Coping with a Lack of Services After Autism Diagnosis
An increase in kids with special needs
Kelly Graham, principal at Panther Academy, said that within the past few years, the number of students with special needs enrolled at the school had greatly increased. “We also suspect a lot of kids (have not yet been) diagnosed with autism,” she said. However, the more children with special needs enrolled at the school meant a greater demand for services, such as occupational therapy. For these services, providers such as Hardin Memorial Health and others, put schools on wait lists. Currently, Hardin Memorial has a wait list with over 50 patients for physical, occupational, and speech therapies.