Lots of autism, lots we can do

February 8, 2007: The CDC reports new statistics for the prevalence rate of autism: 1 in 150, and 1 in 194 for children in New Jersey.

February 20, 2007: $15 million in state grants is awarded to 55 school districts in New Jersey.

Coincidence?

The February 25th New York Times notes that state officials are calling the state grants a “coincidence”: Governor Jon S. Corzine had invited school districts to apply for the 15-month grants last October.

I am going to hazard one reason why the reporting of the 1 in 94 prevalence rate in New Jersey and the $15 millions in grants to school districts may well not be a coincidence. The CDC may have just reported its prevalence figures, but it certainly feels as if every 1 out of 94 children in New Jersey is somewhere on the spectrum, plus there are plenty of services and programs already in place for all of those children.

Take my son Charlie’s piano teacher. Charlie has been taking lessons from him since last July; after a few days’ hiatus from practicing, we set to work this morning (I had to point a few times to the notes in the music book; Ode to Joy sounded great). Teaching autistic children piano is all that Charlie’s teacher does. He travels to children’s homes for half-hour or hour-long lessons and he is so in demand that he has more requests for lessons than he can fill, and he is looking to train others in his method.

“Autism piano teacher.” Does that not sound like a rather over-specialized job description, such that one could not dream of making a career of it—-and Charlie’s teacher is doing nothing less than that?

Consider also the150 autism programs and schools in New Jersey, as listed in this list of schools provided by COSAC, New Jersey’s largest autism organization. While the programs range in type of services offered, in whether they are private or public, the fact that there are so many is notable (and there are some programs that are not on the list).

With such a need, a demand, to provide schools and services for so many autistic children and adults, no wonder the prevalence rate for autism in New Jersey is so high. And that high rate is no stigma, but rather evidence that, if you understand what autism truly is, you can see how much of it there actually is and that there is no epidemic of autism—but that, when you know what autism is, there is plenty that you can do.