Autism Speaks Expands Autism Medical Facility to Houston!!

[Guest guest]

This is great news for those of us that want Autism medical treatment

for our children.

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Autism Speaks Announces Major Expansion of Autism Treatment Network

Fifteen Sites in the U.S. and Canada Dedicated to the Care

of Children and Adolescents with Autism

NEW YORK, NY (Dec 12, 2007) – Autism Speaks, the nation's leading

autism advocacy organization, today announced its Autism Treatment

Network (ATN) would triple in size, expanding from five sites to

fifteen sites across the United States and Canada. The ATN is a group

of hospitals and medical centers dedicated to improving medical care

for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and

to standardizing the care those individuals receive.

The ATN's multi-disciplinary approach includes collaboration among

specialists in areas including, but not limited to, neurology,

developmental pediatrics, child psychiatry, psychology,

gastroenterology, genetics, metabolic disorders, and sleep disorders.

The network aims to develop common clinical standards for medical

care for individuals with ASD and to increase the pool of autism

medical specialists through trainee mentorship and outreach to

community-based physicians. As part of this effort, families

receiving care at the sites can participate in a data registry that

tracks children and adolescents receiving ongoing care at

participating sites. The information in the database is a crucial

part of developing the evidence to create and substantiate these

clinical consensus standards.

" It is imperative that all children, no matter where they live, have

access to excellent, evidence-based medicine, " said Autism Speaks

President Mark Roithmayr. " The continuing expansion and funding of

the ATN is a significant step in that direction. "

" This dramatic expansion of the Autism Treatment Network provides

real opportunity to improve the quality of health care that children

and youth with autism receive, and for more children to receive that

care, " said Dr. Perrin, Director, Clinical Coordinating Center,

ATN, and Director, General Pediatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital

for Children. " Developing common standards of medical care across

fifteen sites will allow us to get answers to the questions parents

ask about their children's care much more quickly. "

The participating ATN sites are: University of Arkansas and Arkansas

Children's Hospital (Little Rock, AR); Kaiser Permanente Medical Care

Program Northern California (San , CA); University of Colorado

Denver, School of Medicine and The Children's Hospital (Denver, CO);

Kennedy Krieger Institute and Marcus Institute (Baltimore,

MD/Atlanta, GA); LADDERS/Mass General Hospital (Boston, MA);

University of Missouri (Columbia, MO); Columbia University Medical

Center (New York, NY); University of Rochester (Rochester, NY);

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (Cincinnati, OH);

Bloorview Kids Rehab, Surrey Place Centre and The Hospital for Sick

Children (Toronto, ON, Canada); Oregon Health & Science University

(Portland, OR); University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA); Vanderbilt

University Medical School (Nashville, TN); Baylor College of Medicine

(Houston, TX); University of Washington (Seattle, WA).

The ATN began as a collaboration between the Northwest Autism

Foundation in Oregon and Massachusetts General Hospital for Children

in Boston. In 2005, the network was established with five founding

sites that came together to establish multi-disciplinary practices

for the evaluation and treatment of the underlying medical conditions

associated with ASD. These sites currently provide services to

approximately 2,000 new cases of ASD each year, and all have taken

critical steps to broaden the services available to all children in

these centers. The Autism Treatment Network merged with Cure Autism

Now in 2006. In February 2007, Cure Autism Now merged with Autism

Speaks.

To find out more about the Autism Treatment Network, or to get

connected to a site in your area, visit

www.autismspeaks.org/science/programs/atn/index.php or email:

atn@....