October 12, 2013
The Pennsylvania Autism Action Center Foundation is looking for Monroe County volunteers to help raise money for autistic children whose families cannot afford treatment services not covered by insurance.
Having a strong genetic basis and appearing in children as young as 2, autism is a neural development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and verbal and non-verbal communication and by restricted, repetitive or stereotyped behavior.
The PAAC Foundation invites volunteers to its first meeting at 6 p.m. Sunday at the PAAC, 6515 Business Route 209 in Stroud Township. The PAAC's phone number is 570-861-4255.
Though there is no cure, therapies and behavioral interventions are designed to remedy specific symptoms and can bring about substantial improvement, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke website.
Since the ideal treatment plan coordinates therapies and interventions that meet the specific needs of individual children, most health care professionals agree the earlier the diagnosis and intervention, the better.
Treatment involves modifying an autistic child's environment to teach the child communication and other skills, said Michelle DeMarsh of Tobyhanna, PAAC principal owner.
"New laws require all autistic children with need for treatment services to be covered by insurance," DeMarsh said. "But because this is still so new, many insurance companies are not participating," she said, adding that less coverage from insurance companies that do participate mean higher co-pays many families cannot afford.
"Some insurance companies are telling parents that autism treatment is included in the home-based wrap-around services the companies cover," she said. "In the home-based wrap-around scenario, trained professionals are not supposed to work directly with the children, but instead train the parents at home to do so. Training the parents doesn't work because these services are very intensive and should only be done by trained behavior analysts or aides to those analysts."
The other part of the problem is that doctors prescribe a certain number of hours of treatment for children, but parents cannot find public facilities where children can complete the prescribed number of treatment hours, DeMarsh said.
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Volunteers needed for autism fundraising