Autism

When people ask me what I do, and I tell them that I work with people with developmental disorders like autism, I univariably get one of two responses: “wow, you must be really patient!”, or, “hmm…why is there so much autism today? We didn’t have autism when I was young.” And, while I won’t speak to my patience, I will spend some time untangling the autism “epidemic.” Dr. Leo Kanner first began to study autism over 70 years ago, yet little was heard of it in mainstream educat

Many children who show early signs of autism do not receive appropriate screening for neurodevelopmental conditions for many reasons. These include fear and stigma around labeling children, denial of a potential problem, or fear of the unknown. Beyond that, many families, especially first time parents, do know there are any delays present for many months as they may be unaware of expected milestones. Finally, lack of resources, access to care, and inappropriate assessment pra