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Good intention, bad plan

The House version of the 2010 defense authorization bill would place problematic new mandates on support programs serving military family members with autism.

The bill would require autism to be treated not as a behavioral and educational issue, as it is now, but as a medical issue. That means autism programs such as applied behavior analysis (ABA) would shift from the “special education” arena to Tricare.

As such, children with autism would receive broader and deeper benefits under Tricare than are now generally provided under the special education framework of the Pentagon’s Extended Care Health Option (ECHO) program.

But defense officials point out that this likely would reduce ABA services for military children because the 1,400 tutors who now provide ABA in educational settings would not be authorized to provide “medical services.”

Such a change also would fly in the face of multiple professional assessments that ABA is not a medical treatment — including the American Academy of Pediatrics, which lists it as an educational intervention.

The House plan, which would cost an extra $220 million a year by 2015, is well-meaning. But carving this niche for the 10,700 military kids with autism would send a discouraging message to the military parents of the estimated 105,000 to 165,000 kids with cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, Down syndrome and other special needs.

The Senate version of the defense bill calls for broad-based community support for all special-needs military children, which is as vague as the House provision is heavy-handed.

But if lawmakers put specificity — and resources — into that, then the Senate approach is the right one. All special-needs military families face immense challenges, and all are deserving of the utmost support.