My name is Jacob Triplett, but most people, including my clients, call me Jake or Jakey.
I am a Registered Behavioral Technician at Piece By Piece Autism Center in Frankfort, Indiana. I have held my position for three years this upcoming September, and it has been the light and joy of my life since the day that I walked through my clinic doors.When I took this job in September of 2020, we were in the throes of the pandemic. No one knew what devastation Covid-19 would leave in our wake, or what fundamental changes our society would face.One thing we knew, for certain, was that the children needed us. When you have a child with autism, you have to be conscious of every interaction they have. You have to be mindful of everyone they interact with, everyone who cares for them, every child they play with, every environment they’re in. That’s what we, RBTs and BCBAs, are for. We’re trained to help them deal with these new environments, new people, new interactions.
The science behind ABA is a complex and nuanced one. It is so important to the children on the spectrum to have those of us educated on it in their corner. It requires patience and understanding and care to implement those strategies to the best of a persons ability. The importance of ABA has helped my coworkers and myself teach children a variety of skills. We have clients who we have helped learn to speak. Participate in peer play. Be comfortable in new environments. Sit in chairs. Cross the road safely. Tolerate wearing a seatbelt. Understand the importance of staying with an adult in unsafe environments. Use a restroom. Wash their hands. Try new foods. We have helped our kids learn to communicate without tantrums and aggression and running way when presented with things they don’t want to do or things they do not understand.
We help our kids learn to communicate in a variety of ways so that they can flourish and grow and exceed developmental milestones. We help prepare our kids for the school setting, so that they can prove to the world they are just like their peers. We’ve taught them the importance of not putting any object they find in their mouth to chew and swallow.It is the most rewarding, challenging, and life changing career path I’ve ever taken, and I don’t regret it for a second.
That is why it is so disheartening to hear of this administrations discussions on cutting funding for ABA providers by 40%. 40% would be a devastating blow to the centers providing services to the children who need it the most. Thousands of employees, children, and their families will be impacted, devastating a community of people with no where else to turn for the services they so desperately need. There are few options for Autism Spectrum Disorder services in the state, not to mention local to everyone who needs them. Medicaid children especially are at a unique disadvantage of having low income or extenuating circumstances and financial difficulties finding long term, dependable care for their children. Where will they go? Who else do they have? Schools are not prepared on a mass scale to provide these specific sources of care and education to kids like my clients at the center. They are understaffed and underfunded with no foreseeable change in those circumstances.
The thought of us having to close our doors, or smaller clinics than even my own having to shudder operations when our children depend on us is heartbreaking. The kids depend on us. We’re their safety net. They look to us for guidance and support.Their families need us as well. Imagine having a child with such special needs that it prevents you from operating as a typical family. Their children unable to tolerate loud noises, or unsuspected changes in environment. Unable to go to the grocery store, or the movies, or parent meetings at school. Unable to play with other children. Not comprehending the consequences of eating or drinking dangerous and potentially fatal substances. Not being able to play outside without fear of their children running off into a creek or oncoming traffic. My profession allows myself, and others like me, to teach these skills so that not only do the children benefit, so do the parents. I can’t even describe the feeling you get when you help a child overcome these obstacles, and you get to see the look of gratitude and pride on a parents face when they hear about all of the amazing things their children can accomplish with the right guidance and support. I have truly never felt anything like it.
Without ABA services, these things dissipate. These achievements stop. These burdens grow immensely.It will be a terrible reality for so many families if they lose services like ours. ABA is most effective and impactful in early development, and some children require long term services and implementation for these skills to be retained. The parents would lose us and have to either send their children to school, which they’re just not prepared for, or quit their jobs and stay at home. How feasible is that for a family already facing financial difficulty or other circumstances that would keep them eligible for Medicaid? These families will have no one else to turn to. There is nowhere else for them to go. Cutting funding by such a drastic amount will force ABA centers to make drastic, life altering decisions for our clients, with a grim outcome for a community already facing such distinct challenges.
The proposed budget changes your administration is considering will also devastate an entire community of staff members like myself, who are deeply invested in the services we provide to the families we serve. Thousands of us face uncertainty about whether or not we will have jobs come time these decisions are made. Where will we go? How can we be expected to just move on? After the impact we’ve been able to have on so many lives? Who is to say this won’t also prompt private insurance companies to follow suit, and decrease funding for ABA services?
Some clinics as it stands have waiting lists dozens long, because there are so few other options out there for them. What will happen then? Does your administration have a plan in place to protect the people these changes will hit the hardest? Do you have a backup for this community if these budget cuts force clinics like mine to cut services to those you’ve deemed less financially worthy of them? When I walk through my clinic doors, uncertain of our future, I feel this immense sadness knowing that these proposed budget cuts will obliterate everything we’ve worked so hard to achieve for our kids. It will devastate the families, causing irreparable harm to the children who come to us.
I, as long as thousands of others, implore you to reconsider these budget cuts for ABA services. We owe it to the underrepresented not to devastate them even further and completely change life as they know it. These impacts simply cannot be ignored. We owe this community the respect they deserve, and the best possible way to do that is to keep ABA clinic doors open to all who need them. There simply isn’t another alternative. What are we as people if we aren’t compassionate and understanding of those who need us most?
Respectfully,
Jacob Triplett