Several months ago I read in Pediatric News that Illinois had passed a Habilitative Act. The purpose was to mandate private insurance companies to cover therapy services for children with developmental disabilities. My immediate thought was that Missouri can do this also! Over the past 10 years I have encountered children who have had to go without therapy services or their families have had to pay for needed therapy services out of pocket. While school based services have been available for many children starting at age 3 and while Medicaid covers therapy services, there have always been children with private insurance coverage that have limited access to needed interventions. First Steps, our birth to three program, serves children with disabilities and those who have a profound delay, but there are numerous children who have a significant speech delay who would benefit from speech therapy who do not meet these strict criteria. Children who are delayed in speech can be frustrated and frustrating to their parents. They are more likely to act out behaviorally and to have learning difficulties. Without insurance coverage these children are being left out of a primary intervention that could make an enormous difference in their life. We may even see a decrease in mental health services for these children by addressing this issue early. With increased coverage for these needed services I am hoping that our local hospital can build an outpatient pediatric therapy program that will be able to provide these needed services to children in Mid Missouri. The legislative process has been interesting. We have a small but growing group of families in Missouri who are active in making this coverage for children a reality. I appreciate each persons support of these efforts for our children!

Tracy Stroud

         DO Developmental Behavioral Pediatrian and Mom.