Autism Rate Triples and Research is SLOW!

A report on February 4, 2011 in the California Watch notes that the autism rate in California has tripled - tripled!!!! - since 2002. http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/autism-rate-triples-among-k-12-students-8488. From the Lucile Packard Foundation come the numbers that indicate in 2002, 17,508 children in California were diagnosed with autism. In 2010, that number rose to an astonishing 59, 690. What on earth is going on to cause this? Putting aside the extreme emotional toll autism can take on families, and just from an economic point of view, how can the California economy manage under the strain of this burgeoning population? These kids are expensive to educate, manage, and for most of them, house for the whole of their lifespan. And this while baby boomers move on to Alzheimer's!

In my last blog, I referenced an article in the Jan/Feb Stanford Magazine about the breakthroughs in autism research. One of the scientists quoted was the brilliant Dr. Sophia Colamarino. Dr. Colamarino spoke at the Morgan Autism Center Conference in 2008 and related the latest findings in research. What was encouraging then, and slightly hopeful in the Stanford article are the different 'strains' of autisms researchers are looking at with the idea that each may require distinct treatments. And some trials with mice showed promising results that select neurological disorders might possibly reversed. But that was in 2008 and here we are in 2011, moving ahead by painfully slow increments, with nothing particularly new to report. Unless, you note that the autism rate has tripled in the meantime. That certainly is newsworthy!