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Economic Consequences of Autism in the UK Report - Nov.2007
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Posted by lightfoot on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 (11:10:52)
Posted on January 28, 2008 by sjennings29
There are approximately 540,000 people with autism in the UK - 433,000 adults and 107,000 children. The findings in this report reveal that children with autism cost £2.7 billion a year, yet for adults the figure is £25 billion - more than eight times as much.
Funded by the Shirley Foundation and led by Professor Martin Knapp at the London School of Economics and King’s College London, the research shows that for adults with autism the highest costs are those generated by health and social care provision (59%), followed by lost employment (36%) and family expenses (5%).
Lancashire Care Library and Information Service
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Autism Statistics : Autism Parents Campaign For Fair Treatment
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Posted by sylvia on Saturday, December 17, 2005 (13:29:50)
News Letter October 2005
By Anne Palmer
Parents of children with autism have called for a concerted effort from the Government to deal with the condition.
After several legal challenges over the right to suitable education and growing concern at the increase in the number of children being diagnosed, the parents met new Children's Minister Lord Rooker in a bid to enlist his support.
Backed by Ulster Unionist peer Ken Maginnis, they called on Lord Rooker to examine the incidence and assessment, provision and financial commitment for dealing with children with autistic spectrum disorder.
Gordon McKenzie from Fermanagh, who is the father of an autistic child, described the condition as the fastest-growing disability in the western world.
Referring to a 250 per cent increase in Northern Ireland in the past five years, he said no-one was looking seriously at the possible causes.
"Based on these statistics, autism should receive around half of the money allocated to childhood illnesses but, in practice, it receives less than five per cent," he said.
"Every leaflet, book or website you read emphasises the importance of appropriate early intervention as the key to a favourable prognosis for your child."
As in other parts of the Province, parents in the west have waited nearly two years for speech therapy and four years for an occupational therapy assessment.
After diagnosis, there are no key workers or care co-ordinators to follow up treatment plans.
Mr McKenzie said investment in early intervention therapy would provide a cost benefit, because untreated children carry a lifetime cost to the state.
"A proposal to place control of autism services under mental health suggests the health service really has no serious commitment to allowing autism sufferers the quality of life that is their legal right under human rights legislation," he said.
Lord Maginnis said many questions needed to be asked, including whether provision of early intervention is uniform throughout the four board areas in Northern Ireland, and if there was a comprehensive departmental strategy, as the condition straddled health and education.
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Autism Statistics : Scientists baffled as autism cases soar
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Posted by sylvia on Sunday, March 06, 2005 (23:09:18)
SF Gate 04/02/2005
By Katherine Seligman
California's mysterious explosion of autism cases worsened in 2004, disappointing researchers who had hoped the number of new diagnoses would level off as they searched for an explanation for the neurological disorder.
The number of people treated for autism at regional centers operated by the state Department of Developmental Services increased 13 percent last year from 2003, according to agency figures.
Autism now accounts for a little more than half of the new cases handled at the centers, which treat a variety of developmental problems. An average of nine new autism cases a day come to the state's attention, the vast majority in children 13 and younger.
Scientists have various theories, but there is little agreement about what is driving the growth of autism cases in California. The number of autistic people getting services at the centers has increased from 5,000 in 1993 to more than 26,000 now.
"I'm really worried," said Jim Burton, head of the state-funded Regional Center for the East Bay, which provides treatment referrals and services for people with autism. "The burden is huge, and it's going to strain all our resources."
His center has 1,600 clients with autism and is "short across the board" on services for them, Burton said. Treatment programs have long waiting lists, he said.
In San Francisco, schools have been so inundated with new cases that the school district has three specialists to deal with the autism curriculum -- two years ago, there was one -- and classes for autistic students from kindergarten to high school. The district has provided special training in autism for at least 50 speech therapists and teachers this year.
"I was expecting (the numbers) to level off," said Ron Huff, a psychologist with the Department of Developmental Services who has been analyzing the numbers. "I don't see any of it diminishing."
