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TexasTowelie

(111,288 posts)
Thu Oct 5, 2017, 04:29 AM Oct 2017

Families plead with lawmakers to preserve health department programs

When Lucca Notch was one year old, his parents started noticing speech and behavioral issues. During a temper tantrum, he was banging his head against the floor. His mom, Becky, knew she needed help.

Notch took Lucca to the Child Development Center in Kalispell, where he qualified for family support services and had a series of appointments set up. He was eventually diagnosed with nonverbal autism. Now, after several years of family support and speech therapy services, Notch is in first grade at Hedges Elementary and in his regular class 60 percent of the time.

“I’m having conversations with my child,” she said. “He’s doing math work. He’s reading books with me at home.”

The program the Notch family used, called Early Childhood Intervention, would would be eliminated entirely under a series of budget cuts the state is considering due to lower-than-expected revenues.

Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/families-plead-with-lawmakers-to-preserve-health-department-programs/article_b3e14d98-cbc4-5da1-b8b7-5ee7cf623f08.html#tncms-source=home-top-story-2

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