The report of a blue-ribbon panel commissioned by Senate President Pro Tem Michael Gibbons, R-Kirkwood, and the funding recommendations proposed by Gov. Matt Blunt will be the launching platforms for discussion in the Missouri Legislature on how to improve services for autistic children.
Improved diagnostic techniques over the past two decades have resulted in identifying an increasing number of children as autistic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one of every 150 children has a form of autism that impairs his or her ability to communicate and interact and causes repetitive behavior.
Autistic children can be helped. Providing that assistance clearly is the purpose of the 36 recommendations made by the special panel to state lawmakers and the funding increase that will be sought by Gov. Blunt. During the upcoming session, legislators will be asked to find out how best to improve access for available services to parents and their autistic children, and how much funding will be necessary.
Not all of the recommendations are likely to make it through the General Assembly this session. But all should get a thorough hearing.
Among the proposals that should be implemented quickly are forming a statewide commission on autism spectrum disorders to make its own recommendations to the state’s chief executive and solons for integrating training, treatment and services, and hiring a full-time employee for the Office of Autism Services to coordinate with other state agencies.
We applaud Gibbons, Sen. Scott Rupp, who led the special panel that drafted the recommendations, and Gov. Blunt for recommending more money for professional services. It will be a good beginning. As the parent of a child now living independently with an assistant in Springfield said: “If she had been diagnosed earlier, she could be a taxpayer instead of a person receiving benefits.”
