The Autism Program Struggles

The ongoing State budget crisis is being felt in organizations throughout the area. The News-Gazette highlighted one such program today: The Autism Program affiliate available to local families through the University of Illinois. From today's News-Gazette:

UI's Autism Program affiliate still feeling sting of state-budget impasse
In late June 2016, it looked like The Autism Program affiliate at the University of Illinois — then 11 years old — might close for good. The state’s budget impasse had taken such a financial toll on the program that its future was uncertain. And in 2017, it faced a similar crisis.

Two years later, it’s still operating, but fears that TAP could be forced to close haven’t gone away. “It really makes it incredibly difficult to plan,” TAP coordinator Linda Tortorelli said of the anxiety she has that state funding won’t continue to come...

 TAP, which finally received a check from the state in January, has to spend the more than $200,000 by the end of the fiscal year in June. And while the program is back at full funding, the previous budget impasse left staff with a sour taste in their mouths.

For 13 years, the local community group has been a free resource for parents, professionals, students and anyone with autism. The resource room in TAP’s Family Resiliency Center is covered in bookshelves filled with autism books, pamphlets and programs for anyone who wants them. And it’s open about 44 hours a week.

Oftentimes, doctors will refer kids to TAP, parents will visit in order to learn more about a recent diagnosis and teachers will drop by to look for free classroom materials for their autistic students.

However, what once was a statewide network of autism centers — with a Springfield headquarters — is now a shell of its former self. TAP’s central office closed in September 2015, and centers across Illinois boarded up after funding cuts made it impossible to continue operating.

Full article here. More from UIUC's tap webpage here.