AUTISM: Raising Awareness
With proper screening, more children would be recognized sooner
BY:MYRA DEMBROW
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is targeting childcare providers to raise awareness of autism and other developmental disorders. A recent CDC survey found that 560,000 American children have some form of the condition. In addition to classic autism, these include Asperger syndrome and other unspecified, pervasive developmental disorders.
The survey also found, in most cases, a lag between parental or professional suspicions and actual diagnosis. The median age for diagnosis was between 4.5 and 5.5 years, even when concerns were raised before the child was three.
"We know that early intervention can be helpful for these children, and it's not going to happen if you're not diagnosed until you are five years old," says Gary Goldstein, MD, chair of the scientific affairs committee of Autism Speaks and president and CEO of the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, which focuses on pediatric mental health.
"It isn't that children begin to show signs of autism at four and five," explains Dr. Goldstein. "All of them who have it at six, had it at two. With proper screening, many more children would be recognized."
That's where the CDC's "Learn the Signs, Act Early" campaign comes in, offering free materials to more than 400,000 childcare facilities to assist them in monitoring social and emotional development. Free information is also available online at the Learn the Signs website and by phone at (800) CDC-INFO. To link to this and other autism information and support sites, click here.