families are still waiting for the waivers to come. Apparently, the county ran out of the waivers much sooner than it predicted - only about 30 of the families received the waiver.

We have been running an in-home program for our son, Hunter, since January. We are fortunate to be able to pay for Hunter's program with the help of family and friends. Hunter is on the severe end of the autistic spectrum, but he has made amazing progress in the past 5 months, learning his alphabet, numbers, colors and many self-help skills. This is with a minimal number of hours, as we do not have the resources to provide a full-fledged program. There is no doubt that applied behavior analysis is the best option for children with autism, but until the state provides more funding for families, children such as Hunter will not have the chance to succeed in life.

MARCIE GALE
Westerville

DYLAN and SUSAN GALE
Worthington

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