About Children with Autism

Our Autism Services Today

Our Vision for Future Expanded Services

Children with Autism
Every child with autism has unique strengths, and all share common problems.

• They have difficulties with social interaction.
• Communication is hard for them, both speaking and "reading" expressions and body language.
• They may be very bright, but their interests are often repetitive, narrow, or obsessive.
• There may be other health challenges as well, such as digestive system or neurological problems.

A Growing Challenge
Autism is much more likely to be diagnosed today than a generation ago, and the actual incidence of the disorder seems to be increasing as well - at least one baby in 150 today is born with autism spectrum disorder. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that from 3,465 to 4,600 new cases of autism were diagnosed in North Carolina each year for the past five years.

The earlier a child is diagnosed, the better the chance for effective intervention - but only about half of children with autism are diagnosed before kindergarten.

The Olson Huff Center at Mission is now diagnosing about two children with autism every week, or about 100 children per year. If comprehensive screening and diagnosis were available to all children at an early age in our region, the number would be much greater.

The Autism Program of the Olson Huff Center at Mission Children's Hospital
Mission's autism program offers many strengths and services, including:

• Emphasis on early diagnosis, using an efficient medical model
• On-site therapy services including speech, physical, occupational, and music, plus low-intensity developmental therapy in communication and sensory processing
• Supportive family counseling
• Expert management of medications
• Strong relationships with community pediatricians and family practice physicians
• Strong relationships with state and local organizations including TEACCH, the Treatment and Education of Autism and related Communication-handicapped Children, and the state Children's Developmental Services Agency.
• An award-winning new outpatient facility with spaces specifically designed to delight children, reassure families, and meet the needs of children with developmental delays and medical problems.
• Program integrated with related specialties such as genetics, dentistry, pediatric GI and neurology.

• Knowledge gap: Many excellent providers lack current information about autism and its earliest signs and symptoms.
• Lack of consistent screenings which can identify possible autism.
• Delay in referrals and treatment due to long waits for new patient evaluations (5 months for Huff Center and 9 months for the TEACCH program).
• Some treatment options are not readily available, including parent training and behavioral support

Future Services
Our vision for the care of children with autism spectrum disorders is to expand and strengthen our program by building on the strengths of our community and hospital by:

• Creating a coalition of care with enhanced communication among providers, families, and educators.
• Streamlining diagnosis and reducing waiting lists for evaluation and treatment.
• Supporting families by providing a "roadmap of care", including information and education, family to family support, and family-centered guidance.
• Individualizing treatment and providing a full range of treatment options.

New and enhanced services for families facing autism will be developed at Mission to serve the growing number of children who need treatment, and to incorporate promising new treatments. Our enhanced services plan:

• Diagnostic Evaluation
• Add and expand services for comprehensive and individualized evaluation of children, and reports for families
• Additional Developmental Pediatrician
• PhD psychologist to serve as a Clinical Autism Specialist, CAS
• Speech and Occupational therapy evaluations to help guide treatment planning.
• Use of resources including pediatric GI and Neurology sub-specialists, and Fullerton Genetics Center
• Parent Training
• Provide Individualized Education Plans (IEP) to help parents with goal setting, modeling, and inter-disciplinary treatment planning, in collaboration with TEACCH and other agencies supporting children with autism Positive Behavioral Support Program
• Address complex, severe behavioral problems with functional behavioral analysis.
• Going to home and school to analyze behavior there and provide training and support to the family and teachers. Could be done either through the Huff Center or through collaboration with an experienced agency Autism Psychopharmacology Clinic
• Prompt consultations for children with established ASD diagnoses who could benefit from medication Intensive Developmental Therapy
• Intensive, short-term, autism-specific treatment programs including Floor Time, DIR, Sensory Integration; Applied Behavioral Analysis; and assistive technology.
• Family Support
• Guidance, access to resources, and parent-to-parent support offered through the Family Support Network, located in the Reuter Children's Outpatient Center with the Huff Center Autism Program.
• Supportive family counseling through the Huff Center Child and Family Counseling program, with systematic input from a parent advisory group.
• Support for autism screening
• Support pre-school screening by providing tools and best practice information to physician offices and through participation in MAHEC educational activities.
• Telephone consultations on request.
• Autism Research
• The Huff Center will participate in multi-center trials for, and conduct independent research on pharmaceutical, complementary and alternative medicine, and other interventions for autism.