It would be great to have familes log their daily challenges at school, home, community etc. etc.  so  JLARC can see what our families face everyday.

We do need families to also send in something to JLARC on the challenges they have faced so far in their autism journey.  So, please write up things about the challenges to get diagnosis from pediatricians, challenges of getting an appointment with Child Find, challenges in getting services etc. etc.

But – it would be great to see families blog their DAILY life challenges here.

I’ll start it off…I homeschool my son.  I took him to the bank today and met another family with autism that was also homeschooling their kids.  Is this a small world or what?  Is homeschooling on the rise among our families?  Hmmmm…why…..

JLARC had a hearing this evening to discuss the state of autism in Virginia and what to do about autism.  The JLARC staff started it off and were especially interested in hearing about the parent’s viewpoints.  I was very comforted by that.  There were about 20 speakers, a majority of them parents.  Del. David Poisson from Loudoun spoke about HB 1588 and a new bill that will create ratio requirements for BCBAs in schools and incentive programs for teachers to take BCBA certifications.  This was new and I hadn’t heard of it before.

Most, if not all,  parents who spoke wanted a dedicated agency for autism.  They wanted focus on autism just because of the complexity of the disorder. Many parents also highlighted the benefits of ABA.

At the end, the JLARC staff asked a couple of questions about (1) is the challenge to find good people to take care of the kids only specific to autism or is there just a shortage of people who want to help (2) what is the issue related to getting speech services – is it because of lack of resources or lack of training on the part of school districts that the don’t understand why the kids need speech services.

I am sure I missed some..and ask Jim to fill int