Locally, there has been a very sad event the last week. A child, who had a great amount of medical needs was found dead at a pond. See his story here: Wylie's Angel. This child was so small it was believed he was only about 3 years of age, but he was really about 6 years old. Although the details have not come out yet one thing is obvious, this child was severely undernourished. As a Dietitian for an Early Intervention program, I see many undernourished children as part of my job. There are many reasons a child might be undernourished most due to health problems not neglect. These children are eligible for nutrition services through Early Intervention programs until the age of 3. After they graduate from these services, all other services (physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy) are all addressed by the school systems. However, nutrition is rarely included in the IEP (Inddividual Education Plan). To make it more difficult children can also receive PT, OT, and ST through home health agencies in addition to what they receive in school through a home health agency. Nutrition, however, cannot be billed by a home health agency (at least here in the state of Texas).
While I'm in no way excusing the caregiver of this child for their part in not providing him adequate care, I do believe that it is important that Dietitians be added to home health care. Hopefully, this would make nutrition services more accessible for these special needs children. While many pediatric specialists offices do have Dietitians in their offices I believe it is important to monitor these children much more frequently than can be done during a once or twice a year visit to the specialist. Home health agencies could accomplish this.
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