November 20, 2014
26,000 military families are receiving access to better TRICARE coverage for ABA therapy for young children with an Autism Diagnosis. ABA therapy is approved by the Surgeon General and American Academy of Pediatrics as the number one treatment and standard care for individuals with an ASD. However, the cost of coverage for therapy averages $125 an hour and may be cut to $68 for providing day-to-day treatment. The higher rate would be assessed only when drawing up an individual treatment / therapy plan or assessing a patient's needs (Philpott, 2014). This could impact thousands of children, and many families are speaking out. The old cap on spending limited children to just 12 hours of therapy a week. Day-to-day improvements are made with one-on-one comprehensive care, anywhere from 25-40 hours, a figure which now may be possible with a $36,000 cap. For youth with an Autism Diagnosis, social interaction and communication skills are something that have to be a part of the daily routine in order to be improved (AutismSees LLC).
However, what about those who may not have an Autism Diagnosis, but whose social skills are lacking? Those in schools who are highly intelligent, but are being bullied for socially awkward behaviors or miscommunication, those kids looking for employment directly upon graduation but who fall down in interviews. Without the diagnosis label, resources in including ABA therapy and access to assistive technology for social skills communication are not easily found (AutismSees LLC). The iPresentWell software in development by AutismSees LLC is designed to be a platform for engagement and self-directed presentation improvement, able to be used by the most functional and independent young adults seeking improvement for an up-coming job interview. However, another key feature to this software is that it is able to be customized with a provisioning setting for users to connect to mentors, therapists, life skills coaches, or even their future employer. Bringing aspects of LifeMap coaching and ABA therapy to users on the Spectrum in an affordable fashion, even those who may be without an Autism Diagnosis or who preferred to not be labeled as Autistic. Can AutismSees LLC give an automated engagement score to users of iPresentWell and improve chances for a successful interview, presentation, or speaking engagement? This development process is in the works. Follow AutismSees LLC +AutismSees or visit www.autismsees.com.