Autism, a disorder characterized by difficulty in communicating and forming social relationships, was not widely recognized by the public until the 1990s. Autistic children can have trouble picking up emotional cues or interpreting facial expressions. Some develop obsessive interests or make repetitive movements such as rocking back and forth or flapping their arms. Parents often report that their autistic children seemed normal at birth but then regressed, losing speech and social skills.
The statewide increase does not include other disorders related to autism, such Asperger's syndrome, sometimes called "little professor syndrome" because some children with it appear brilliantly accomplished in a single discipline or area, such as playing virtuoso piano or reciting a book from memory.
California, with its exploding number of autism cases, is not alone. The federal Department of Education reported 1,700 percent more schoolchildren with autism nationally in 2002 than in 1992.
Because it draws its numbers from centers that treat and refer new cases, California often is used as an indicator of the nationwide trend.
Robert Byrd, a pediatric epidemiologist at UC Davis who was the lead investigator in a study of a 10-year increase in autism cases in California through 1998, said researchers have looked into several theories to explain the increase. They include the possibility that the rising autism numbers were caused by improved and earlier diagnoses, or by childhood vaccines or other environmental causes.
Most researchers believe genetics play a role, but they aren't sure what spurs the disorder. None of the other theories has been proved or ruled out.
"There is no one answer that says we can explain what we're seeing," Byrd said. "We're still looking at these numbers with lots of questions."
If vaccines played a role, said Byrd, scientists would have seen a decline or leveling off in cases after a suspect preservative containing mercury was removed from childhood immunizations. No such decrease was noted.
The state has used new, stricter criteria since 2003 for diagnosing autism, but that also has not made a difference. The number of new cases of mental retardation and cerebral palsy -- which also are diagnosed using new criteria -- fell since 2003.
Byrd and others say a greater awareness of autism may account for some of the increase. Parents, pediatricians and schools now recognize the symptoms earlier and refer children for treatment. But that doesn't completely explain the increase, they believe.
"Some people who were skeptical of the original Department of Developmental Services report (looking at the 10-year increase) now believe this is a serious public health policy concern, that the increases are legitimate beyond just better diagnosis," Huff said.
While epidemiologists continue to look for clues, parents whose children have autism try to manage the day-to-day challenges.
Kimberly Garrison, a member of a San Francisco school district autism task force, said she has yet to find the right classroom situation for her autistic sixth-grade son this year. He is frustrated in a special autism class where most of his classmates have trouble communicating verbally, Garrison said.
There is no classroom for children like him, who function at a higher level but have autistic-related behavior problems that keep them out of mainstream classes.
"There are all these kids out there," Garrison said, "and the money is shrinking, shrinking, shrinking."
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Autism Statistics : Cases of child autism have increased 850 percent in Missouri
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Posted by Sylvia on Friday, April 30, 2004 (18:43:28)
Missourian 25/04/2004
By Callie Clark
The smell of burning flesh made Tammila Miller turn around. The Grassy, Mo., mom was on the phone in the kitchen waiting for her oven to preheat. She whirled around to find her autistic son, Michael, gripping the hot baking rack in the oven.
Michael, now 7 years old, suffered third-degree burns on his palms but never cried or showed any sign of pain during the ordeal.
There are more than 2,800 children in Missouri diagnosed by schools as autistic, an 850 percent increase since 1991. That's 2,800 children who may, for no apparent reason, bolt toward a busy highway. That's 2,800 children who may get so frustrated at their inability to communicate that they punch themselves in the face or bang their heads against a wall.
The skyrocketing numbers of autistic children across the United States are starting to test society's ability to treat them. The demand for services has outpaced the supply of therapists as parents waste critical months on a waiting list just to get diagnosed.
Autistic children wait a year to have their first music therapy lesson because there is only one part-time music therapist in a 100-mile region. Schools are having to pay more to educate autistic children. Parents are going broke because insurance companies refuse to pay for services.
The United States spends $90 billion per year to provide care for the country's 1.5 million autistic children and adults. The Autism Society of America estimates that cost could balloon to $200 billion to $400 billion by 2013.
To make matters worse, scientific research offers conflicting and inconclusive explanations as to why autism is growing more like an infectious disease than a genetic neurological disorder.
