Early intervention providers say if New York State does not include an increase in early intervention funding in the budget this year, they may face difficult decisions of if they can continue providing it.
That's because early intervention, which provides critical supports to children under 3 with developmental delays, hasn’t seen a substantial increase in funding in over 30 years. In fact, accounting for inflation, providers make less than half what they would have when the program began in the early 1990s.
According to The Children’s Agenda, in 1994, the state reimbursement rate for a half hour session of services was $79. 30 years later, in 2024, it was less: only $69.69. To put that into context, $69.69 today would be equivalent to $31.29 in 1994. Or, if the state wanted to get today’s rate up to just compensate for inflation, they would have to raise it to $175.98 today.
This week on the Disabilities Beat, we speak with a Buffalo-area provider of early intervention services about what's at stake for New York's youngest in this year's state budget.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript created by a contractor and may be updated over time to be more accurate. This transcript and audio is an extended version of the 5 minute segment heard on air.
Emyle Watkins:
Hi, I'm Emyle Watkins, and this is the Disabilities Beat.
Lynn Shea:
Sometimes our kids like cozy corners and cozy things. So even here in the tunnel, they like to go in and they can sit in the tunnel or similar to the swing that we saw.
Emyle Watkins:
Lynn Shea, the early childhood program director at the Buffalo Hearing and Speech Center, gives a tour of their clinics in school on North Street. Children run through an indoor padded playground and out into the hall, giggling as their teachers follow behind, smiling and playfully chasing them.
Lynn Shea:
It's so funny because if you tell people that we have a school, they're like, "What? We don't know you have a school. You just have clinics."
Emyle Watkins:
Walking through their downtown building filled with classrooms, sensory rooms, clinics, and more, it's hard to summarize everything Buffalo Hearing and Speech does.
Joseph Cozzo:
I'll divide it into categories. We have four clinics located in Niagara and Erie County that provide traditional hearing and speech services to children and adults.
Emyle Watkins:
When I asked Joseph Cozzo, the CEO, to walk me through their services, it took a few minutes to describe everything, like their name. They have audiology and speech clinics serving people of all ages, but they also have...
Joseph Cozzo:
We have a million specialized programs offering Parkinson's training, cognitive training, feeding and swallowing. A whole bunch of specialty programs. Literacy is a big piece there...
Emyle Watkins:
Cozzo interjects saying that's only a third of their programs. The majority of their budget goes to what Shea leads, which is early intervention and education.
Joseph Cozzo:
We have six schools. Five of them are for preschoolers, children from three to five, and then we have one school for school aged children, kindergarten through grade two.
Emyle Watkins:
Cozzo says most of their school children are neurodivergent. At the center, kids receive DIR Floortime therapy, which helps build communication and relationships through play and interaction. They also offer a preschool program for children who are deaf or hard of hearing, but that's not all...
Joseph Cozzo:
We also have a contract services: therapists, speech therapists, occupational, PT, social workers, psychology, music therapists...
Emyle Watkins:
One of the most vital populations Buffalo Hearing and Speech serves is children who are eligible for early intervention. Early intervention addresses developmental delays in children under three, so they can be successful in the long term.
Lynn Shea:
Two out of three children who receive early intervention typically do not need to receive preschool or school age services, so we know that works. However, [due to] the lack of funding, those kids are not getting services.
Emyle Watkins:
The problem is, early intervention is funded by the state and hasn't seen a substantial increase in funding in over 30 years. The program began in 1993, according to the education organization, the children's agenda. In 1994, the state reimbursement rate for a session of services was $79. 30 years later, in 2024, it was less, only $69.69. To put that into context, $69 and 69 cents today would be equivalent to $31.29 in 1994. Or if the state wanted to get today's rate up to just compensate for inflation, they would have to raise it to $175.98 today.
Joseph Cozzo:
There's very few organizations like Buffalo Hearing and Speech today still involved in early vention because it's been a loss, a financial loss to most organizations who've gotten out of the business. So, you have more kids, you have inadequate funding, and you have fewer therapists to do it.
Emyle Watkins:
A 2021 audit from the state comptroller found, "Many children who would benefit from the program aren't receiving services, and children who are receiving them aren't always getting them in a timely manner." The comptroller found that 28% of children approved for services didn't receive them within 30 days of their approved start. Cozzo says providing services on time is vital because it's time you can't get back.
Joseph Cozzo:
Zero to six, most of what your brain capacity is going to do all the way through your adult years is being cemented and being foundational to you. So these are magical years, not from the heart, not from the economics, not because of adverse childhood experiences, but because of biologically what's happening to that child.
Emyle Watkins:
The comptroller audit also found disparities in race, reporting that white children were generally referred at a younger age and Black children were less likely to get services within the prescribed timeframe. Cozzo says needs snowball into preschool and then K through 12 when children don't receive services early.
Joseph Cozzo:
All of a sudden, there's a five-year-old in a typical preschool who's had needs, but no services. So it's a really big moving target that's getting worse.
Emyle Watkins:
According to the Cerebral Palsy Associations of New York State, Governor Kathy Hochul did not include any increase in early intervention in her budget proposal. In the one house budget proposals, the assembly supported $18 million for a 5% rate increase, and the Senate supported $13 million for rate increases. Cozzo says organizations like his are at a dire moment. If this budget doesn't include a meaningful increase, they'll be forced to make hard decisions.
Joseph Cozzo:
We will debate how can we keep this service going when we look at our finances and say we're losing six figures and taking away from other programs that maybe we should dedicate it to it. And I'll go to the board and they'll say, "Why do we keep this program?" And then we'll talk about the history and the mission and that we feel it's the most important program for children. And thankfully we have a board that supports that and we'll try to shoehorn it in. But frankly, I don't know how long that can happen, how many more years that can go on.
Emyle Watkins:
For more on this story, visit our website at btpm.org. I'm Emyle Watkins. Thanks for listening.
