Families Brace For Changes In Autism Diagnosis

By MAGALY OLIVERO, Conn. Health I-Team Writer | The Hartford Courant

Proposed changes to the official autism diagnosis are raising concerns among advocates and families with many fearing the new criteria will lead to a loss of services and a sense of identity for some high-functioning individuals with special needs.

"There's no question some people (on the autism spectrum) will lose services," said Dr. Fred Volkmar, an renowned expert on autism and director of the Yale Child Study Center. Volkmar was the lead author of a study that found that only 45 percent of those currently diagnosed with higher functioning forms of autism would meet the new criteria.

The concern has led a coalition of groups within the autism community to urge licensed clinicians worldwide to take part in an online research survey to gauge the impact of the new criteria, according to Katie Weisman, SafeMinds director of communications and policy. SafeMinds, the Holland Center and other organizations created the site: http://www.dsm5asdsurvey.org...  READ MORE >

Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

PSA video — National Autism Association

PLEASE SHARE... A PSA from the National Autism Association, updated with the latest prevalence numbers. Autism now affects 1 in 88 children in the US.

Tommy Hilfiger opens up about his daughter's autism

By Lindsay Goldwert / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tommy Hilfiger and his wife Dee have more in common than just design success -- they both have children affected with autism.

Hilfiger said that one of the reasons he chose to appear in a public service announcement for the philanthropy Autism Speaks was to honour his 16 year-old daughter, Kathleen.

He said that she when was five years old, she was given the diagnosis of being “developmentally delayed.”

Despite seeing doctors at Harvard and Yale, he couldn’t get a grasp on what the trouble was.

Finally they discovered she was “on the spectrum of autism” -- but it still left more questions than answers.

He’s proud of his “really smart” daughter who now attends a special school.

“She’ll come and wake me up in the middle of the night and ask, ‘Am I intelligent?’ or ‘Someone in school told me I was a retard, is that true?’ It’s just heart-wrenching.”

While he’s happy his daughter is getting the care and help she needs, he wishes that more people cared about autism.

“The government is not involved in it. People aren’t donating enough money. There’s not enough research,” he said. “There’s no cure. It needs help, so we’ve become involved.”

He said that having a stepchild with similar problems has proved to be a comfort for his daughter.

“Dee has a son my daughter’s age who had the same issue,” he said. “That really brought us together.”

Recent findings from the Centers for Disease Control reveal that 1 in 88 children in the United States has some form of autism.

Designer appears in PSA for the philanthropy Autism Speaks