Autism Bookshelf: The Devil In His Own Words

This is the first post in an occasional series, Autism Bookshelf, reviewing important books in the history of autism and autism intervention.

Whenever I hear an author’s ideas routinely reviled, I become very curious.   I always want to hear the devil in this own words and make up my own mind.   This is the impulse that led me to read Bruno Bettelheim’s The Empty Fortress: Infantile Autism and the Birth of the Self. 

DDA Provides Details on Short Term Funding

Happy New Year, Motivations! 

In the last post, I reported that the Development Disabilities Administration (DDA) pledged to provide short term funding in 2012 for all waiting list families in the 'crisis prevention' category.   Since that time, if you are on the DDA waiting list and in this category you should have received a letter dated December 15, 2011 providing more information.   The program is being called the 'DDA Waiting List Initiative' and the funds entitled 'Services of Short Duration.'   The letter was accompanied by a User Guide (also available here) with descriptions of the eligible services and how to apply.

In our case, our son's waiting list Service Coordinator was right on top of this.  She immediately scheduled time with us to discuss the funding, identify a need and plan for the application.  If your family is listed as 'crisis prevention' and you either haven't seen the letter or need similar assistance with your app, call your Service Coordinator right away.  

Consistent with the improved communication with families promised last year, the DDA also held 2 question & answer session conference calls.  The second call was at noon today and provided some useful information:

DDA Begins to Turn the Page?

Earlier today, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) held a conference call to address questions about why the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) underspent millions in  funds and to describe the steps that the Department is taking in response.  This call covered the same material as the Town Hall meeting that was held on November 30 and was intended for those who were unable to attend that meeting.  

This in itself is a good sign.   Too often, public agencies hold in-person meetings which are difficult to get to and use the meetings to say they are open to public input. Today, with telecommunications so advanced, connecting with broader audiences via conference call, video conference or webinar is relatively easy to do, so a single in-person meeting is no excuse for communicating with the public.   I’m glad that DHMH is figuring this out.

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Secretary of DHMH, led the presentation with the good news – the steps DDA will take now that this problem has come to light. 

He said four steps are happening for fiscal year 2012: