**NO NEW APPLICATIONS BEING ACCEPTED**

PDF DOWNLOADS OF ALL NEEDED DOCUMENTS

DHS Cover Letter About Autism Grant: More notes on eligibility and the autism grant. Please remember to send in a copy of your driver's license and social security card.  Name and signature must match.

Application for Autism Grant

Special Needs Payee Guarantee: A signed form that funds will be used as agreed. Families need to keep original receipts to send to DHS, or risk removal from all DHS programs. On this form expenses should be broken out. For instance, $300 for a psychological examination, then $200 per session for individual treatment, for 11 visits, would be $300 + $2200 = $2500.

Vendor Form: You the family are the vendor. Simply fill out your home information and normal bank account records.

W-9: You will need a W-9 for the grant form, but you do NOT pay taxes on the grant.  Check the box on the far right side labelled "Exempt Payee".

Each blue headline above is a link to a PDF file for each document.  You should be able to print out a copy of each form you'll need.

Arkansas’s DHS is offering one-time grants of up to $5,000 to children and adults with autism. Many families are eligible for this grant, with a few exceptions. The rules are as follows:

Not Eligible Individuals: Any adult or child on a Home-and-Community-Based Waiver (HCBW). Any individual who is institutionalized or in a Human Development Center (HDC) respite bed; and children in DCFS custody are ineligible for the program.  

Outside of these groups there should be a large number of eligible individuals. Family income will not disqualify applicants.

Diagnosis: Autism or related spectrum diagnosis only. The diagnosis MUST be signed by a speech pathologist, psychologist and doctor. If a person has only been diagnosed by a psychologist and speech pathologist, the forms can be taken to the person’s regular doctor or pediatrician for the third confirming signature.

Disability Determination: TEFRA and HCBW require that the individual be disabled. The autism grant money does not.

Time Limit: None for services. The grant is made directly to the family. The family can spend the money now or later. No application deadline.

Services Allowed: So far families have applied for respite, software, supplements, and out-of-network care. Medical verification, or a letter of need from a therapist or doctor, can strengthen the application.

**DHS will also accept applications from families who want to make initial consultations and arrangements with ABA-type therapy providers. $5,000 is enough to at least set up an initial program of ABA, although not enough to hire staff to run the ABA program.

Amount Available: A fixed amount, $720,000. The total is now split 50/50 between adult and children’s services, although the amount may be rebalanced since more families are drawing down the children’s side of the funds. To date only three checks have been sent out, with four more processing in late August. Families should apply quickly before funds run out.

Financial Records: Parents must provide receipts showing how the family support/respite funds were used. Failure to provide receipts will prevent the child from receiving further regular DDS Special Needs program assistance.

Contact Information: Your local Developmental Disabilities Service Coordinator, who should then forward you to the Children’s Services Caseworker for your county. The toll-free phone number for the state coordinator is 800-482-5850, extension 22277. In Little Rock the number is 501-682-2277.

All the forms you need are in the next article on the page.

The parent rumor mill indicates that most people who received checks have gotten them.  If you haven't gotten a check, DDS is still working to complete your paperwork and place you on the waiting list. Those on the waiting list can get the autism grant when funds become available.

If you haven't gotten an application in, I would still recommend getting your name on the autism grant waiting list.  I know there's a chance that no new grants are offered, but events could change rapidly. 

There's now a waitlist of at least 150 people waiting to receive the $5000 autism grant.  There should be some money available for the grants in 2010.

$1,500,000 should be collected from the new Arkansas cigarette tax. $720,000 of grant money was handed out in the fall of 2009. Some money has been spent to develop the autism Medicaid waiver, but the remaining funds can go to the grant waitlist.

Keep your fingers crossed if you're on the waitlist.

If you're on the autism grant waitlist, I've heard that some checks were just received.