How My Boy Kicked Autism
Chapter 10 Lanterman Eligibility (Regional Center)
My Boy Blank 35 months
OMG6 you are almost 3! I have hardly been able to write in this journal because you and I spend all of our simultaneous free time working on drills and going to and from therapy and play dates. Everything is happening so fast. We are scheduling a transition meeting with the Regional Center and the school district too. You are going to go to school next month. I can’t wait for you to be around the other boys in the neighborhood. I’m gonna teach you to shoot some hoops like you kept trying to do in OT clinic. Well, I hope you can go to school anyways. Your AAA supervisor thinks you will soon be ready to go to school for a couple of hours a week but so far, we have not been able to let you go anywhere without us because you like to run away oh so much that it has not been safe. On the bright side, I am in the best shape of my life and your speed is going to pay off big time on the basketball court. I know that you have not really enjoyed yourself on outings in the past but I think now that you have been doing ABA, you are really going to like being in a social environment and out of the house for awhile. If it doesn’t work for you, I promise we will figure something else out.
Anyways, I sent the independent psycho-educational assessment, speech assessment and OT evaluation in triplicate; we aren’t doing so well with our carbon footprint these days. I sent one copy to the Regional Center, one to your AAA supervisor and one to the school district.
In return, the Regional Center sent me a letter that says when you turn three, they turn you over to the school district, as there is some shift in the legal and financial responsibility. AAA sent me a contract to sign with a letter explaining that the Regional Center contract was terminating on your 3rd birthday and until a new contract was approved, I am financially responsible for your program. Otherwise, you will go back on the waitlist and won’t be able to keep your current therapists or supervisors. Some birthday present that would be. Because it is your birthday, let’s take away a whole team of people who have successfully spent six months getting to know you and designing a program that is specifically tailored just for your unique needs. And the bow to top off the present: a letter from the District asking for my signature on a Permission to Assess form. Apparently, groups of people who have never met you and know nothing about you get to determine whether you are even eligible for services. Suddenly the terrible twos don’t seem as terrible. Fasten your seatbelt for a tumultuous threes! Sorry little man, mom and I will find you a new blue train set for your birthday. I know that doesn’t come close to making up for all of the therapy we are putting you through but I promise there is a method to all of this madness.I feel like we are taking turns in the game of LIFE http://host.exemplum.com/hasbro/game_of_life/index.html here. I think we are set up nicely to win. All of the independent assessments support what we are doing and demonstrate that it is working just like the research articles said that it would which is amazing. You are amazing. We have submitted them, along with a timely request for continuation of eligibility and services to the Regional Center and we gave the District permission to assess you. Just in case, we have signed a private pay contract with AAA so all of our bases are covered. I am going to call Melanie to get a sense of what the Regional Center will do with their turn now that you are about to turn three. (see LANTERMAN ACT transcript: Third Birthday)
Later:
Melanie is up in LIFE. She is going to appeal the Regional Center’s decision to terminate services on your birthday and ask that your eligibility be considered prior to your services being terminated.
Meanwhile, I am going to prepare for my next move. I need to figure out why these Regional Center and District people need to determine your eligibility and make recommendations about what is appropriate for you when we just paid upwards of $6k for three comprehensive assessments that show exactly that. I am going to go call Melanie.
Even later…
Melanie explained that technically, the independent assessments should be considered by both agencies when considering your eligibility and appropriate placement and services.
That being said, both agencies also have their own but different sets of eligibility criteria and often times dispute eligibility. We can’t block them from assessing and force our independent assessments on them because if they aren’t given the chance to judge for themselves, it is like giving them a Get Out Of Jail Free Card. I know, that’s Monopoly http://www.hasbro.com/games/kid-games/monopoly/, not LIFE. They can justify any offer of services or lack thereof by saying they could not determine your needs because they weren’t allowed to assess you. So unfortunately, I have some more appointments to add to your schedule. It does work out nicely, however, that we did our own assessments prior to any intervention, and again 6 months later because they are not allowed to ignore them. It is also good that our assessment was done first because for ethical reasons, some tests can’t be done more than once a year so for those results they will have to use our private assessments.
