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I sent this one on to all on my legislative contacts and local legislators.

The Rising Autism Rates May Turn the Disorder into a National Disaster

By Ellie Velinska

http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=5096

Just when we were trying to get used to the autism rates of 1 in 100 kids, the American Academy of Pediatrics found that the parent-reported autism rate in US is one in every 91 children, including one in 58 boys.

Autism rates are rising faster than the water levels after global warming. Only five years ago 1 in 10 000 kids were diagnosed with autism. And (as in the case of global warming) scientists are bickering over the issue: do we have real rise in autism or the cases of this spectrum disorder were always somewhere out there and we just now decided to recognize it.

Before you jump at me – I am not trying to undermine autism. I take it very seriously. The cases in the severe part of the autism spectrum are real tragedies and even the mild cases take a great tall on the family emotionally and financially. So let’s talk about it.

Officially, according to Centers for Disease Control , 1 in 150 eight-year-olds in the US had an autism. All children in the studies were eight-years-old because previous research has shown that most children with an autism have been identified by this age by some type of evaluation.

Encouraging study came up yesterday. It shows that certain types of behavioral therapy focused on social interaction and communication may have very positive effect in the mild cases of Autism when caught at early age. Such treatments though are expensive and can cost up to $50,000 a year.

The states are already overwhelmed by the cost of screenings, special education, transportation and therapy costs related to Autism Spectrum Disorders. Harvard School of Public Health study shows that caring for all people with autism over their lifetimes costs an estimated $35 billion societal cost per year. The number most likely underestimates the true costs because it does not include alternative therapies and family out-of-pocket expenses that are difficult to measure. To compare: societal cost for anxiety is estimated at around $47 billion.

There are many controversies surrounding the causes and the diagnosis of autism. A slightly geeky kid and a mentally disabled kid can both be diagnosed as autistic. The disorder has so many different faces it is hard to understand why they all go under a same label.

Early diagnostic is encouraged, but there is a very thin line between a boy in his “terrible two†and a boy with a mild autism. A regular kid can be labeled unnecessary for life and an autistic kid may not get attention he or she needs, because the symptoms at early age are easy to confuse with regular behaviors typical for toddlers.

The cost of autism is rising. More and more families each year have to deal with a loved one diagnosed with autism. And as the science gives us mostly confusion on the issue, the rising Autism rates may turn the disorder into a national disaster.

Lin Wessels

Sam's MAMA

(Mom on A Mission for Autism)

"It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped." Hubert H. Humphrey