Area physicians studying, treating autism and its impact

April marks Autism Awareness Month, and for an increasing number of families, autism spectrum disorders are making a huge impact.

While there aren’t necessarily more children with autism – increased awareness, more accurate diagnoses and evolving terminology and classification in records have all affected the seeming increase in numbers – it’s clear that the most efficient treatments are incredibly time intensive and also quite expensive.

Some additional funding for autism research and treatment may soon be available due to the health care components included in the recently passed stimulus package, but itÂ’s still unclear where funding will go and how it will be divvied up, said Dr. Joyce Mauk, president, CEO and medical director of Fort WorthÂ’s Child Study Center.

In medicine, itÂ’s often lamented that there arenÂ’t enough general practitioners because physicians choose to become specialists instead, pursuing more lucrative jobs that may be less stressful. With autism, however, there arenÂ’t many physicians who are specialized enough to tackle the complex social and communicative problems that come with the disease, Mauk said. Mauk herself is specialty boarded in neurodevelopmental pediatrics, and she said there are only about 250 others in the United States.

“They’re just not turning out as many every year as there seems to need to be,” she said.

The Child Study Center, which was founded in 1962 and focuses on diagnosis and treatment of various developmental disabilities, including autism, is a place where autism patients can receive early intensive behavioral intervention. The earlier a diagnosis can be made, the earlier treatment can start, Mauk said, and itÂ’s estimated that up to half of children with autism can become self-sufficient with adequate therapies.

Despite years of scientific evidence that vaccines are not related to autism, Mauk said she still frequently encounters families who bring a child in saying the childÂ’s symptoms started after a vaccination. However, something happening around the same time doesnÂ’t prove cause and effect.

“Parents are desperate,” she said. “They want to do anything to help.”

Dr. John Podgore, professor of pediatrics at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine at the UNT Health Science Center and a pediatric physician with UNT Health, said vocal vaccine opponents like actress Jenny McCarthy, whose son has autism, also sway the opinions of parents. Unfortunately, celebrities and even medical professionals who arenÂ’t autism specialists and donÂ’t rely on medical literature are sometimes taken very seriously, he said. 

“ItÂ’s just a bunch of charlatans out there,” he said. 

Recently, the Office of Special Masters of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which oversees all claims for compensation due to vaccine-related injuries, rejected claims that the measles/mumps/rubella vaccine caused autism in children across the country. The court also ruled that thimerosal, a preservative that used to be in some vaccines but isnÂ’t widely used any more, didnÂ’t cause autism. The court took into account tens of thousands of pages of medical records, scientific literature and testimony from medical experts.

Podgore said even if vaccines were stopped, the incidence of autism

wouldnÂ’t be impacted. Additionally, potentially deadly diseases like measles could make widespread comebacks.

“It puts all our children at risk,” he said.

Evidence points to genetics being the cause of most autism, Mauk said.

“There have been kids with autism since there were kids,” she said.

Today, itÂ’s estimated that one in 150 children are diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder each year, and itÂ’s a huge cost to treat those children with the early therapies that are the most effective. According to a 1998 study published in the journal Behavioral Interventions, people with autism and other pervasive development disorders require lifelong specialized services worth upward of $4 million per person (with inflation). With early intervention, though, $1 million or more could be saved per person (also with inflation).

The Child Study Center, which serves children from about 60 counties in North and Central Texas, has a grant from the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services that provides early intervention and therapy for children diagnosed with autism.

Because the therapies require so much time from specialists, Mauk said, it would be nearly impossible for many families to pay for autism treatment out-of-pocket.

“When you’re looking at 40, 50, 60, 70,000 dollars a year, it’s hard to tack that on,” she said.