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As you know, I am passionate about the autism community.
Many Washingtonians of all ages on the autism spectrum and their families struggle to access care and services in homes, schools and communities. Washington Autism Alliance (WAA) works with legislators, insurance providers, care providers, and educators to help individuals across Washington state access services.
I am asking you to join me as a District Ambassador and stand together with us for change. Our goal is to educate lawmakers in cities, counties and the state and build a case for their support of our loved ones.
I am proud to serve individuals and families we work with. As one family recently commented, “Without a doubt, no organization has helped the autistic community as much as WAA. If you know someone with autism, their life is better because of what has been accomplished by this fantastic group of people.”
Please join me in building a community of supporters to help individuals and families break through barriers to autism insurance benefits, special education services, barriers to appropriate housing and employment supports. Please complete this brief survey to let us know how you'd like to be involved.
Duties are based on your interest and may include:
The person you’re meeting with or speaking to might not be familiar with autism, evidence based treatments as essential health benefits, what happens in absence of timely therapies, it’s impact on the individual, family, schools, communities, the human and societal costs. It is our role as Autism Ambassadors to help educate everyone to ensure our loved ones have every opportunity they need to thrive in their own communities statewide.
Always start your conversations with:
My name is __________. I’m a _______(parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, etc.) of a loved one with autism and an ambassador with Washington Autism Alliance. In your district, 2% of all children and adults have autism, a complex neurological disorder that significantly impacts communication, socialization, and independent living.
People with intellectual and developmental disabilities suffer greater Covid-19 complications and die at rates three to four times that of non-disabled individuals. According to a noted medical ethicist, “These people are high risk and must be given priority for vaccination.”
This high-risk population deserves vaccine priority for at least 4 reasons:
If our state is truly committed to ensuring the health, safety, and welfare of its most vulnerable residents, including those furthest from medical, financial, and educational justice, it needs to prioritize the vaccination of the intellectually and developmentally disabled, as well as the caregivers, therapists, and educators who support them.
Sample Introduction-
My name is __________. I’m an ambassador with Washington Autism Alliance & Advocacy. In your district, 2% of all children under 21 have autism, a complex neurological disorder that significantly impacts communication, socialization, and independent living. Autism is highly treatable, evidence-based treatments include behavioral and neurodevelopmental therapies. In absence of timely therapies, children and adolescents develop debilitating behaviors that severely impede access to education, healthcare, community integration and take a significant toll on the child, families, teachers, schools and magnify societal costs. In your district, there are school-aged children that require out-of-home 24-7 services paid by their local school district that can cost up to $200,000 per year. (OSPI - Out of district, out of state placement data). Schools were never intended to become the primary healthcare (behavioral health/neurodevelopmental therapies) provider for students with disabilities.
We help reverse this trajectory, at any point of journey Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) including autism. Our organization works diligently to bridge the gap between the many health and education policies that exist to serve children and adults with ASD and other DD’s, and the educators, and medical providers who want to support these policies but don’t always succeed in doing it.
We focus on:
While there are many organizations that offer services for those with disabilities, we are the only organization that pairs health & education systems’ navigation for autism and developmental disabilities, with sliding scales legal services. We ensure children and adults with IDD and autism have every opportunity to thrive and become productive members of society. We do this by helping families access ASD & DD health insurance benefits, effective services in schools, and supportive community-based services, regardless of their personal financial situation. We’re proposing to bring our ASD family navigators to your legislative district as well as regional hubs to ensure more children and families are reached in a timely manner.
Washington state provides additional funding dedicated to special education services for serving students with disabilities. The current funding model provides funding through the use of a single special education excess cost multiplier. As a result, the funding that school districts receive for special education services is not well aligned with their expenditures, leaving some districts to rely on local levies to supplement their special education programs.
Special education is specially designed instruction that addresses the unique needs of eligible students. Special education is provided at no cost to parents and includes the related services a student needs to access her or his educational program. These services are determined as needed by the Individualized Education Program (IEP) team and ensure the student receives a free appropriate public education and accesses and progresses in grade-level learning standards.
Two primary sources of revenue support special education services to students: basic education and special education. The model to calculate special education funding takes the annual average headcount of age Kindergarten–age 21 special education enrollment, times the district’s Basic Education Allocation (BEA) rate, times the special education excess cost multiplier (.9609).
The current funding model for special education is based on a single special education excess cost multiplier. The special education excess cost multiplier was set at 0.9609 beginning with the 2018–19 school year. This funding model delivers the same amount of funding for each student with disabilities in full-time equivalent (FTE) attendance, regardless of the intensity and types of services that are being provided. The funding does not reflect the cost to deliver services in different settings nor does it incentivize districts to promote inclusion in the general education classroom.
WAA proposes a tiered excess cost multiplier based on direct hours of service to the student with disabilities, their instructional settings, and the intensity of services delivered. In essence, as the excess cost rates increase incrementally, it will reduce school district reliance on local levies to fill current funding gaps.
In addition to the funding provided by the special education excess cost multiplier, the Legislature appropriates funding for a Safety Net program, which assists districts in addressing extraordinary needs associated with students who require high-cost services.
The most recent efforts to change the multiplier proposed an amendment to the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 28A.150.390 to increase the special education excess cost multiplier from 0.9609 to 1.08 for students with disabilities age K−21. The bill was reintroduced in 2018 but not adopted.
Employment services help clients with Developmental Disabilities (DD) find and maintain jobs that match their goals and skills. Community inclusion helps clients develop skills, foster independence, and form relationships with non-disabled community members.
Reimbursement rate caps are structured in a way to incentivize individual employment over community inclusion:
Individual employment= $75/hour
Community inclusion = $35/hour
Additional funding and support services are available ONLY to clients enrolled in individual employment, but not Community Inclusion.
In 2018, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) staff analyzed client data and found that Individual Supported Employment accounted for:
The Legislative Auditor makes three recommendations. DDA should:
Develop a system to measure the quality of life outcomes for its clients. Ensure that eligible clients are offered the choice of community inclusion. Report to the Legislature on its efforts to strengthen and expand the community inclusion program.
We believe people with ASD/DD offer untapped potential to employers, they are loyal and hard-working. They have lower absenteeism in comparison with their neurotypical peers. An example of an evidence-based vocational training program for young adults with ASD is Deployed 2 Work, a federally funded, randomized study for military-connected or military dependent youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We hope Washington State continues to improve on the current 20% employment rate and 10% of the DD population earning over federal poverty limits.
