Utah Autism Waiver

The Utah Autism Waiver pilot program will be accepting new applications from June 17th to July 12th.

This program assists children ages, 2 through 6, who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

For more information, please contact the Utah Department of Health at 801 538-6357 or visit their website at http://health.utah.gov/autismwaiver

On their website you will find the following information:

• Documents/criteria needed to qualify (only the income/assets of the child are considered)
• Services offered in the program
• Signing up for automatic email updates through the listserv

There will be 35 slots open.  If more than 35 people apply there will be a random drawing based upon geographical area to determine who will be involved.  The Department of Health will be contacting those selected the week of August 5th.  Acceptance is not on a first come, first serve basis, so all applications will be considered.

Children currently eligible for Medicaid do not automatically qualify and will need to apply for the waiver.  Children currently involved in the Medicaid Waiver Pilot Program do not need to reapply.

The Parent Portal

Over the last month we have been working hard to learn and incorporate a new data base that allows parents to view IFSP's, visit reports, reviews, etc.  This data base is called BTOTS (Baby and Toddler Online Tracking System).  This BTOTS program has been developed through the Baby Watch Early Intervention program and all 15 Early Intervention programs in the state will be using this system.  The great thing about BTOTS is that it allows parents access to information from your child's folder through the Parent Portal.

The Parent Portal is a secure access to view and print vital information from your child's electronic file.  Several precautions have been implemented to ensure that no unauthorized access to the website occurs.  

• New website users must be approved by the website administrator at each EI program before any website access is granted.  We do this by only imputing the parents or legal guardians email addresses into the file.  You will receive an email alert when any information is added to the parent portal for your child or you can just access the parent portal when you want to see the latest visit report or IFSP. 
• All users are required to select a password that is a minimum of 8 characters long and a combination of letters and numbers or symbols.  In addition, all users must change their password every 3 months and cannot reuse the previous 3 passwords.
• User accounts that are not accessed for more than 30 days are shut down.  Also, email notices are sent to users after 3 failed account login attempts and accounts are deactivated after 6 failed attempts.

Best practices in information security are being used to ensure that your child's information is kept safe.

The first time you log into your child's account you will be asked to answer 3 questions about information unique to your child.  When you have answered these questions, the computer or device you are on will be registered and you will only need to enter your password to access your child's information subsequent times you log on using that device.

In order to receive notice that information is available on the Parent Portal, please make sure we have an accurate email address.

If you have any questions you can ask your service provider or shoot me an email at  mzeschke@dsdmail.net.

A Couple of Things

I just heard about a couple of activities and wanted to get the word out - since one of them is May 25th!

Family Fun Day will be May 25th from 2:00 - 4:00 at Westminster College, 1840 South 1300 East, in the Richer Commons (in case of inclement weather, the event will be held in the hallways of the Malouf building). This is the 6th annual family fun day for children with autism and their families - including siblings!  Westminster students taking a class about autism will provide around 20 various activity stations, including a sensory station, finger painting, bubbles and more.  Special guest activity includes adults with autism who will provide face painting.  Healthy refreshments will be provided.  Cost is free!  RSVP or direct questions to Shamby Polychronis at 801 832-2489.

Autism Speaks Utah Community presents:

An autism friendly family movie

Saturday, June 8, 2013 

10:00 am

Megaplex 20 at the District, South Jordan

"Epic" rated PG

all families affected by autism as well as their caregivers/respite support are invited.

Admission is free, but seating is limited and registration is required.

To register go to : http://events.autismspeaks.org/flicksforfamilies

Sponsored by Tomax Corporation

If you know of any other events for families, please share!

One of the Most Important Things to Do for Your Child

I attended a training recently where we talked about how to teach children empathy.  With the digital age that we are in, it is harder and harder to teach children how to be sympathetic.  They watch shows and movies that don't necessarily convey emotion.  One of the most useful tools to teach children a variety of skills is to read to them.  Begin by looking at the pictures and talking about what is happening, then progress to telling a story and then, when your child has a longer attention span, you can read the story.  Stories teach empathy and emotions.  They teach vocabulary and sentence structure.  They also focus on concepts, counting, labeling, and imagination.  Here are a few books recommended for young children:

Read-to-me books

• Big Red Barn
• Goodnight Moon
• Runaway Bunny
• Barnyard Dance
• Moo Baa, La La
• 1,2,3 to the Zoo
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar
• Jamberry

Alphabet Books

• 26 Letters and 99 Cents
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
• Alligators All Around

Counting Books

• Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
• Arlene Alda's 1 2 3: What Do You See?
• 26 Letters and 99 Cents
• Rain Dance

Labeling Books

• Richard Scarry's Best Little Word Book
• Richard Scarry's Just Right Word Book

Books with few words

• Hop On Pop
• Green Eggs and Ham
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Wordless Books

• Good Dog, Carl
• The Snowman

Easy Readers

• Madeline
• Are You My Mother?
• Go, Dog, Go
• Danny and the Dinosaur
• The Carrot Seed
• If You Give A Moose A Muffin

Must Have Classics

• The Snowy Day
• Make Way for Ducklings
• The Rainbow Fish
• Curious George
• Where the Wild Things Are
• Cat in the Hat
• The Giving Tree
• Caps for Sale

Enjoy!

Music in Development

I have recently found a music program for little ones called ABC Music and Me and am eagerly looking for a way to fund adding this program to the services we offer our families in early intervention.  Music allows children to be introduced to developmentally appropriate words and concepts that build early literacy skills while strengthening cognitive and social skills and having fun all at the same time!  

Music helps children develop such skills as listening, speaking, comprehension and vocabulary.  Participation in singing (doing the actions, choosing the songs, etc.) helps children prepare to succeed in the public school setting.  There are so many benefits from music for young children.

Research shows that music enhances early literacy and cognitive development, strengthening crucial brain pathways young children need.  Use of songs, rhymes, stories, and movement activities aid in developing phonological awareness (hearing different sounds that make up words), auditory processing (understanding what is being said), and verbal memory skills (being able to follow directions without visual cues).

We support age appropriate music at home!  Remember the songs your mom or dad or preschool teacher or nursery leader sang to you?  Start singing those to your child.  Encourage them to participate however they can - actions, dancing, signing, pointing to pictures to choose the song, whatever you can think of.  You can also sing slowly so they can feel more comfortable about joining in or pause before you say a key word and see if they will try to prompt you!

Music benefits kids in so many ways and it makes learning fun!

On another topic, this is Nurse Appreciation Week as well as Teacher Appreciation Week.  We appreciate all the people who are so skilled at working with young children and their families, but I would like to highlight our two nurses.

Joan has her BS in Nursing from the U of U.  She grew up in Roy and now lives in Davis County.  Joan likes the color yellow and her favorite food is Italian.  She likes to knit and read in her spare time.  Joan enjoys seeing how strong families work with and accept their child that has challenging issues.

Brooke attended Nursing School at Dixie and grew up in Kaysville.  She continues to reside in Davis County.  Brooke likes the color pink and her favorite food is BBQ Hamburgers and Hotdogs.  She enjoys shopping, baking, blogging, browsing pinterest, Netflix and especially NAPPING!  She would love to vacation in Europe.  Brooke loves the kiddos in early intervention.  She also loves her co-workers and the schedule (no nights, weekends or holidays!)

We appreciate our nurses and all they do!