Experts Want Insurance Companies to Pay for Early Treatment for Autism

One of the foremost experts on autism is urging parents to have their babies screened for the disorder as early as possible, and to start treatment in children as young as 14 months.

Autism can be detected before age two, yet the average age of diagnosis is four and a half, according to Dr. Patricia Wright, a specialist at the Hawaii Department of Child and Adolescent Health.

Dr. Wright says that early intervention may be the best hope for autistic children, who now number almost one in 150. Such treatment costs as much as $50,000 a year, because it involves about 25 hours a week of one-on-one or one-on-two teaching. However, Dr. Wright says such intervention offers autistic children the best chance of growing up to become productive adults. Insurance coverage is cost-effective, she says, because "they learn independent skills so they don't need continued lifelong support."

Dr. Wright and other experts are asking government agencies and insurance companies to pay for treatment in young children, though outcome-based evidence is scant at this time. However, researchers at the University of Washington are currently studying whether early intervention can prevent the disorder in siblings of children with autism. Their results may determine the fate of early intervention programs.

Looking for a summer program for your autistic child? Located in upstate New York, Camp Huntington offers summer programs for children with special needs, including autism and Asperger's.

April is Autism Awareness Month

April is "Autism Awareness Month" and April 2 was "World Autism Day," according to Lee Grossman, president of the American Autism Society. The society asked people to buy Autism Awareness bracelets and wear them on April 2.

Over 25 local autism societies hosted "Annual Walks for Hope and Autism Awareness" to raise money for research. Also, "Bounce for Autism" fundraising parties with inflatable playgrounds for children were held in cities all over the country. Volunteers went to Washington in April to lobby for the Combating Autism Act as well as more government funds for autism research.

Autism is a complex brain disorder that can range from mild to extremely severe, impairing communication and the ability to relate to other people. Today one in 150 children are autistic, with four times as many boys diagnosed than girls. The number of people with autism has increased tenfold since 1997, and no one knows why.

Fever May Temporarily Block Symptoms of Autism in Kids

For years, parents and pediatricians have been telling stories about autistic children who become perfectly normal when they have fevers.

Now a new study from Baltimore Kennedy Kreiger Institute indicates having a fever of at least 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit may indeed restore an autistic child's abilities to interact and socialize by improving concentration, eye contact, and communication skills.

Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, a pediatric neurologist who worked on the study, believes that fever may restore nerve cell communications in some regions of the brain after he and his colleagues observed thirty autistic children ages 2 to 18 years with fevers. The "fever effect" only appears to work in children.

As many as 1.5 million Americans suffer from autism.

This study appears in the journal Pediatrics.

Camp Huntington is a summer camp for kids with Autism, Asperger's, and other special needs. Visit Camp-Huntington.com to learn more about their summer camp programs.

Autism Costs the US Economy Over $35 billion Every Year

A new study indicates that every person with autism costs society $3.2 million over his or her lifetime. Autism costs the US economy about $35 billion every year.

The cost is mostly in lost wages and adult care, and not for childhood medical costs and therapy.

Researchers at Harvard University found that in the first five years of life, insurance companies and families spent about $35,000 every year on therapy for an autistic child. While the child is growing up, the disease costs the family about $43,000 annually, mostly in lost parental income. However, the big costs came for adults with autism. Many people with the disorder cannot work and rely on their parents to provide care. The cost of such an arrangement translates to about $52,000 a year.

This study appears in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

Learn more about Autism and Asperger's Syndrome at YourLittleProfessor.com.

Delaying Parenthood Increases Risk for Autism in Children

Parents over 40 years old have a higher chance of having an autistic child, according to a new study by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, CA.

Women over 40 years have a 30 percent greater risk and men over 40 years have a 50 percent greater risk of having a child born with autism than parents ages 25 to 29. The researchers are uncertain why risk increases with age.

Lisa Croen and her colleagues analyzed 132,844 birth records from Kaiser Hospitals in northern California between 1995 and 1999. They adjusted for factors like the parents' educational levels, race and ethnicity before they concluded that parents' ages increases the risk for autism.

This study appears in the April issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Asperger’s schools can help children with Asperger's Syndrome, high-functioning Autism, and other conditions of the Autism Spectrum Disorders. Cedars Academy offers a year-long Asperger’s school and Talisman offers a semester-long academic Asperger’s school.