Arkansas Autism Grant 2011: Answers to Your Questions
Friday, January 14, 2011 Listed below are some answers to common questions about the new 2011 grant, as well as the experience of other families during the 2009 grant cycle.
I have Asperger's Syndrome, Fragile X, or PDD-NOS. Can I apply for an autism grant? YES. In this grant all Autism Spectrum Disorders can apply, as long as the diagnosis is made by a psychologist, medical doctor, and speech language pathologist.
I got one of these grants in 2009. Does this affect my ability to get the 2011 grant? NO. The fact that an individual got a 2009 grant does not affect their application in the 2011 cycle. Apply!
Can I use the grant to pay for TEFRA premiums? YES.
Do I need to have a certain level of disability to qualify for a grant in 2011? NO. While the application form asks for your individual level of disability, DDS says that this information will not be a factor in determining grant amounts or eligibility.
What is the total amount of funds available? Approximately $1.4 million, the same as the total amount given out in 2009. In 2009 DDS had originally intended to give out $720,000, which ran out in a couple of weeks. Those wait listed applicants eventually received funds as DDS made more money available.
Do my expenses need to be in a particular time frame, for instance from January 2011 to December 2011? NO. There was some confusion over this point in 2009 because of Medicaid billing requirements. However, this grant is not subject to these Medicaid deadlines.
Should I mail in the application sections when I finish them? NO. Please make sure that you mail in the application in its complete form, with all attached information. DDS will not hold partial applications.
Can this grant pay for ABA, social skills classes, and other items that are medical in need but not covered by Medicaid at this time? YES. Arkansas is not getting Medicaid match funds for this program, so it's not subject to the traditional limitations of insurance coverage. ABA is of course the biggie. (I have contacted some ABA providers to see if they can develop a parent training module within the grant. I will post on this topic later.)
Social skills programs, if recommended by a medical professional, can be covered. For instance, insurance usually requires a Ph.D. psychologist to run reimbursable social skills groups. This grant can be used to pay for social skills classes from speech language pathologists, counselors, or BCBAs.
What are the the monetary limits on each category of spending? Several families asked me about limits on each category of spending. According again to DDS, the limits are as follows:
Respite max of $1,000
Recreation max of $500
Adaptive Equipment/Home modification max of $5,000
Transportation max of $1,000
Vehicle Modification max of $5,000
Utility assistance max of $500
Rent assistance max of $500
Parent Education max of $500
Behavior Management max of $1,000
Other: valid requests related to the diagnosis
of Autism that could include DAN doctor, lab,
nutritional supplements, ABA, etc max of $5,000
What did parents learn from the 2009 cycle? Here are a couple of tips from the last cycle:
- Make sure your name and signature on the social security card and driver's license match. Sign all documents with the same first and last name. Otherwise the DHS billing department may reject your application.
- Try and rebuild the 3-part diagnosis paperwork. For those who have only a doctor or psychologist diagnosing autism, it's very difficult to add in the speech-language pathologist after the fact. SLPs do not diagnose autism and are very uncomfortable being asked to sign such paperwork. Dennis paperwork diagnosing autism probably meets the standard.
- Put a lot of requests on the application. My general advice is to put down a very large list of medical requests. That way if some of them are rejected by DDS, you the family will still receive the maximum amount of funds.
- Get your application in early in case there are any problems with the paperwork.
Eye Contact Arkansas
Here's some discussion of outside tutoring and iPads in an article I wrote:
Reader Comments (25)
Thanks Marjorie. I think this information will be very helpful to families.
How are the letters from the pediatrician and SLP written? Do they have to say "I diagnose this child with autism" or can they just say "Joe has been diagnosed with Autism". Just curious b/c my SLP didn't diagnose nor did his pediatrician, it was a psychologist.
In 2009, the three professionals had to concur with an autism diagnosis. So professionals would write such comments as "the SLP agrees that this child shows signs and symptoms of autism." In general pediatricians do this agreement all the time for children's OT, ST and other therapies and will do so for a psychologist's report. The tricky part is usually the SLP, or speech-language pathologist, since they're uncomfortable writing even that much about the diagnosis.
Call the Little Rock Title V office for further help on this issue in your specific case. (800) 482-5850, ext. 22277 or (501) 682-2277.
Marjorie,
Thank you for all the information. Do we need to include the estimated cost for the Individual/Family Needs section? Would a list of needs sufice?
Give a list of costs. You don't need invoices from businesses, but you should be very close to the expected cost. For instance, in 2009 I wrote down:
Handwriting Without Tears Training, $350
Babysitting while training all day, $60
OT for 25 visits at $120 a visit, $3000
Hi Marjorie,
What do you do if your amount for a certain category is more than has been allocated? For instance, our Tefra premium is $407 a month. Annulaized this is $4884. My son also receives dyslexia therapy which is not currently covered by Tefra. Can I ask for assistance with that therapy? Do I need to provide documentation in the way of an invoice? Do you have specific examples of what other families have asked for in the by category and were sucessful in getting the funds to cover their expenses? I apologize for the 20 questions game I am putting you through. I just want to be sure that I provide the correct documentation to make our grant and other families grants (I have a support group I run in Northwest Arkansas) successful. Your website is wonderful. I would be very lost without your help.
On the limits in each category, I would just go ahead and list your full annual TEFRA premium. The DDS would consider this a medical cost and then give assign $4884 towards your grant amount.
Dyslexia tutoring is definitely going to be seen as an educational expense, which might not be covered. I asked for OT to help with handwriting difficulties, with an evaluation by an OT to prove need, and got the full amount I requested.
You don't need invoices, just reasonable estimates given by the provider. So for OT, I listed an hourly cost of $120/hr.
