I have been thinking a lot about this simple sentence of supply and demand lately. Those few words drive the economy, how much we pay for things, how long we wait for services and resources, etc and etc. They also drive autism therapy and autism services in Minnesota and probably nationwide.
We know that there are thousands children with autism in Minnesota (over 17 thousand) and less than two dozen autism early intervention providers are here. In other words, the demand for ASD therapy providers is so high that the waiting is list often as long as years which defeats the purpose of early intervention is the best hope for ASD kids. None of these couple dozen ASD therapy providers are owned or run by a person of color which also means most minority ASD children are on even a longer wait list, discharged sooner, never accepted, so on and so forth.
Have you ever heard of last hired and first fired. This usually means the last hired is most likely a person of color and the first fired is probably a person of color. This same method is used by many autism therapy providers who usually take few minority ASD kids then if there is a staff shortage – they are the first to be discharged or told we don’t have staff for you. Those that provide in home therapy also don’t like to go to minority communities. For example, I would say there are not a lot of in home autism therapy in north or even south Minneapolis by Cedar Riverside area.
This supply and demand problem can also dilute the quality of the providers, especially when DHS has no policy to control and assure any quality. This part is so insane. How can the biggest state agency in charge of this not have any quality control for these autism providers that are teaching our most vulnerable children. I remember couple of years ago, when DHS also did not have good quality for child care centers and one brave reporter kept writing about that which resulted an overhaul in policy and regulation in Minnesota and nationwide. And, one thing I learned about reporters is that they usually write something that either affects them personally or they are interested. For example, any reporter with young children that go to child care centers is much more likely going to be interested in that than say autism centers.
So, I imagine if DHS did not wait for a reporter to write about the lack of safety and quality control in autism centers. I imagine if DHS did not wait until an autistic child got hurt or sued DHS for negligence. I imagine DHS used common sense of they certify, fund, inspect and audit these autism therapy providers and the very least they can do is to make sure the children are learning well and are safe. Why is that so hard for DHS, I wonder?
Yes, I know many of the quality of the providers will be addressed in the new autism waiver benefit, but not all and unless our kids are safe and are learning well – I don’t think anyone or building should be called an autism expert or clinic. There must be safety measures, quality control and data reporting for all children that get hurt little or big to DHS.
Again, I ask Minnesota Department of Human Services to relook at this issue of autism provider safety and quality control before a child really gets hurt. I hope DHS can learn something from MDE in quality control. For example, charter schools are funded by the same means as ABA in Minnesota of both state and Federal. Yet, charter schools have actual rules, policies for those in charge and for parents. By the same token, for many ABA providers not so much even though the funding is from the same sources. Why is that? Is it because the supply and demand is so huge that DHS looks at this with a blind eye. I really hope not.
We need DHS to be the adult here and take charge of assuring our autistic children and teens are learning and are safe. DHS must inspect the physical facility, ask for independent evaluations to assure the child is learning and progressing to reach his/her best outcome and the parent is part of the team, not sitting on the sidelines to just sign ITP’s. Another example, when a center says a child will get one on one treatment, what happens when that does not happen and it happens often in ABA centers. For example, two or three children are assigned to one therapist due to vacations, staff turnover, firings, quitting, vacations, etc. Should that be notated, parents notified and DHS aware.
Above words do not represent any agency, candidate or agency.
Idil – Somali Autism Mom & Minority Advocate