Photo courtesy of Robert Broadhead | Owen Kartchner enjoyed a swing at Fairview City Park days after his diagnosis with autism. The San Juan County toddler is among nearly 300 Utah kids picked in a lottery to receive free applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy.
Before Robyn Kartchner got married and started a family, she studied human development in college.
So when her firstborn son, Owen, wouldnt nurse or gaze at her, she said, she suspected autism.
"When he was an infant we really struggled to bond," she said. "He didnt want to be held or comforted. He didnt seem comfortable in his own skin."
But it wasnt until October that Owen, now almost 3, was diagnosed. The impetus: a Utah lottery for applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy, paid for by Medicaid.
The diagnosis, and the pilot program, are "doing miracles," she said.
Not all rural families in the program have faced delays and struggles in finding reliable, qualified providers. The Kartchners live in Monticello, a tiny town in the far southeastern corner of Utah near the Navajo Reservation.
Owen won a spot in December and his therapy with Affinity Autism Services started at the end of January.
Diagnosed with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he tends to "float from one activity to the next," said his mom. Physically, he developed quicker than most kids. He was walking by 10 months and navigating stairs by age 1.
But he struggled socially.
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Free autism treatment “doing miracles” for some rural Utahns