In the wake of a growing autism epidemic across the United States, experts and advocates are reaching out to local families to give them hope for the future of their children.

Government-funded programs administered through public schools and social services have sustained major budget cuts in California in recent years, threatening the availability of special needs services for children with autism and leaving many families in need of assistance.

Bonnie Yates, an attorney who has been a special needs advocate in the region for more than 25 years, said the situation is worse in Ventura County than in other areas, such as Los Angeles.

“The needs are the same but there are a lot of things that work against people,” she said. “Ventura County has a little more rural tradition (than L.A. County). People expect themselves to be more selfsuffi cient. They don’t necessarily want to go to a public agency for help. That’s a theory I have.

“Plus there are fewer resources in such a concentrated area, so people have to drive farther to get state-of-the-art treatment.”

Yates said limited outreach in the area compounds the problem because families aren’t aware of the services they could receive outside of state-funded programs.

In October, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 946, which requires medical insurance companies to cover applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy for children diagnosed with autism.

The new law, which goes into effect in July, is estimated to save California taxpayers more than $140 million per year on special education and social services costs.

The law lifts some of the financial burden from public schools and social services while ensuring children with autism receive the necessary intervention to reach their potential. The law is set to expire automatically in July 2014, but Yates said it paves the way for future funding.

“It’s a lot harder to take something away once it’s been provided,” she said.

ABA therapy

In the 1970s Dr. Ivar Lovaas, a psychology professor at UCLA, pioneered ABA therapy—a treatment that uses behavioral learning theories to modify certain behaviors in children with autism.

Today ABA therapy is used as a standard treatment for autism spectrum disorders and essentially teaches kids “to learn how to learn,” said Dr. Jennifer Harris, a boardcertified analyst and founder of FirstSteps for Kids, a local ABA therapy provider.

Simply stated, ABA therapy includes developing communication, social and self-care skills while changing excessive behaviors like tantrums or aggression.

Harris, who worked with Lovaas in the 1990s, said research shows that a child with autism who receives high-intensity treatment— between 25 and 40 hours of ABA therapy per week—show signifi cantly more improvement than a child undergoing low-intensity treatment, under 15 hours per week.

An intensive ABA treatment program generally lasts from two to four years, depending on the severity of a child’s case.

Costs of autism

Harris and Yates agree that the best hope for children with autism is early and intensive intervention— the problem is giving families access to that treatment.

Over the years, parents have struggled to get full funding for the costly services.

“Given what’s happening in our state right now, funding from regional centers and school districts is becoming more and more scarce,” Yates said. “Those are the people who want to provide services, but there’s no money there. In general, more and more families are not getting the intensive services they need.”

But with the passage of SB 946, ABA therapy providers are encouraging parents to access their medical insurance.

“It’s probably easier to go to war with an insurance company than going to war in the schools for services,” Yates said.

The attorney said SB 946 adds money to a system that was “depleted a long time ago” but continues to increase in demand.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that one in every 110 American children has an autism spectrum disorder, and the number increases by about 13.5 percent annually.

In Ventura County school districts, nearly 1,800 children and adults from age 3 to 22 are receiving special education services under the autism designation.

Harris is optimistic that proper ABA therapy can turn a child’s life around.

The first step for parents, she said, is to make sure a child has the correct diagnosis.

“ Diagnosis opens all the doors of funding,” Harris said. “These kids are so smart. Once you show them how to learn, they do so well.”