Announcement on the front page of the Times just now re a new autism initiative. No idea if this has any teeth in it. I'm not a fan of the ASA, but thought this comment cut to the heart of the matter:

Mr. Beck of the Autism Society of America hoped that long-term research and improved services were not mutually exclusive. "There are good practices out there," he said, "just not enough of them."

He added: "And there's no money on the services and treatment side. What do we do with the kids for the next 7 to 10 years? We have to do both. You cannot just throw away a generation of children."

And Fred Volkmar's pointed comment:

He now sees children as young as 12 months, gets referrals from day-care centers and has a two-year waiting list for new patients. Were screening techniques to improve so that diagnoses could be made in infants, he said, he would be hard-pressed to find schools, trained behavioral therapists or other services for them.

I keep hoping someone, somewhere, will publicize the fact that young psychology grads and education students can make Good Money doing behavioral therapy. Unfortunately, this is a growth industry, and in these sad economic times, that's something to consider.

Another choice quote:

Parents of autistic children are stymied by how difficult it is to find properly trained behavioral therapists. Dr. Volkmar and others on the scientific side say that is because the Department of Education, under President Bush, has been "a real stumbling block." Mr. Beck agreed and said he was "quite excited to see them at the table."

Education officials vehemently denied a lack of interest.

Some of it's the DOE, sure. And the school system is disastrously underequipped to handle all these cases. But honestly, I'm less interested in better-trained special ed. teachers than in more and better behavioral therapists: the critical time is before kids hit school age. And a BIG part of it can be laid at the door of the insurance industry for saying that autism is a mental illness that cannot be treated. Wrong on both counts. We tried submitting for ABA and had it rejected for being "experimental." That's so wrong on so many levels that I don't like to think about it b/c it gets me too angry.