Military families will face new restrictions and cutbacks obtaining applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy for their children with autism under new policies set to go in effect 7/25/13. TRICARE successfully implemented ABA therapy for military families with autism for more than 5 years. The changes to these policies is a huge step in the wrong direction and involve a slew of arbitrary and capricious changes that will result in:
-Delayed access or loss of access to care for children where every day is critical to successful development of skills
-Loss of jobs for Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts who are no longer allowed to supervise
-A decrease in military readiness because of the new requirements in this policy
Military families deserve better. This issue needs to be fixed