When legislators return to Richmond in January, they will face a number of pressing issues against the backdrop of a significant state budget shortfall and a foundering economy. Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are determined to ensure that their children receive resources that will help them live as independently as possible. For that reason, the General Assembly will again be asked to use health insurance to finance educational services for individuals with ASD.

Virginia does a poor job of providing services to people with autism, the legislature’s watchdog group said yesterday. State services suffer from a lack of coordination, too-late diagnosis of children with autism, poor early-intervention programs and public schools that cannot consistently meet the needs of children, according to the report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.

Here’s a look at what’s coming up this week in the General Assembly:

The state Senate has rejected for the year efforts to force insurance companies to pay for treatment for children with autism.

Hopes are fading for help from the state for parents of autistic children, with legislators weakening a proposal that would require insurance companies to pay for treatments for the disorder.

Here’s a look at what’s coming up this week in the General Assembly:

Workers across the country are feeling the pinch of higher health care costs. A recent corporate survey found one-fourth of companies raised deductibles by 9 percent last year, and a third said they expected to raise them as much as 14 percent this year. Companies also are increasing the share of premiums paid by employees. News articles relate sad stories of individuals forced to forgo treatment because of rising deductibles. The Washington Post reports, “Workers’ health costs are rising much faster than wages.“

Words will never fully describe the everyday adversity and heartbreak young families face when autism envelops a son or daughter.

A federal judge in Richmond again has ordered the Hanover County school system to pay costs of privately educating an autistic child and again has rejected a hearing officer’s conclusions in the long-running case. In an 81-page ruling made public yesterday, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne found that testimony from Hanover special-education teachers about the child’s progress was “not credible.“ The judge said that what progress the child made in Hanover schools was “trivial.“