1 in 67 Military Children Have Autism!

[Guest guest]

My column ran on AoA this morning. I don't think the links will work

from here. You can hop over to my blog

http://www.autismsalute.blogspot.com or AoA to access the info in

the links.

Managing Editor's Note: We reprinted this with permission from

Warner, who runs the " Autism Salutes " blog about autism in

the US military.

By Warner

The time has come for everyone to stop referencing the Center for

Disease Control (CDC) statistic which states that 1 in every 150

children has an autism spectrum disorder. Did we really ever believe

the numbers the CDC presented to the world? Do we rarely believe

anything that comes out of the collective mouth of the CDC? If the

CDC wanted to tell the truth, they wouldn't have had to look far to

get to that truth.

For far too long it has been we the parents and our national autism

organizations who have uncovered and spoken the truth. We are

speaking the truth again, and the CDC needs to be confronted.

In early October of 2007, Dr. Yazbak and Ray Gallup of the

Vaccine Auto-immune Project (VAP) released a report titled: " When 1

in 150 is Really 1 in 67 " (HERE). This report which puts the autism

prevalence at 1 in every 67 children is based on Department of

Education statistics. Keep in mind that Dr. Yazbak and Ray's report

only includes children who qualify for special education services

through the autism eligibility category. This excludes potentially

thousands of children, including my own. If your child has a

diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, but qualifies for special

education through an Other Health Impaired or Developmental Delay

category; your child is not accounted for in the 1 in every 67

children report. Our schools can not keep track of all of our

children.

A few days ago a fellow military advocate mom sent me a document

(HERE) that was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act

(FOIA). The information in the FOIA document confirms Dr. Yazbak and

Ray's report.

The statistics contained in this FOIA document cover a 24 month

period of tracking. They only include those children or adults who

were seen during this time period by medical personnel who used one

of the many diagnosis codes pertaining to ASD. Plain English; if the

child or adult was not seen for something relating to their ASD by a

provider who accepted Tricare during that time period, they are not

included in the stats. Again, this excludes potentially thousands of

children due to the limited tracking time. And again, all of our

children can not be kept track of; this time by the military and

Tricare.

The document obtained explains that there are a total of 22,356

people with a diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder service wide

(includes all branches of service); the vast majority are children

of active duty or retired active duty dependents with ASD. The vast

majority comprise a total of 22,027 military dependent children with

autism. Of the 22,027 military dependent children with autism,

13,243 are children of active duty members.

According to a 2005 Department of Defense (DoD) publication (HERE)

(click on the download feature to view) there are 1,177,190 military

dependent children service wide (page 49). This is what the numbers

show:

1,177,190 (children service wide) /13243 (active duty (AD) dependent

children with autism service wide) = 1 in 88

Due to the limitations of the tracking I think it's safe to say that

a heck of a lot of children were missed.

According to the FOIA document there are 8,784 dependent children

with autism of retired military members. Information on the total

number of dependent children of retired members has been hard to

come by. Again, no one is keeping track, or so it seems.

So let's play with some numbers, shall we?

According to the above mentioned 2005 DoD report (page 36), there

were 52,270 members that retired between 2000 and 2005. According to

the DoD report, the average number of children in an active duty

family is two. Let's cover the last 20 years of members retiring,

and come up with a guesstimate of how many military dependent

children of retired members there are. If there are roughly 52,270

members retiring in every five year period we have a total of

209,080 retired military members. If each of those retired members

has on average, two children (refer to DoD report page 47), we would

have roughly 418,160 military dependent children of retired military

members.

418,160 (military dependent children of retired members) / 8,784

(military dependent children with autism of retired members) = 1 in

47

Now granted folks, we're working with the second part of this

equation which is a guesstimate number…

88 (active) + 47 (retired) = 135/2=67

WHAT! you say?

Yes, you are reading correctly. 1 in 67 military dependent children

with autism.

" When 1 in 150 is Really 1 in 67 " , in our schools.

" When 1 in 150 is Really 1 in 67 " , in the United States Armed Forces.

It is time to start sounding the alarm bells, and every warning

system we have. The autism tsunami has made landfall. It is time to

confront the CDC. It is time to take this new information to our

Congressional leaders. They need to be educated and be given a grave

warning as to the financial ramifications in store for this country

if our children don't receive treatment, and agencies such as the

CDC, NIH, IOM, FDA, and AAP continue to refuse to address the autism

epidemic with complete transparency.

The time has come. Our children with autism need treatment, help and

support. Our families need help and support.

The time has come for strong, swift, and deliberate action on the

part of our government to provide every single child with autism the

health insurance coverage necessary to recover our children with

autism. Yes, they do recover.

The time has come for true leaders to step up to the plate. I

challenge you to do just that right now. Step up to the plate.

The time has come. There is no more 1 in 150. There are 1 in 67

children with autism in this country, and the rate of children with

autism increases every year.

" Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens

can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. "

Margaret Mead

The time has come.

Warner – military wife and mom to four (two with ASD). Ang is

an advocate for our children with autism at the federal level and

volunteer leader for her region at the state level for autism

treatment coverage. She is capable of basic math, thanks to her

graphing calculator. She is also thankful from the bottom of her

heart and soul for all of her fellow advocates for policy change on

all levels to benefit all of our children with autism.