CVS Caremark All Kids Can™ grants help families with autism

Posted by Beth Finke on April 30th, 2008

The Easter Seals 2008 Training Conference Awards Banquet was Monday night, and man, I’m still stuffed.

Still happy, too. Here’s why: In addition to the well-deserved awards Easter Seals gave out to individuals at the dinner Monday night, CVS Caremark Charitable Trust awarded $350,000 in grants to different Easter Seals autism programs across the country. This means the Trust …Read More » »

What do autism assistance dogs do?

Posted by Beth Finke on April 17th, 2008

I’m blind. I use a Seeing Eye dog to guide me safely to work each day. I literally couldn’t get around without her.

I know how valuable a service dog can be. In some cases, though, I don’t understand what specific things the service dog does to help with the disability.

A recent story in …Read More » »

Toolkit helps identify autism early on

Posted by Lisa Tate on April 10th, 2008

Matt’s post on Tuesday reported that the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends developmental surveillance and autism screenings at well-child visits before age three. It turns out AAP has developed a toolkit to support health care professionals in the identification and ongoing management of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

The toolkit is called Caring for Children …Read More » »

Gus & us: diagnosing autism early

Posted by Bob Glowacki on April 9th, 2008

It was great to read Matt’s post yesterday about Easter Seals Bay Area launching an Early Intervention Autism Program to serve children 18 months through 3 years old. A story about autism on the OnMilwaukee blog points out why programs like that are so necessary. The story features Gus, a client we serve at Easter Seals Southeast …Read More » »

Diagnosing autism before age 3

Posted by Matt McAlear on April 8th, 2008

Lisa Tate’s recent blog wondered about the myth that children can’t be diagnosed with autism before age three. In the past, doctors were hesitant to diagnose autism in children less than 2 years of age, mostly because of the relatively limited amount of research showing stability of such early diagnoses. Doctors were more likely to provide a Pervasive …Read More » »

Increase autism awareness: Act for Autism

Posted by Beth Finke on April 2nd, 2008

Easter Seals is taking advantage of Autism Awareness Month to make sure people are aware that … autism is treatable. Seems like such a simple concept, doesn’t it? But it’s surprising how many people are, well … unaware.

It’s true: autism is treatable! Just ask my friend Barbara Gaither. You might recognize Barbara’s name — she’s posted a few blogs here …Read More » »

Get the word out — it’s Autism Awareness Month

Posted by Patricia Wright on April 1st, 2008

Autism Awareness Month begins today, so start looking (and listening!) for Easter Seals on TV, on radio and in the print media.

We’re committed to helping people understand that autism is treatable, early intervention improves outcomes, and funding is necessary for appropriate services and supports. These are the messages that I want to send through the media. And, lucky for …Read More » »

Working with undiagnosed autism

Posted by Debbie Smith on March 28th, 2008

The media does a fantastic job on reporting the benefits of early diagnosis and treatment of autism, but the needs of older individuals have to be addressed too.

I’ve been working with individuals with disabilities for many years. About 10 years ago we had a huge increase of children being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficient Hyperactivity Disorder …Read More » »

Governor awarded for autism advocacy

Posted by Bob Glowacki on March 26th, 2008

Well, we had plenty of excitement yesterday with a visit from Jim Doyle — he’s the governor of Wisconsin. He came to our adult day services center in Wauwatosa to receive the National Easter Seals Outstanding Advocate of the Year award. Governor Doyle received the award for his work towards improving access to services and his support in …Read More » »

Health insurance for people with autism

Posted by Bob Glowacki on March 11th, 2008

Most states do not require private insurance companies to cover even essential autism treatments and services. Nationwide, few private insurance companies or other employee benefit plans cover Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and other behavioral therapies. In fact, many insurance companies designate autism as a diagnostic exclusion, meaning that no autism-specific services are covered.

There are 16 states that …Read More » »