New cartoon! Back to school means more time... right?
Plus: Budget cuts threaten Louisiana services; Texas family pushes for automatic referrals to waiver services; and Oklahoma still can't decide if hitting disabled students is a good idea or not
On the second Sunday of every month, we feature Where is the Manual for This?!, an editorial cartoon about the medical mom life from Lenore Eklund.
Medical Motherhood’s news round up
Snippets of news and opinion from outlets around the world. Click the links for the full story.
• From Click2Houston: “Family fights for change after special needs daughter placed on service waitlist for over 16 years”
A local family is fighting for change so that special needs children can get the care they need and deserve.
The Handley family proposed a bill in the last Texas legislative session that would require school districts to refer students with disabilities to their Local Intellectual and Developmental Disability Authority (LIDDA) the moment they are diagnosed.
Doing so would ensure families are notified about Medicaid Waiver Programs and the services and support available to special needs families at the time of a child’s diagnosis, and for more waiver slots to open up so families can get the help they need.
Carey Nelson Handley and her husband Boyd said they were not aware of the lists until their daughter Caytlin was 14-years-old. She is still waiting for services at age 30.
[…]Most of these programs have a 15 to 20 year waiting list, and the Handley family have been working with non-profit group The Arc of Texas to address this issue.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Texas is one of six states that don’t pre-qualify people before adding them to the lists, which causes a huge disparity in the waiting times for services.
Handley believes there’s a push for institutionalization in Texas, rather than supporting families who choose to keep their loved ones at home. […]
• From the Louisiana Illuminator: “Services for people with disabilities could be eliminated under Landry budget plan”
Programs for medically vulnerable children, seniors and people with disabilities could be eliminated next year as a result of Louisiana’s looming budget deficit, officials with Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration said Friday.
Louisiana Health Secretary Michael Harrington laid out services he might be forced to cut if the governor and lawmakers reduce the state health care budget by $105.1 million to deal with a financial gap in the next fiscal year. He’s been told to expect a large cut as the state tries to figure out how it will cope with automatic tax reductions scheduled for mid-2025.Harrington said that $105.1 million cut to state health care services would balloon to an overall loss of $332.4 million with resulting federal funding reductions. The state would no longer be able to put up the money needed to draw down more dollars from the federal government for health care services.
[…]More than 90% of Louisiana’s $19.9 billion health care budget is spent on Medicaid programs, which pays for health care for people who are pregnant, low-income or disabled, according to Harrington. The bulk of that money, 71%, comes from the federal government, but the state is required to contribute funds in order to receive the federal support.
If forced to make a $105.1 million reduction, Harrington said the Landry administration would eliminate pediatric day care centers ($26.4 million) for families with medically fragile children. Money for a program that helps children with behavioral challenges, called the coordinated system of care, would also be reduced by $5.9 million.
[…]Louisiana is facing a budget deficit of $587 million next year largely because of a planned cut to the state sales tax from 4.45% to 4% that will cost $445 million. State lawmakers could avoid major budget reductions if they voted to keep the sales tax rate at the current level, but legislative leaders have said the conservative anti-tax Louisiana House of Representatives is unlikely to do so.
[…]If the Legislature chooses to keep a 2% tax on business utilities that is supposed to expire July 1, 2025, it would also generate $220 million and lessen the deficit. Moving $320 million the state generates through a vehicle sales tax from transportation projects into health care services, higher education and other programs could also help close the budget gap. […]
• From 2 News Oklahoma: “Oklahoma lawmakers weigh corporal punishment on special needs students”
The issue of corporal punishment will be back in the conversation at the state capitol this year. A bill effectively banning paddling special needs students was brought to lawmakers last session but it did not pass.
Until Jocelyn Cook’s son told her how he was disciplined at school, she did not realize corporal punishment was still allowed in Oklahoma.
“I was unhappy,” she said. “The principal held me down, the principal hit me,” she recalls her son telling her after school one day.
Cook says her son is diagnosed with Dandy Walker variant and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. She says he learns on a level many years younger than his age and does not understand corporal punishment.
“He will think, ‘if you hit me, I’m going to hit you,” she explained. “That is why we do a lot of talking.”
[…]Current state law only bans corporal punishment for the “most significantly cognitively disabled student.” Child advocates say the standards for that definition is unclear.
Each district determines its own discipline policy. The OICA says 26% of Oklahoma schools still use paddling.
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Thanks for Sharing Shasta. The fact that schools are still allowed to paddle kids is unbelievable. Makes me realize how good we have it in Oregon on many levels for our kiddos.
This newsletter was painful to read. Thank you for shedding light on issues many people want to believe do not exist. But for my faith in Jesus, a good therapist, and a high-quality psychiatrist, I would have given up a long time ago. Shasta, thank you for being a light to the happy stories and the stories of concern in the special needs world.