How Autistic People Helped Shape the Modern World

By bobb |

THE CENTERS FOR Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in 68 children in the US are on the autism spectrum, a number that stands in staggering contrast to a 1970 study that put the figure at one in 14,200. Some people believe we’re in the middle of an autism epidemic. But autism has always been part of the human experience, as journalist (and WIRED contributor) Steve Silberman shows in his new book,NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity. It’s only recently, he argues, that we have become properly aware of it.

estimating the cost of autism

By bobb |

A research paper has been published estimating the cost of autism in the USA is $268 billion to the USA in 2015.

The US population (~320 million) is about 131/3 times that of Australia (24 million). If we assume an Australian A$1 buys the same in Australia as a US$1 buys in the USA, then on the same basis the annual cost of autism/ASD to the Australian economy is roughly $20 billion in 2015. This is a substantial amount of money in the Australian economy.

2015: National Autism Centre (USA) review of ASD interventions 0-22yo

By bobb |

People who are prepared to read a "new review and analysis of interventions for autism spectrum disorder (ASD)" can find one to download here: http://www.nationalautismcenter.org/nat…

This project is designed to give educators, parents, practitioners, and organizations the information and resources they need to make informed choices about effective interventions that will offer children and adults on the spectrum the greatest hope for their future.

USA:Federal Officials Order Medicaid To Cover Autism Services

By bobb |
 

State Medicaid programs now have to cover a range of treatments for autism.

When Yuri Maldonado's 6-year-old son was diagnosed with autism four years ago, she learned that getting him the therapy he needed from California's Medicaid plan for low-income children was going to be tough.

Medi-Cal, as California's plan is called, does provide coverage of autism services for some children who are severely disabled by the disorder, in contrast to many states that offer no autism coverage. But Maldonado's son was approved for 30 hours a week of applied behavioral analysis, a type of behavior modification therapy that has been shown to be effective with autistic children, and she was worried that wasn't enough.

So she and her husband, neither of whose jobs offered health insurance, bought an individual private policy for their son, with a $900 monthly price tag, to get him more of the comprehensive therapy.

"I don't know any family that can really afford that," says Maldonado. "We made some sacrifices."

That should be changing soon. In July, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said comprehensive autism services must be coveredfor children under all state Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program plans, another federal-state partnership that provides health coverage to lower-income children.

The new coverage guidelines apply to children with autism spectrum disorder, a group of developmental conditions including autistic disorder and Asperger's syndrome. Roughly 1 in 68 children has an autism spectrum disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Association of Maternal Child Health Programs estimates that just over a third of them get coverage through Medicaid or CHIP.

Although coverage of applied behavioral analysis, which uses positive reinforcement and other techniques to encourage behavior change, isn't explicitly required, advocates expect it will be covered.

"Since ABA is the most accepted, effective treatment that isn't experimental and investigational, you can't just exclude it entirely," says Daniel Unumb, executive director of Autism Speaks' legal resource center.

"It's going to help a ton," says Maldonado. "We'll be able to pay our rent on time, and we'll be able to pay some bills that we have."

Study Finds Some Children Diagnosed With Autism As Toddlers Have No Symptoms Two Decades Later

By bobb |

It is possible to recover from autism, say researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College and the University of Denver, who followed 85 children from the time they were diagnosed as toddlers until they were in their late teens.

Their study, reported online May 30 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, finds that 9 percent of the group improved to the point that they no longer met the diagnostic criteria for autism. Another 28 percent retained features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), such as impaired social functioning, but were doing very well in several areas, particularly cognitive and academic functioning, the researchers report. Many in both groups were enrolled in college

"This rate of improvement is much higher than has been reported before, and that fact offers some very good news," says the study's senior investigator, Dr. Catherine Lord, founding director of the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, a collaboration between Weill Cornell Medical College, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

The children who recovered from autism were not misdiagnosed with the disorder as toddlers, Dr. Lord says. At the time of their diagnoses, these children exhibited telltale ASD symptoms such as repetitive behaviors and social dysfunction.

USA: Second Circuit Rules That Child From Italy With Severe Autism May Remain In The U.S. To Avoid The “Grave Risk of Harm”

By bobb |

Relying heavily upon the expert testimony of a noted behavior analyst in the context of a hearing held in the federal district court under the Hague Convention, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has held that, despite a father’s wishes in an international custody dispute, a young boy with “severe” autism may remain in the United States with his mother and his brother so that he might continue to receive ABA therapy and thus avoid the “grave risk of harm” that he would face if he were to return to Italy, a country where such services are not readily available.