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