Guest Perspective by

Debbie Hosseini and Marcia Eichelberger

 

Autism is the fastest growing disability in the United States.

Recent U.S. government statistics reveal the number of Californians age 6 to 21 in special education with a diagnosis of autism has gone from 1,605 in 1992-93 to 10,557 in 2000-01. Most alarming about this number is that young children under the age of 6 are too young to be included in these statistics.

The Tri-Counties Regional Center for clients with disabilities in Santa Barbara is seeing on average one new child with autism enter its system a week. In the recent past, the County of Santa Barbara Education Office had one autistic child enter its preschool system every couple of years, but now 70 percent of their special education preschool caseload has a diagnosis of autism. The full impact of this has not yet hit the elementary schools, but will as these children age.

What does this mean for organizations and agencies that provide services to children? Agencies that deal with children are having to scramble to restructure their programs to accommodate the huge influx of these children into their system. Specialized training is needed for staff members of schools, after school programs, and summer camp programs to accommodate these children. Coordination is needed among different agencies that serve children to avoid gaps in service or duplication of services. This requires detailed planning and resources.

Not only are schools and service agencies having to rethink their programs, the medical community needs to rethink how it handles the autism worry. Many parents I know expressed concerns over their child’s lack of expressive and receptive speech at the child’s two-year or three-year pediatric appointment, only to be told by the pediatrician it was normal for the child, especially if the child is a boy, to be delayed in speech.

This resulted in delays in receiving services at a time when the child’s brain was still forming and most receptive to intervention.

The number one concern of parents that participate in an e-mail Yahoo board that I co-moderate with Linda Woods (SBATA@yahoogroups.com) is the inability to find a pediatrician in the Santa Barbara area that keeps abreast of the latest research and developments in the field of autism, especially biomedical interventions. Many parents that live in Santa Barbara take their child to Woodland Hills or Los Angeles for pediatric appointments.

Marcia Eichelberger and I are currently collecting names and phone numbers of parents of children with disabilities who feel their child’s needs are not being met in the summer or after school for a survey requested by the Tri-Counties Regional Center in Santa Barbara.

A meeting is scheduled later this month to discuss ways that summer camp providers can modify their camps and after school programs to meet the needs of children with developmental disabilities. If you have a child who has a developmental disability and feel that summer camps and after school programs are not meeting your child’s needs, please contact us.

 

Debbie Hosseini can be contacted at Hosseini58@home.com or 684-7364;

Marcia Eichelberger can be contacted at MarderE@aol.com or 965-4011.