Tricare to Present to the IACC on Autism!!!

I was contacted by NIH a short time ago, and Tricare has cancelled their presentation at the IACC Services Sub-committee meeting on Thursday. Due to this, the IACC meeting has also been moved to Rockville, MD. You can view the updated info page HERE

The NIH will be notifying me if Tricare re-schedules. I will most certainly be posting here if they do re-schedule!


If you are a parent, and particularly a military parent who has a child with autism; Mark Your Calanders!!!

On Thursday, March 26, 2009, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) services sub-committee will be meeting to discuss strategic planning for Autism Spectrum Disorder services and supports. Tricare will be presenting during this meeting on activities surrounding Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The link to the Federal Registry of the meeting is HERE

While some of our military children with autism are able to access treatment, far too many are not. This should be of concern to us all, as should the fact that our children with autism are segregated into a completely different program in order to receive treatment because Tricare has refused to recognize treatment for autism as medically necessary, and instead treats it as a special education service. What gets me is this; Tricare and the Department of Defense will mandate the American Academy of Pediatric's (AAP) "recommended" vaccine schedule for military dependent children, yet they won't mandate the AAP's recommendation for 25-40 hours a week of ABA therapy for children with autism. I find this extremely bothersome considering there has been a boatload of research conducted on ABA and its' efficacy over the past five decades, compared to the raft-full of research done on the safety of vaccines and the current schedule.

I wrote a basic summary on both the ECHO program and the Demo project. You can read that HERE

Please plan to attend. And I would strongly encourage you all to comment. We need to have a strong presence at this meeting.

Date: March 26, 2009.
Time: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time.
Access the Conference Call: Dial: 888-455-2920. Access code: 3857872.
Webinar: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/563207085
In Person: The Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Conference Room 335G2,
200 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20201.

For more information visit the Federal Registry HERE