Few would dispute that children who are exhibiting signs or symptoms of autistic spectrum disorder should be referred and tested. It is when we talk about screening every child for autism that the debate becomes heated.

BY SIRI CARPENTER

Autism is usually thought to be a lifelong condition, but a small number of children lose the core symptoms and shed the diagnosis. Some researchers are beginning to explore how common this may be, and why some children outgrow autism.

What’s the most reliable way to know if your child has autism? Is it a genetic test? Or are more traditional behavioral assessments, which measure talking and social skills, more accurate? The latest research provides some answers

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.

One of the hottest topics in autism is the notion that some children outgrow their diagnosis, achieving a distinction dubbed the ‘optimal outcome.’ This small group has captured the imagination of researchers and parents alike, sparking a slew of studies into the factors that might set ch

More than 50,000 individuals with autism transition into adulthood each year.

The Autism CARES Act will devote $1.3 billion over five years to perform autism research and search for gaps in support.

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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."

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.

Chris Taylor / Reuters June 24, 2014

A new study pegs the lifetime cost of caring for a child with autism at $1.4 million. For parents, there are no easy solutions.

When Linda Mercier’s son Sam was around two years old, she knew something wasn’t right.

That was the beginning of a very long road, one that has involved significant time, effort — and money, plenty of it. Hundreds of thousands of dollars so far, Mercier estimates, on tutors, therapists and lost wages.