Oct 24, 2019, CBC: Autism diagnosis procedure should be reformed to ease wait times and stress, society says https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/autism-diagnosis-in-bc-wait-times-1.5333335 British Columbia: Lindsay Roberts is home-schooling her son, not by choice but because the five-year-old boy would be prone to hitting people, screaming and suddenly running away if he became overstimulated in a classroom without any support. "My little guy couldn't start kindergarten because he can't access support without a diagnosis,'' Roberts said of Colton Roberts, who is showing symptoms of autism, the same neurodevelopmental disorder that affects his eight-year-old brother Travis. So far, Colton has seen a pediatrician he was referred to by his family doctor, but is still waiting to see another specialist who could assess and diagnose his condition. "The wait list for the pediatrician is a year and then the wait list for the actual assessment with the psychiatrist is another year to 18 months,'' Roberts said from Lake Country, B.C.... Dr. Lonnie Zwaigenbaum, chair of the Canadian Pediatric Society's task force on autism spectrum disorders, said the increasing prevalence of the condition calls for community-based pediatricians and other primary health-care providers to be trained and supported to assess and diagnose it and provide follow-up care.... The society has released recommendations for a more flexible approach to diagnosis that would include community-based pediatricians, not just doctors and psychiatrists licensed to do so, using a range of interventions and resources including screening tools and a checklist for assessments involving conditions that could be associated with autism, such as dental, vision and hearing issues as well as sleep issues, anxiety and ADHD..... The society says autism spectrum disorder affects one in 66 Canadians aged five to 17, with boys diagnosed four times more often than girls.... Comment posted: Prior to 1980 the rate of autism was less than 1 in 10,000. Today, autism affects more than 1 in 68 children (age 5 – 17) in some Canadian provinces, and at the current rate of growth autism is projected to affect 1 in 2 children by 2030. The impact of autism on our education, medical, social support systems and families is catastrophic. Yet the medical industry and mainstream media virtually ignore this epidemic while creating disaster scenarios when a few dozen individuals contract measles.
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Loss of Brain Trust features over 9,000 news stories published worldwide since January, 2017
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
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What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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