Since I became part of the autism community a few years ago, one of the things I was consistently alarmed to hear the parents of older children with autism talk about was the lack of services available once their children entered adulthood.
Well, I am excited to say that the situation in Pennsylvania is changing, with the introduction of two pilot programs for adults living with an autism spectrum disorder.
Adult Autism Waiver
One program is the Adult Autism Waiver, which will allow Medicaid-eligible adults who are significantly impacted by ASD to receive services to meet their needs in a variety of areas. Waiver services are currently expected to serve up to 200 adults living anywhere in the state of Pennsylvania. To request an application, you must call the Department of Public Welfare, Bureau of Autism Services at 1-866-539-7689. More information is also available at their website.
Adult Community Autism Program (ACAP)
The other program is the Adult Community Autism Program (ACAP), which is a fully integrated system of care that incorporates health care with vocational, social and behavioral support. The services provided will be individually tailored to build upon each person’s strengths, improve social skills, support both work and recreational activities, as well as to assist families and caregivers in their roles.
ACAP is currently available to individuals who live (or plan to live) in Dauphin, Cumberland, Chester, or Lancaster County. It is being administered by Keystone Autism Services, which is an agency within Keystone Human Services.
The basic requirements are simply that the individual:
- Be 21 years of age or older.
- Be eligible for Medical Assistance.
- Have a diagnosis of an Autism Spectrum Disorder.
- Be able to live in a community setting with fewer than 16 hours of support per day.
As a pilot program, ACAP needs to show its usefulness to move forward and become a permanent reality in this region and throughout the entire state, so KAS has asked me to partner with them get the word out to as many people as possible. If you know of anyone who may qualify for this program, I urge you to share this information with them and encourage them to look into it further.
Keystone Autism Services can be contacted at 717-412-7400, and they are more than willing to talk to anyone who has an interest in the program and answer all your questions. I have listed some additional links, as well as the schedule for their upcoming information sessions, on a separate page.
I know many of your kids are young, like my son, but they will be adults soon enough, and we need to do everything we can to prepare our communities to support and include them.
This week’s topic for Try This Tuesday is Safety Awareness. I posted a bit about where we are at in this area, along with a few resources on the topic, over at 5 Minutes for Special Needs.
We definitely need to work on this area over the next few months, so I can have a bit more peace of mind with regard to Michael’s safety skills. I would love to hear your recommendations for books, websites, DVD’s, etc, to teach kids (typical or special needs) about various safety issues.
Thanks in advance for the help!
I have a guest post up for Try This Tuesday over at 5MFSN today; Dr. H from Adopting the Older Child is sharing about the strategies and tools she has found to help her adopted daughter get through the night.
Since I had suggested a topic of book recommendations for this week, however, I decided to post my own list of books that I have found the most helpful since finding out my child had special needs here.
Book Recommendations: Trish’s Top Ten
Coming up with a definitive best books list is practically impossible, so I am going to just share a few books that came to me right when I needed them and have helped me get through some of the challenges that have arisen.
1. Facing Autism by Lynn M. Hamilton
2. Unraveling the Mystery of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorder: A Mother’s Story of Research & Recovery by Karyn Seroussi
3. Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Complete Guide to Understanding Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Other ASDs by Chantal Sicile-Kira
4. Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder by Lucy Jane Miller
5. Engaging Autism: Using the Floortime Approach to Help Children Relate, Communicate, and Think by Stanley I. Greenspan and Serena Weider
6. The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children by Ross W. Greene
7. Visual Strategies for Improving Communication : Practical Supports for School & Home by Linda A. Hodgdon
8. The Complete IEP Guide: How to Advocate for Your Special Ed Child by Lawrence M. Siegel
9. Autism: Effective Biomedical Treatments by Dr. Sidney Baker and Dr. Jon Pangborn
10. What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccinations by Dr. Stephanie Cave
and a bonus, just because it’s a topic near and dear to many a mother’s heart…
11. Toilet Training for Individuals with Autism or Other Developmental Issues by Maria Wheeler
For more great book recommendations and other tips, check out Try This Tuesday!
Okay, I was looking around for a picture or cartoon that said “Gotcha!” but then I found this adorable picture titled, So you’re thinking of getting a pet duck? by tifotter. (Seriously, though, she does not recommend it; you can read her funny but true list of reasons why not to get a duck as a pet at Mr Flapper Duck.)
Okay, now back to my post.
No, we are not adopting an older child or getting a pet, at least not at the moment. Getting a Pet is the topic of today’s Try This Tuesday post over at 5MFSN, and, although we are talking about it, we are far from making a decision at this point.
And Adopting the Older Child is the name of a blog where I was recently asked to write about my decision to start taking Michael to a psychologist. The blog’s author often encourages her readers to seek the help of a therapist for both counseling and the practical advice they can provide during the adoption process and once the child is in their new home and family.
Even though we are not in an adoption situation, she thought our experience might be helpful to her readers, so she sent me an email and the rest is history. You can read my post here: Deciding to See a Psychologist. While you’re there, check out some of the great resources on this blog, such as:
For Try This Tuesday at 5MFSN today, I wrote about my introduction to 1-2-3 Magic, which is a parenting/discipline method we are starting to use with Michael. A big part of its success depends on the parent keeping their own emotions and words under control, which can sometimes be difficult when you have a high stress level.
I recently saw an article on our local ASA listserve called Calm, Cool, Collected and Consistent, which goes into quite a bit of detail about how stress affects our bodies and how regular exercise such as walking can help. I tracked down the reference and was able to find it as part of a collection of articles by Susan Crum from Able2Learn. I would definitely recommend checking these out.
Another site that looks like a great resource is Jill Kuzma’s Social Thinking Weblog. Jill is an SLP from Minnesota who offers both information and teaching resources on a variety of social skill related topics. She also has a list of ideas for social language IEP goals and a detailed page about assessing pragmatics/social language skills.
Since I became part of the autism community a few years ago, one of the things I was consistently alarmed to hear the parents of older children with autism talk about was the lack of services available once their children entered adulthood.
