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Rep. Roach joins with House
to honor individuals with autism
Bonney Lake
lawmaker recounts personal experience with son, family
Rep. Dan Roach
was filled with emotion today as lawmakers in the House of
Representatives considered a resolution honoring and supporting
individuals with autism.
Roach, the father of a
6-year-old boy with autism, discussed on a personal level the challenges
parents and families face when seeking support for a loved one with the
affliction.
"Initially, we took Drew
to a general practitioner who gave him a clean bill of health. But on
the way out the door, I thought maybe we should get a second opinion.
After waiting through lines, we were finally able to get him in to see
the right people. Sure enough, he was red-flagged and shortly
thereafter, was diagnosed with autism," said Roach, R-Bonney Lake. "Even
the general practitioners don't immediately recognize the signs of
autism. Fortunately, more people are becoming aware of it.
Unfortunately, it is becoming more of an epidemic throughout the United
States and the world."
Roach said once his son
was diagnosed, it was very difficult to find support services that could
help his family.
"Now what? What do we do
for our son? How do we get him the help that he needs? It took weeks of
research to determine what we needed to do next. There's no coordinated
way to do it. You're pretty much on your own," said Roach. "After we
determined what therapy our child needed, the next question was, how do
you pay for that? It was thousands of dollars a month not covered by
insurance that would help our child show some progress. That was a huge
shock."
The 31st District lawmaker
said the next hurdle was finding resources within local school
districts.
"You go to your school
district and try to fight for your child to get services, and they say,
'We're sorry, we don't provide that.' That happens all over the state,"
noted Roach. "In our case, we teamed up with other families and were
finally able to make some progress in getting these things, guaranteed
by law, that we should have had in the first place.
"This is the experience of
thousands of people in Washington who are going through the same thing.
Often this tears families apart. My wife and I are very lucky as it
brought us closer together, but there are others not so fortunate.
They're doing it as a single mom or a single father," added Roach. "It
is so important to be aware of autism and the challenges families face
on a regular basis in trying to secure the best treatment, services and
education for their children."
House Resolution 4627 passed unanimously.
Roach added that tomorrow
(Thursday) April 2, is
World Autism Awareness Day. A special event will be held at the
state Capitol, beginning at noon, to further recognize individuals with
autism and their families.
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For more information, contact:
John
Sattgast, Senior Information Officer: (360) 786-7257
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