New Law in New Mexico

A Friday release from the Governor of New Mexico:

Governor Susana Martinez announced today that she has signed House Bill 22, expanding coverage under the Health Care Purchasing Act (HPCA) to include treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Any healthcare plan covered under the HCPA will be required to cover the diagnosis and treatment of autism. The HCPA covers school employees, state and local employees, and certain retirees.

“Autism not only affects those individuals living with it, but it also has an impact on their families and loved ones,” said Governor Martinez. “This bill will provide some measure of relief to autistic New Mexicans and their families by expanding many health insurance plans to include Autism Spectrum Disorder.”

In 2009, the New Mexico Legislature passed a bill that mandated autism coverage for children in group healthcare plans. However, that law only applied to commercial, private insurance and included a massive loophole that left thousands of public employees – including state employees, municipal employees, and public school teachers – without much-needed autism coverage.

“Caring for a child with autism is an expensive challenge without the right health care coverage,” said Shawna Childress, a teacher at East Mountain High School in Albuquerque. Shawna approached a fellow East Mountain teacher, Representative Jim Smith, about closing the loophole that denied autism coverage to public employees. “This law is a tremendous help and I’m grateful that Governor Martinez and Representative Smith responded to parents like me who are raising an autistic child.”

Bill in New Mexico

Autism Speaks reports:

The New Mexico Senate gave final legislative approval to a bill that would expand the state's 2009 autism insurance reform law to cover state employees. It was approved 34-0 and sent to Gov. Susana Martinez.

Sponsored by Bernalillo legislators, Rep. James Smith (R) and Senator Bill O'Neill (D), the bill (HB.22) was amended in its final stages at the request of the Martinez administration to delay implementation until January 1, 2015. Martinez signaled her intent to sign the bill with the amendment.

The current law requires coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of autism through age 19, including up to $36,00 a year for applied behavior analysis. In addition to New Mexico, legislatures in California, Maine, Kansas and Texas are considering bills to expand coverage under existing autism insurance reform laws.

The New Mexico bill is the first to complete legislative action and be sent to the governor.

Restraint in New Mexico

The Albuquerque Journal reports:

When an Albuquerque Public Schools police officer used handcuffs to restrain a 7-year-old boy with autism, Superintendent Winston Brooks condemned her actions and Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston revoked her law enforcement commission.

Brooks made it clear to APS staff that “absolutely under no circumstances” would it be OK to handcuff an elementary school student.

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APS policies also emphasize prevention, and both state and district policies say restraint should be used as a last resort – when students are in danger of hurting themselves or others.

Only people certified in de-escalation techniques can physically restrain a student, under state policy. When a child does need to be restrained, proper techniques may involve as many as two adults immobilizing the child’s arms, legs and head. Staff members are taught never to sit on a child or to hold him or her face down on the ground.

Liz Thomson, who is past president of the New Mexico Autism Society and whose son has autism, said the training is a good start, but parents would like to see training specific to autism. While students with autism are not the only ones who act out, she said they have particular needs that can be counterintuitive.

“Many of the things teachers do that they think are good will exacerbate the situation,” Thomson said. “Holding (students) still or touching them can escalate rather than calm them down.”

While children with autism may be in classes with other special education students, they are often integrated into regular classrooms, depending on how well they function.

Thomson said teachers without specific knowledge of autism might try to reason with an autistic child, when verbal stimulation will actually just amp the child up further. She said often – but not always – the best solution is to back away and reduce stimuli until a student calms down.

“It has to be looked at through the autism lens,” Thomson said. “What might be comforting to a neurotypical child might be painful to a child with autism.”

Abuse in Albuquerque

A report from KOB-TV:

The suspect accused of abusing a boy with autism while being recorded on video made his first appearance in court along with another defendant in the case.

Leonard Bernal and James Russ have been indicted on child abuse and false imprisonment charges. Bernal is the suspect accused of kneeing the boy in the head while Russ may have recorded the video.

The abuse allegedly happened at Camelot, a home for children with autism, in southeast Albuquerque sometime in 2009 in 2010.