New research has come out that indicates 1 in 91 children have autism, which is jump from the estimates we’ve had out there for a long time. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we have more children with autism all of a sudden – it could just mean that we have a better understanding of it and are able to better diagnose it. But, regardless, that is a high rate…a very high rate. In fact, according to this site, autism is more common than childhood cancer, cystic fibrosis and multiple sclerosis combined.

This just goes to show how much we need to focus on autism – from a national, and even global – standpoint because it’s obviously something that affects a majority of people and families. Specifically, we need to focus on the treatment of autism because that’s where we have control – these treatments are what are helping our children. I used the Son-Rise Program for Kyle, which helped him emerge from his autism, and there are others having tremendous success with other treatments – many more than I think are even being reported – just check out Autism151. However, I know we’re still in the dark on a lot of things and we still have a long way to go.

So it seems like the right time…or, let me say, about time…that the government finally woke up and is giving autism some of the attention it deserves. You’ve probably heard by now that President Obama has provided $5 billion in grants that will go towards research on a number of diseases and disorders, such as autism. This is part of the economic stimulus program – one that I wrote about a while back – and will support 12,000 existing projects. I applaud President Obama for seeing it through. This move, I hope, will be a key to unlocking the many mysteries we face. And it’s all the more reason to keep raising awareness and strengthening the community that we’ve been able to build.

What does autism mean to us today? It means working towards a better understanding. What about you?

Best,
Jenifer