Influencing policy development: the whirling dervish of the autism in-home program

The elimination of a state supported autism in-home program due to budgetary constraints is used to illustrate how nurses working with grassroots and legislative groups can influence policy, and how policy, in turn, determines the availability of treatment and services. Within 24 hours of its elimination, parents of children with autism and key stakeholders mounted a statewide advocacy effort to restore an autism in-home program that researchers had shown to be effective Lovaas, O. I. (1987). Behavioral treatment and normal education and intellectual functioning in your autistic children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 3-9. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the circuitous route of public policy through the perspective of a nurse practitioner who worked at a grass roots level with parents of children with autism and legislators to effect policy change related to the program. In addition, the paper provides perspectives from a provider of autism in-home services, a parent, and a politician stressing the lessons learned in using the political process for the benefit of the children.