I just wanted to let you all know in case you didn't know that the UN has designated April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day. CNN has some very interesting articles on autism, interesting video interviews with parents and adult functioning children, and they talk about the whole debate about vaccines as a cause, how some children have genetic predisposition that can be expressed at some point, and the horribly difficult time parents have getting a child diagnosed and getting care for them. Insurance companies consider autism as a preexisting condition, so many parents either can't afford care or have to mortgage their homes to even afford the care, which can be up to $70,000 per year for some children.
I think amidst the difficulties there is good news- many children can learn to function better if they get help early on. I hope you'll pr with me that because of this world awareness day more programs will be created to help parents and children with autism, and to help adults with autism as well. The fact is that no parent can know in advance if their child might have or develop autism, and so it's an issue every person should be concerned about. I have a friend here at STAG who's son was recently diagnosed at 3 years old, and I have found the articles online to be very helpful in knowing how I can encourage her, and how I can interact in helpful ways with her son.
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