Keep in mind that the grant will probably be somewhat less than $5000. In my opinion DDS is doing a very good job this year in notifying potential applicants. As a result I expect too many people will apply and have eligible expenses compared to the available funds. In this scenario, DDS has already stated that money will be prorated. So for instance, if there're funds for 3,000 people to receive $5000 grants, but 6,000 people apply for $5000, then each applicant would receive $2500. I don't think the grants will be that small, but there may be a trim.
And thanks for the kind comments about the site!
Hi
Really nice to find this.It's very useful for me.Thanks
I contacted Little Rock with questions about the documentation I needed to provide- clearly prior to visitng your site. I have our evaluations diagnosing an autism spectrum disorder from a nueropsychiatrist, an evaluation from a pediatric nueropsychologist specifically defining the diagnosis as PDD-NOS on the spectrum, and our evaluations from both our Occupational Therapist and Speech-Language Pathologist that state that my daughter has autism (they also noted her epilepsy). The original diagnostician is a PhD, and I want to make sure that will cover us in the "doctor" category. When I called Little Rock, they said it should be sufficient, but as it is pretty late in the game, I want to cover all my bases.
Thanks for all this information.
You've got a neuropsychiatrist, which is an MD doctor, and a psychologist, which is a PhD-level person that will count towards the diagnosis.
Your original doctor in the PhD category, or psychologist, is fine. Most people find a PhD psychologist, psychiatrist or developmental pediatrician the only three professionals willing to make an autism diagnosis. Usually any pediatrician will concur with the PhD opinion. The problem is almost always the SLP, who are very uncomfortable making statements on mental health concerns.
As much as possible get your other two professionals to concur on the same paperwork of the PhD, or at a minimum mention it in their reports.
When should applicants expect to hear if we've been approved for the grant??
@sarah
You should hear back in early April. I understand that DDS is all ready to issue checks.
My application was received by DHS March 19th and I have not heard anything back. I realize this doesn't mean I'm approved but I'm hoping at least all the paperwork was accurate or they would have given it back in time for me to correct it?
Thanks
Will we get a letter before the check or will it just be mailed? I did not have an account for it to be direct deposited into. I am just curious on how long this is all going to take.
@Jennifer I mailed my application in at the same time and had to drive down to resign papers, so hopefully your application was ok.
@Jean Last go-around on these grants I just got a check in the mail, no other explanation or letters.
How long should it take before we get something? I have been told in the first two weeks of April and also by May 1st. Does anyone have any clue on a time frame?
I have the same question. I would appreciate a post on this website stating the status and the amount to be expected. I'm trying to make plans for testing and services for the summer but I have no idea how much I will have to work with, or when I will hear the results. Thank you for this informative website.
I just heard from another group that it may be July at the latest when we get a check.
Is that true? I mean that is a long time from now.
DDS is trying to get the checks out on this Medicaid calendar year, which ends June 30, 2011. That is the last possible date--hopefully it won't be that late, but the grant processing is going very slowly.
Also, information on this website is copyrighted and should be properly linked and attributed, even on "other sites." I left these "other sites" when my links from Eye Contact Arkansas were labeled spam.
I was asking this site because the information seems to be more accurate. I do not mention anything on this site on any other site. I am just trying to figure out things here in Arkansas as I have only lived here 6 months. Not meaning to offend anyone.
Is there any way you could give a little more information about what is exactly covered under respite, recreation, transportation,and behavior management categories?
Sorry, just seeing your post. Since the grant is being covered by the DDS Waiver group, services are meeting their standards. I would ask that you contact them if you have specific issues.
This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone. Thanks! ;)
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Regarding JAMA 2011 Nov 9;306(18):2001-10 "Neuron number and size in prefrontal cortex of children with autism"
I suggest the increase in prefrontal neuron number and size in autistic children are the effects of maternal testosterone. High maternal testosterone has been connected with autism in the literature.
It is my hypothesis that human evolution resulted from selection for testosterone: "Androgens in Human Evolution," Rivista di Biologia / Biology Forum 2001; 94: 345-362. (If your library does not subscribe to "Rivista ... ," you may read this at: http://members.cox.net/jmhoward3/Androgens%20in%20Human%20Evolution.htm . If you do not want to bother to visit this website, please, at least, note the chart from "General and Comparative Endocrinology" of 2003 which directly supports my explanation of human evolution. You may see the chart by going to the link above.)
The prefrontal cortex is larger in humans compared to the great apes. I suggest this is the primary result of the selection of higher testosterone in human females. That is, the increased maternal testosterone is the basis for our larger brains and its effects on subcranial differences between humans and the great apes. One aspect is increased prefrontal areas.
If maternal testosterone is high or high at inappropriate times, then, according to my explanation of human evolution, androgen receptors would increase in the fetal brain. Excess androgen receptors in the prefrontal cortex would increase the cell number and size.
My explanation of human evolution suggests that increased brain size causes a competition between the brain and the subcranial structures (body). Hence, as our brains increased in size, out bodies also started to differ from the great apes. Growth of the brain affects body growth.
If I am correct, then one should see competition within the brains of autistic individuals as a result of this competition. Problems with cerebellum formation and activity occur frequently within autistic individuals. I suggest this is due to increased androgen receptors within the prefrontal areas of the autistic brain which cause increased neuron number and size at the expense of the cerebellum. Growth of parts of the brain will affect other parts.
My work suggests that maternal testosterone periodically increases within the human population and, subsequently, creates problems. This is occurring at the present time. It is well known that autism is increasing, along with many other problems, simultaneously. A well known example is female breast cancer.
I suggest the foregoing explanation may explain the findings reported in JAMA. 2011 Nov 9;306(18):2001-10 "Neuron number and size in prefrontal cortex of children with autism."
James Michael Howard
Fayetteville, Arkansas
(I am not asking for a grant. I am simply transferring my information.)
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