Autism Therapy: Tricare

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Aug 12, 2009

Military families move frequently, and it is difficult to re-establish services and obtain new resources for their children with autism. U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has recently introduced legislation called the Uniformed Services with Autism (USA) Heroes Act, which will provide continuing coverage and care. Currently military families are dependent on TRICARE, which provides only limited applied behavior analysis (ABA) coverage. Gillibrand and the military families she represents understand that early intervention is key to autism therapy, and that ABA may be medically necessary not just as a special education issue.

Jul 13, 2009

Autism in military families is 1 in 88 children as compared to 1 in 150 children in the general population, yet autism services are often difficult to come by for military children. The situation is made more difficult when one of the parents is deployed overseas. It has been hard for some families of children with autism to receive early intervention coverage from the armed forces insurer, Tricare. Major Andy Hilmes, his wife, and son are one such family - Maj. Hilmes is deployed in Iraq and Drew has autism. Near Ft. Hood, the nation's largest military base, in Killeen Texas, Nancy Champlin opened the area's first applied behavior analysis (ABA) early intervention center. Autism Concepts Incorporated "specializes in language and communication, play skills and social skills using research based interventions." And even more importantly, the center works with parents on skills to use at home.

Jun 4, 2009

It is difficult enough when families move from Army base to Army base, not to mention overseas deployments for one or both parents, but when a child with autism is involved, the hardships are increased. The military provides some coverage for applied behavior analysis (ABA), speech therapy, and occupational therapy, but active duty parents still struggle. Many times one parent will stay in a city that provides excellent intervention for their child, while the other parent moves. The Department of Defense is working in several areas: Army Community Service, Officer and Civilian Women's Clubs, and Tricare (the active duty insurance company); in addition, respite care services can be found.

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