Comments on: Autism Epidemic in New Jersey?

By: dana

dana — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 18:49:42 +0000

i have an autistic child. i live in hudson county. have we broke down the autism ratio further, by say county or town even?

By: Autism Vox » A Common—Not a Rare—Condition

Autism Vox » A Common—Not a Rare—Condition — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 18:43:24 +0000

[...] As the parent of an autistic 9 1/2 year old, Charlie, and a resident of New Jersey (married to a native Jerseyan), I am more than pleased to see New Jersey step up to do what is needed—-and what is right—for children and adults with autism. I agree with the Bergen Record that it is “bracing” that “New Jersey was recently found to have the highest rate of autism in the nation.” But the higher prevalence rates for autism noted in the study released on February 8th by the CDC need not only be understood as “frightening.” That 1 in 94 children in New Jersey have autism shows that, after so many years of mis- and under-counting autism cases, we now have a better understanding of what autism is and can better diagnose it. [...]

By: Autism Vox » 6 Autism Bills to go to NJ State Assembly

Autism Vox » 6 Autism Bills to go to NJ State Assembly — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 18:34:34 +0000

[...] In the wake of the CDC’s announcement last Thursday that the prevalence rate for autism in children in New Jersey is 1 in 194, six measures that “would propel New Jersey to the forefront of the autism crisis by adding millions of dollars for research and a slew of services lasting a lifetime ” are to be introduced in New Jersey’s State Assembly as early as next week. As reported in today’s Bergen Record, Assembly Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, D-Camden, “spearheaded” work on the bills back in the early fall of 2006. The legislation includes: [...]

By: Julia

Julia — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 19:33:37 +0000

My father-in-law grew up in New Jersey, and I visited the house there 2 or 3 times. It’s lovely.

I’ve been noticing more about specific children who are autistic because their mothers know I have an autistic child and we end up talking about that. (I’ve had a number of conversations with a certain writer on the topic of autist children. She lives at the other end of the county from me, basically.) I also end up gravitating more towards other folks on the spectrum, probably because I’m more likely to seek venues attractive to such people (SF cons, anyone?) and more likely to have positive interactions with them. (”More likely” is not the same as “certain”, of course!)

(BTW, just stumbled across this and while I’ve only read the first 2 paragraphs, they’re useful. So you might give that a read. I need to go though her site and pull up ALL the links my friends on LJ might find useful, and include them in a linky-goodness post.)

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 22:06:29 +0000

Hi Jez—-

My husband grew up in Bergen county (and will appreciate your noting that, despite misperceptions to the contrary, this state is not a toxic, or an asphalt, wasteland, and unbelievably expensive) Charlie was born in St. Louis, Missouri, as that’s where Jim was teaching (Saint Louis University). We specifically came back for the autism schools—for the admittedly vague sense that having the likes of Alpine and PCDI in the same state would bode well for the public schools. I do think it has—-there is nothing like the program Charlie is in where we were before.

I know what you mean about autism seeming “commonplace”—I guess it is the downside of so much awareness. Nonetheless, it does seem to me that a lot of the general public’s understanding about autism is less than accurate, so, on the other hand, there is plenty more awareness work to be done.

By: Autism Vox » Autism is an epidemic, New Jersey is toxic, and other urban myths

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 19:08:46 +0000

[...] What is “frightening,” indeed, about the CDC’s new study is that it has taken as long as it has for us to count cases correctly—-”New Jersey is Autismland” because of all the specialists, services, the unstinting advocacy of organizations here and especially of COSAC, and—perhaps most of all—the number and variety of schools and school placements and programs for autistic children in this state. It seems to me that the number of toddlers in Early Intervention programs in New Jersey has been rising (as State Health Commissioner Fred M. Jacobs notes in the Star-Ledger) because parents are on the lookout for any signs of developmental delay in their toddlers. I have spent the semester talking on and off to a father whose son has been in Early Intervention and who is thought to have autism, though he has yet to receive a formal diagnosis: This child just turned two years old. [...]

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 16:09:04 +0000

In response to the last paragraph: Yes, you don’t see thousands of adults with autism in state institutions, because there are so many adults with autism living side by side with us in our communities.

By: Minnie Matta

Minnie Matta — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 15:33:20 +0000

Here’s another interesting quote:

Zahorodny, an assistant professor of pediatrics at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School in Newark, said researchers ruled out the possibility
they were overly zealous in identifying autistic children.

“These children consistently showed problems before age 3 in social skills, communication and language,” he said. He also dismissed anecdotal evidence that large numbers of families with autistic children were moving to New Jersey to take advantage of the state’s programs, since 84 percent of the kids diagnosed were born here.

However, he added, “Our study can’t rule out something specific to New Jersey. You don’t see thousands of adults with autism in state
institutions.”

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 13:55:48 +0000

A friend (and autism mother) made that exact same point to Jim, my husband yesterday; he and I both think that better understanding, improved detections methods, the evolution and refining of the DSM, the changing place of psychoanalysis in American society, and other variables have all contributed to greater consciousness about autism and what it is — this being the argument from Roy Richard Grinker’s Unstrange Minds.

New Jersey is Autismland.

By: Minnie Matta

Minnie Matta — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 13:36:51 +0000

quote from NJ Health Commissioner Fred Jacobs:
“Roughly 84 percent of children receiving early intervention services are born in New Jersey, Jacobs said.”
The number of people moving to NJ for services doesn’t explain the numbers.