Montana DPHHS approves Rethink Autism to provide services as part of Children's Autism Waiver

Jan 27 2010

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) has approved the use of Rethink Autism (http://www.rethinkautism.com), a web-based autism treatment platform, to provide services as part of the State's Children's Autism Waiver. All lessons available through Rethink Autism are based on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which has been recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Surgeon General.

The Children's Autism Waiver is an early intervention program for young children with autism. Under the state program, a Developmental Disabilities Program-certified behavior specialist develops a treatment strategy, and the State then provides a direct support person with training and experience in providing behavioral support to children with autism. Rethink Autism will now serve as a coordinating platform that allows parents and therapists to communicate with one another and implement treatment for the child in a consistent and coordinated way.

"We applaud the State of Montana for ensuring that even if a family lives 300 miles from the closest ABA therapist, their child with autism can have access to the most effective intervention techniques through the Rethink Autism platform," said Jamie Pagliaro, Executive Vice President of Rethink Autism. "Parents can start working with their child today with the most researched and successful teaching strategies available."

Under the newly launched program, Montana DPHHS has allocated $2 million to implement the Children's Autism Waiver through the State's Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. The program will initially serve children ages 15 months through age four at enrollment.

"We are excited to have Rethink Autism's invaluable services in our bank of programs. No other program that we have investigated, in print or online, has offered an intervention option that within a day of initiating the service has a plan to implement and a promise for a path to continue following," said Suzanne Sterrett, Program Coordinator of the Child Development Center in Missoula. "Rethink Autism allows for a true team effort to assess the best fit for the program, the skills of the child and the environment that supports the child. The video gives a fabulous and consistent training tool to ensure that all staff get to view the program in action. The platform really is a perfect blend of resources for us."

Rethink Autism offers parents and teachers a comprehensive ABA-based curriculum through 1200+ video-based teaching step lessons, parent and staff training modules, an assessment tool, and progress tracking features. Geared towards children with autism from point of diagnosis through early adolescence, the curriculum spans the entire autism spectrum and covers a broad range of skills, including academics, language, social, motor, daily living, and behavior managements.