Kennebec Journal, 9/26/09

AUTISM SOCIETY OF MAINE ANNUAL MEETING COO: More services, solutions needed

HALLOWELL -- The ranks of those with autism are growing, and the services available to them need to grow in tandem, a national autism advocate said Friday.

Barbara Newhouse, the chief operating officer of the Washington, D.C.-based Autism Society, offered a rallying call to members of the society's Maine chapter at the nonprofit group's annual meeting.

"We have huge growth without matching services and solutions," Newhouse said to an audience of nearly 40 at the Cohen on the Meadows conference center. "We have needs that are not being met."

Newhouse cited a forthcoming study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that shows the prevalence of autism in the United States has grown in recent years.

One in every 100 children now born in the United States now has some form of autism, according to the CDC study. A similar CDC study released two years ago, in 2007, showed one in every 150 children born had autism.

Maine has the second highest prevalence of the disorder in the United States. According to an analysis by FightingAutism.org, one in every 77 Maine 8-year-olds during the 2007-08 academic year had some form of autism. Only Minnesota had a higher proportion.

The Autism Society of Maine is behind efforts to secure more comprehensive health insurance coverage for people with autism. The Winthrop-based group has lobbied for a bill that Maine legislators will consider this winter that would force health insurance companies to cover a wider variety of autism treatments that families often pay for out of pocket.

The costs associated with treating the disorder are staggering, according to the national Autism Society. The organization estimates the lifetime cost of treating a child with autism ranges from $3.5 million to $5 million. The United States is facing $90 billion annually in costs connected to serving those with autism.

Those costs include research, insurance and expenses not covered by insurance, educational costs, housing, employment programs and other expenditures.

As autism advocates across the country contemplate how they'll bring services to a growing number of those who need them, Newhouse held Maine up as an example of a state where a network of different agencies and service providers collaborate to treat children with autism.

"It was the whole story of partnership that touched me, of them working with the school district, with the occupational therapist," Newhouse said, citing a story she read about an East Millinocket family raising a boy with autism. "Instead of looking at everything that was wrong for them, they said, 'we want the best,' and partnered."

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435