Regional Center Over 3 Eligibility Requirements
Once you turn 3, the Regional Center requires that you have both a qualifying condition (see Lanterman Act transcript: Developmental Disability) AND a substantial disability in at least three areas.7(see LANTERMAN ACT transcript : substantial disability)
I know you have a Regional Center qualifying condition because Dr. Bank diagnosed you with autism. I know you have a substantial disability because you certainly can’t care for yourself, you have no functional language and you do not exhibit self-direction. Seems like a no brainer but Melanie said we have to be on guard because our Regional Center is mistakenly making it harder to meet eligibility standards.8
Despite the stringent eligibility criteria and based on her experience with our Regional Center, Melanie thinks you are clearly eligible but (there is always a but with this one) in the event that you aren’t, we will have to consider the cost-effectiveness of doing an eligibility hearing because a successful eligibility hearing against the Regional Center only makes you eligible for services. Then we will be right back where we are now, asking for funding for in-home and community-based ABA services so I am getting a little bit ahead of myself here. Let’s hope this is a “but” that we don’t ever have to think about again, kind of like that time we visited grandma’s and learned that her open door policy included the potty room. I bet all your senses were on over-load that day. Oh Blank, your program just has to continue, I need someone around here to laugh at my jokes.
Speaking of jokes, one of the dad’s I met in support group told me a super funny lawyer joke. I can’t tell it to you because it won’t be age appropriate even by the time you are reading this, let’s just say it had me ROFL!9 What I can tell you is that I don’t think we have anything to worry about because when his child turned 3, his identical program continued; the financial burden just shifted to the school district.
Later:
I called Melanie and she liked the lawyer joke. I asked her about my support group friend’s kid and she reminded me that even though anecdotal evidence and support groups are important, every legal case is different, every child is different, every result is different and that the law is different now than it was when my friend’s child was 3. Nonetheless, she continues to believe you will be eligible.
Lanterman Act Transcript
Third Birthday
“Regional Center’s tell you that at 3, you are no longer their financial responsibility, which is not actually true. Prior to 3 years old, the Regional Center provides services under the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) part C and after 3 years of age, the Lanterman Act (see Lanterman Act below) kicks in.
Technically, eligibility for early intervention under IDEA part C does not equate to Lanterman eligibility. Regional Center’s have 60 days to complete an assessment to determine over 3 eligibility.”
The Lanterman Act http://www.dds.ca.gov/Statutes/Statutes_Home.cfm declares that persons with developmental disabilities (see DD transcript entry below)have the same legal rights and responsibilities guaranteed all other persons by federal and state constitutions and laws, and charges the regional center with advocacy for and protection of these rights.
Developmental Disability- Qualifying Condition
“Developmental disability” means a disability that originates before an individual attains age 18 years, continues, or can be expected to continue, indefinitely, and constitutes a substantial disability for that individual. As defined by the Director of Developmental Services, in consultation with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, this term shall include mental retardation, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and autism. This term shall also include disabling conditions found to be closely related to mental retardation or to require treatment similar to that required for individuals with mental retardation, but shall not include other handicapping conditions that are solely physical in nature
Substantial Disability
“Substantial disability” means the existence of significant functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity, as determined by a regional center, and as appropriate to the age of the person:
(1) Self-care.
(2) Receptive and expressive language.
(3) Learning.
(4) Mobility.
(5) Self-direction.
(6) Capacity for independent living.
(7) Economic self-sufficiency.
Definitions can be found at California Welfare and Institutions Code 4512) http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=wic&group=04001-05000&file=4500-4519.7
Tidbit: to be identified the same as last tidbit
https://www.lanterman.org/info/Publication_EverWideningCircleInclusion.pdf
For a history of Regional Center from a Regional Center publication. Please see
Tid Bit: Consumers Guide:
http://www.dds.ca.gov/ConsumerCorner/LantermanActGuide.cfm