When Oly was two years old, his family started suspecting developmental issues. At that time, the family was living in Montana, where services for a child with Oly's issues were not provided. The only thing the family was able to obtain was a prescription for speech therapy. When the family realized that they could not get the help they needed, they moved to Washington. After a lot of research and phone calls, Oly was diagnosed with autism in September of 2015.

Getting coverage for Oly was a challenge. It was difficult to find a pediatrician to support the diagnosis and refer him to therapy, and equally difficult to find insurance to cover treatment. At the insurance companies, different people had different answers, and it was very confusing.

Oly's family made many phone calls and contacted many different organizations to get help. Most did not provide answers, and many had extended waiting periods to enroll. The doctor who diagnosed Oly with autism referred the family to WAAA. Trish Thrush, WAAA health law advocate, was able to write an appeal to the insurance company that had denied coverage and review all of the documents relating to his diagnosis and treatment. Oly's mother, Megan, has also found the WAAA Facebook page to be helpful for asking questions and getting some answers from WAAA staff and other members of the autism community.

At this point, Oly's insurance company is aware that it is required to cover Applied Behavioral Analysis treatment (ABA). He has been assigned a case manager, and the packet put together for the family by WAAA has helped to navigate this process. Oly's ABA is now covered, but his family hopes that, in the future, Speech and Language Therapy (SLP) will also be covered to help Oly further progress.