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Outcry Leads To Reinstatement Of Early Intervention Payments

children's hands drawing dollar sign hop scotch with chalk

  Suspended payments for early intervention services will resume, even though Illinois still has no budget. 

Early intervention is just that -- therapists intervening in disabled children's lives when they're infants or toddlers.

Chicagoan Naomi Shapiro's 8-month old has a genetic disorder.

"He received physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, hearing therapy and soon he'll start developmental therapy," she says.

Therapy she says has little Leor Braun smiling, and responding to his own name.

Shaprio says the therapists that work with her son have graciously continued, but others throughout Illinois have been forced to stop. Without a budget, they haven't been paid since July.

Now, Comptroller Leslie Munger says she's found a way around that: Munger says early intervention services can be included in court order that mandates the state fund certain services while there's no budget.

Amanda Vinicky moved to Chicago Tonight on WTTW-TV PBS in 2017.
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