The rate of children being diagnosed with autism is now as high as one in 166. Ten years ago it was one in 2,500, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The actual number of autistic Missourians -- children and adults -- is unknown because some children diagnosed by medical authorities as autistic aren't recognized as such by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education -- the only government-sanctioned census of autistic children in the state.
DESE currently identifies 2,801 children between the ages of 3 and 21 as autistic, up from 294 children in 1991. Some parents believe there are actually many more.
Whatever the numbers are, the medical establishment hasn't been able to agree on the cause of the huge increase over the past decade.
"Before too long it's going to become a public health issue," said Dr. David Crowe, a Cape Girardeau orthodontist whose son was diagnosed with autism in 1985. "It's like a ticking time bomb, because the cost of providing the needed care and therapy is astronomical."
National explosion
Other states are seeing similar explosions in the number of children diagnosed as autistic. The Autism Society of America, an advocacy organization in Bethesda, Md., estimates that every day 50 children in the United States are diagnosed with a form of autism.
"We are seeing more diagnoses, and there doesn't seem to be one good reason why," said Julia Kaufmann, director of children's services with the Missouri Department of Mental Health. "It could be a number of things. We're open to looking at all causes."
The Department of Mental Health, in conjunction with lawmakers, state agencies and universities, has formed the Missouri Autism Research and Response Agenda to look at the possible causes of autism and improve support services for individuals with the disorder. The agenda group is putting together a statewide database with information on autism to aid research in the growing field.
The words "epidemic" and "autism" are being paired in hushed tones in the country's medical community.
Dr. Mark Geier, a Maryland geneticist and vaccinologist, and his research partner and son, David Geier, estimate the lifetime cost of caring for an autistic person at between $5 million and $10 million.
"It's the greatest catastrophe to fall on this country," said David Geier. "We've looked at it backwards, forwards, upside down. It won't go away. This thing is absolutely going to damage the country."
The father-son team are part of a growing number of scientists, physicians and parents who believe the increase in autism during the 1990s was caused by the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal, which was added to vaccines 70 years ago.
During the past decade, the amount of thimerosal children received increased as the United States expanded its immunization program. At the same time, the country's autism population began to grow significantly.
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Autism Statistics : Autism: learn and educate yourself
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Posted by Sylvia on Thursday, April 22, 2004 (11:46:38)
KUAM News 11/04/2004
By Fredalynn Mortera Hecita
With autism growing at a rate of 10-17% per year, the prevalence of autism could reach 4 million Americans in the next decade. Autism is a national health crisis, which was first identified in 1943. It's a brain disorder that affects an individual's ability to communicate, to reason, and to interact with others.
One out of every 250 babies born today will develop some form of autism affecting five boys to every girl. It is the third most common developmental disability following mental retardation and cerebral palsy. Autism is more common than multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis or childhood cancer.
Autistics have been described as being in their own world. Although each case is different, a person with autism may display some of the following symptoms such as the appearances of being deaf, unable to speak or speaking with difficulty, engaging in repetitious behavior, becoming upset for no apparent reason, oversensitive to pain, and engaging in self-stimulating behaviors to include rocking and hand flapping.
Autism knows no racial, ethnic, or social boundaries this is consistent with growing numbers of children identified with autism here on Guam.
Certified autism consultant with the Department of Education's Special Education Division Jennifer Cruz Reyes says the agency is working at meeting the needs of these children. "Because our population has grown currently we have about 90-100 children identified now with autism. And what we offer, we don't necessarily offer specific programs for children with Autism," she explained.
"All these services and programs are for children with disabilities. But what's unique to children is we support them and address them in the mainstream educational environment. And in some cases we provide home support in their home environment. But what's important is these services and support are based on the child's unique needs."
The numbers of children diagnosed with autism on Guam is rising. In the year 2000 there were only 30-40 children on island identified as having autism. With those numbers doubling the department of education is making efforts to add more intensive instructional programs for children.
"Also, we implemented more training to teachers, aides, and parents and all educational staffs like custodians. Support staff, anything, school aides for our children we train on is the research base technique," Reyes added.
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