Brief⁽¹⁾

H.C.R. 5051 concerns information on autism treatment options:

• The State Board of Education is urged to contact all known professionals who diagnose or conduct educational assessments of autistic children and to impress upon these professionals the necessity of providing the families of autistic children with:

• written information on different types of treatment for children with autism, including traditional special education developmental approaches and applied behavior analysis; and



• a listing of referral information including names, addresses, and telephone numbers of individuals and organizations, in- and out-of-state, qualified to provide appropriate assessment, treatment, or training pertaining to the different available approaches.





• The State Department of Education is requested to compile information on autism treatment options and the resource lists provided by professionals and to distribute them to all:



• parties involved in the treatment review process;

• professionals in Kansas who are qualified to make a diagnosis of autism;



• school districts;



• special education cooperatives; and



• autism resource centers in the state.

Background

H.C.R. 5051 was recommended by the House Education Committee as a replacement of H.B. 2671 (S.B. 468 is identical to H.B. 2671).

The bill, recommended by the Kansas Autism Foundation, proposed to do the following.

A professional who diagnosed or conducted an educational assessment of a child for autism was to be required to provide the child's family:

• written information about different types of treatment for children with autism, including information on traditional special education developmental approaches and applied behavior analysis and their effectiveness; and



• a listing of referral information including names, addresses, and telephone numbers of individuals and organizations qualified to provide appropriate assessment, treatment, or training about different available treatments.

The State Department of Education was to be directed to assemble the information on treatment options. Professional persons were to be required to provide the information and resource lists to the Department for distribution. Thereafter, the information was to be provided to all parties involved in the treatment review process, as well as to all professionals in Kansas qualified to make such a diagnosis; school districts; special education cooperatives; and any autism resource center in the state. Further, the State Board of Education was to be required to establish a separate special education category of autism.

A spokesperson for the Kansas Autism Foundation, a University of Kansas professor of Human Development and Family Life and of Psychology, the Director of Research for the New England Center for Children, and the parent of an autistic child presented testimony as proponents of the bill. Most of the emphasis was directed toward obtaining greater recognition of the applied behavior analysis treatment modality for autistic children. The Kansas Association of School Boards and Wichita (USD 259) opposed the bill.

The fiscal note on the bill was estimated at $2,500 in FY 1999.

The House Committee on Education concluded that the main purpose of the proposal--to disseminate more broadly information about autism treatment modalities--would more appropriately be addressed by concurrent resolution than by statutory enactment.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.