A new autism clinic will be opening in Springfield in 2023, bringing services and accessibility for children to the Ozarks region.
The Arc of the Ozarks, Mercy and Missouri State University are teaming up, along with a significant contribution from the state, to bring an autism clinic to an area with underreported diagnoses and limited treatments and services.
“We all know the importance of early diagnosis and intervention of individuals suspected of having autism,” Mike Powers, the President and CEO of The Arc of the Ozarks, said in a press release. “We are incredibly excited about bringing innovative services to Southwest Missouri to support these individuals and their families.”
Missouri, particularly Southwest region, lacking in autism services
Roughly six years ago, the three organizations met and concluded Southwest Missouri needed to expand its services for families whose children have autism.
Even to this day, of six state-funded autism clinics across Missouri, none are in this corner of the state; there is one in the Kansas City area, one in Columbia, three in the St. Louis region and one in Cape Girardeau.
The national average for 8-year-old children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is 2.3 percent, according to 2018 CDC data provided by The Arc of the Ozarks. In Missouri, the state average sits at 1.7 percent, indicating many cases are potentially going undiagnosed.
“Clearly we're under-identifying kids with autism, because they're not getting assessed early enough,” Tim Dygon, the executive vice president of The Arc of the Ozarks, said in an interview with the Hauxeda. “There's not enough services, there's an access issue for getting diagnosis or an access issue for getting treatment.
“So, our whole goal was to help mitigate these circumstances by providing not only the diagnostic evaluations, but also getting treatment started right away.”
Need became clear after a few years of limited services
The organizations behind this project began scratching the surface of Springfield’s lack in autism services by putting on two diagnostic clinics a month at Mercy.
Families who thought their children may have autism could get an assessment from The Arc of the Ozarks’ behavior analysts, Mercy doctors and students from MSU studying the field for their programs. The professional collaboration was not funded, however.
“We were just doing that to explore and assist,” Powers said.
In 2021, they moved the temporary clinic down to Branson, and expanded services by offering diagnostic assessments twice a week.
“The waiting list went over 100 really fast,” Powers said. “And that allowed us to start talking earlier this year with our local legislators here in Springfield about the tremendous need that we have.”
State funds will help renovate, expand access and services in SW Missouri
With some extra state funding available this last spring, The Arc of the Ozarks and partners found it an opportune time to apply for grant funding. The Missouri General Assembly approved a $5 million matching grant to fund the adoption of a permanent autism clinic in Springfield.
Dygon predicted the new clinic could do somewhere around 450 diagnostic evaluations for autism a year. Additionally, it would provide follow-up services including child psychiatrists, behavior analysts, and occupational, speech and language therapy.
Collaboration key to current and future success
Dygon stressed that getting children in therapy as soon as possible after their diagnosis is vital to their development — and collaboration with Mercy and MSU has significantly benefited those services, and will be even more so with the new clinic.
Between recruiting specialists from a hospital system and cultivating interest among students, they would have the opportunity to provide more well-rounded and comprehensive services.
“Having a medical institution involved that has an interest in developing specialists for autism is really, really important and I think it really serves families well,” he said. “ I think it's incredibly important not only for our clinic, but also the future of autism services to get people really involved and get more talent involved in working with kids with autism and their families.”
Funding available for families who can’t afford services
Families with an inability to pay will not be denied services; a mix between Medicaid, grant funds and additional fundraising will help cover treatment costs. The clinic will accept referrals from all network providers.
The clinic, which will be located at 2864 S. Nettleton Ave., will undergo renovations before its estimated mid-2023 opening date.
“I think they have a tremendous opportunity to impact not only this area for the autism community, but also for the community at large,” Dygon said. “First and foremost, we want to get the services to families who need it who are desperate… But also for Springfield and the area, I think it gives us a unique opportunity to even recruit people, additional talent in this area.”
