Lexington, MA - Parents raising children with autism face many challenges to ensure their children have the same opportunities as their counterparts. Among those is the financial burden families often bear. A 2010 Harvard study found that the average cost of raising a child with autism was 3.2 million dollars, compared to 290,000 dollars for non-autistic children. Much of the costs are related to the support services and devices that this population requires. Spaulding Outpatient Lexington has partnered with Winning Home Inc to create a "lending library" for devices to aid Augmentative and Alternative Communication or AAC.
Spaulding Lexington is part of the Lurie Center for Autism and treats children and youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders or ASD. One of the main tools for patients with ASD to have the opportunity to participate fully in the world is AAC devices. These technologies allow patients to better overcome the communication and interpretation challenges marked by ASD. The spectrum of ASD is wide and varied from difficulty understanding verbal language and task expectations, to limited or no ability to communicate verbally. This wide variation also burdens parents and caregivers as there are many AAC devices available however the key is to match the platform that will best fit an individual?s needs. For parents with limited financial abilities this can put an undo burden to purchase many devices without knowing if they will be effective for their child's form of ASD.
"We still are learning more everyday about autism however we do know that communication skills are critical to helping these individuals improve their long term quality of life. The more we as clinicians can provide education and support for children and their families while relieving the immense financial pressures they face, the better we can create successful outcomes," said Jennifer Leighton, Spaulding Lexington. "This grant will allow us to expand our ability to provide devices for trial use as well as acquire new AAC devices to provide an even wider scope of services for our patients and their families."
Funds from Winning Home, Inc. will be used to establish a "lending library" for patients at Spaulding Lexington of AAC devices for families who lack the means or insurance coverage to purchase a device outright. Spaulding Lexington will also be able to use the funds to increase their inventory of AAC devices. Patients and families will be able to try out a device for a time and assess its effectiveness, as well as upgrading or changing to a different device easily if the device does not work for their child?s needs. Spaulding has a broad range of resources and expertise for adolescent patient populations and children with autism. In addition to the Spaulding Lexington location, Spaulding also has the Eileen Ward Center in Sandwich, Massachusetts with services for families with children with autism in addition to pediatric rehabilitation services.
About the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network
A member of Partners HealthCare, The Spaulding Rehabilitation Network includes Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital-Boston, a 196-bed facility, as well as Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Cape Cod. Additional locations include the two long-term care facilities Spaulding Hospital Cambridge and Spaulding Hospital North Shore and two skilled nursing facilities, as well as twenty-three outpatient sites throughout the Greater Boston area. Spaulding is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School as well as the official rehabilitation hospital of the New England Patriots. Spaulding is the only rehabilitation hospital in New England continually ranked since 1995 by U.S. News and World Report in its Best Hospitals survey with a #5 ranking in 2011. For more information, please visit www.spauldingnetwork.org.
printer friendly