Autism Oregon

I can just see people pulling out their child's videos - did my child drop his or her head back when pulled up to sitting position as a 6 month old? Kennedy Krieger Institute did a study with 40 babies and found that 9 out of 10 babies ended up with an autism diagnosis that had the "head lag" issue.

As my son is transitioning to adulthood, my local Developmental Disabilities office has given me a handbook. Fortunately the handbook is available for free on the web. Here are parts of the book:

• Roadmap to Adult Support Services
• ARC of Oregon Guardianship
• Benton County Developmental Disabilities Transition Handbook

From http://www.oregoncitynewsonline.com/news/story.php?story_id=133334288266...

"Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods of Milwaukie plans to light up downtown Portland’s Morrison Bridge this week in honor of Autism Speaks’ worldwide “Light It Up Blue” event."

From http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2012/04/students_needing_s...

The first report shows that since 2008-09, the number has risen by 2,727 kids -- a 3.3 percent growth rate, which is faster than Oregon's population growth of 2.6 percent in that period.

Much of the increase has been in autism, which continued an upward trend with an additional 1,115 students during the last three years.

From http://healthland.time.com/2012/04/02/autism-why-some-children-bloom-and...

The word is out: autism rates have risen from 1 in 110 to 1 in 88. Some may find that frighteningly high. See
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/31/opinion/lord-autism-rate/?hpt=hp_c2

Senate Bill 1568 came before public testimony on Friday, February 10th. Testifying on behalf of the bill (which would cover Applied Behavior Analysis amongst other treatments) were Dr. Robin McCooy, Melanie Shaw, Tobi Rates, and Paul Terdal. The insurance industry thinks they might come to an agreement by 2013.

http://oregoncapitolnews.com/blog/2012/02/13/health-insurance-coverage-f...

http://tinyurl.com/6u5jcoo

The Oregon State Penitentiary may have failed to give services and appropriate supervision to an inmate with autism. Of interest in this article is the fact that over the next few years more children with autism will be joining the adult ranks.

We all know that with the "three strikes you're out" law, poor education for children with autism, lack of funds, and lack of general supports and services in the state of Oregon, this problem will only get worse.

http://www.oregonlive.com/hillsboro/index.ssf/2011/12/hillsboro_educatio...

The NW Regional ESD in Hillsboro opened a center to train teachers and serve about 500 students. 2 dozen have autism. The ESD took 4.3 million in federal stimulus to purchase and remodel a former school. This center will train teachers both at the center and online to work with students with disabilities up to age 21.