By Jonathan Slack, Autism Home Support Services
North Carolina may soon join the majority of the country in passing an autism insurance mandate. North Carolina’s state assembly passed a bill that mandates ABA therapy coverage through eighteen years of age at a $40,000 annual cap.
It is exciting to see that children on the spectrum in North Carolina may be able to get the services they need to succeed. However, the bill as it is constructed today would only let licensed psychologists, developmental pediatricians, social workers, and oddly enough occupational and speech therapists provide Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. This means that a Board Certified Behavioral Analyst (BCBA) who has a masters degree in behavioral therapy would not be able to practice ABA therapy unless they were being supervised by one of those licensed professionals.
This is a backwards view of how ABA therapy is provided and will limit the amount of children who receive the ABA therapy they need. Hopefully in North Carolina’s final version of the bill, they will allow BCBAs the ability to freely practice their craft.
Source: www.publicnewsservice.org
