Child Injury Lawyer Blog
By David Wolf, Attorney
Published by Child Injury Lawyer Network
When Tiffany Williams’ autistic six-year-old son, Dante, did not return home from school one Wednesday afternoon, she called up the Carter and MacRae Elementary School, where Dante attended, to find out where he was. A bus driver, who was not the driver of Dante’s bus, brought the child home unharmed. That driver told Ms. Williams that Dante had been found, sound asleep, on the bus he was taking home from school that evening. Dante’s driver apparently failed to make the required check of the bus seats at the end of the route, and did not realize that he had not brought Dante home.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have estimated that one in 150 children in the United States has some form of Autism. In Massachusetts that number is closer to one in 132. In the State of Massachusetts, autistic children under the age of three are currently are eligible to receive 40 hours of therapy through the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s early intervention services. But after that, the family is entirely dependent on their local school district. For children who need more help than the school district can provide, the family is on their own to find and pay for needed services.
Taking care of a child with disabilities can be overwhelming. For many parents, that means they are unable or otherwise neglect planning for their child’s financial future. There are nearly 5 million children in the United States suffering from disabilities, and advanced healthcare technology allows many of them to outlive their parents. If the parents fail to plan for the care of their child after their own passing, that can place a heavy burden on other family members or may leave the child without any support at all. That makes the need for financial educational and planning resources for this group more critical than ever.
Consumer Watchdog has filed a lawsuit alleging that California state insurance regulators allow insurance companies to deny necessary treatment to autistic children in violation of state law. The lawsuit seeks to compel the California Department of Managed Health Care to order health plans in the state to cover applied behavioral analysis (ABA) for autistic children if it is deemed medically necessary and is appropriately administered. A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge, James Chalfant, has ruled that the case may proceed to trial.
Diane Stephenson, a Pfizer researcher, has two nephews and a niece who suffer from Autism. Her colleague, Howie Mayer, has two children of his own with Autism. The two have worked together at Pfizer to create a research unit that focuses on curing the disease. Stephenson believes that recent advances in genetic studies of Autism have made this the opportune time to start the research unit. They were given permission to start the unit despite the fact that Pfizer has been downsizing of late.
While most students graduate at the age 18 and go on to higher education or into the work force, special needs children usually follow a different path. Stow-Monroe high school officials are hosting their first-ever “Transition Fair” for special needs students and their parents to discover what their options are after high school.
The mother of a special needs child and active blogger has come out with a list of actions parents of special needs kids can take to protect their children from predators. She suggests that parents teach their special needs children the following:
While the total number of children being suspended or expelled has actually dropped in recent years, a study from Great Britain shows that children with special needs, those who qualify for free lunch programs, and those from ethnic minorities are sent home eight times more often than their peers. The study also noted that boys were three times more likely than girls to be suspended or expelled from school.
People take their parking lot spaces very seriously. Sometimes, people put too much effort and anxiety into parking spaces. In Detroit, Michigan, a 17 year old girl was shot after her father and another man had an argument. Police reported that the argument may have been over a parking space at a Detroit Coney Island. Following the argument, two vehicles left the parking lot but the argument and tempers continued to the point that the driver of one of the vehicles (a Ford SUV) into the other vehicle that was occupied by 17 year old – Octavia McLawrence.
The Virginia legislature has struck down a bill that would have required health insurers to pay for the cost of therapy for autistic children. Similar legislation has been enacted in Maryland and the District of Columbia.