There is a growing concern regarding how the countless children with autism spectrum conditions will receive resources and services in the next decade.

The purpose of this lens is to provide resources and professional and clinically informed guidance and suggestions to families, friends, and other colleagues about my personal expertise regarding children with autism and autism spectrum conditions. I have gleaned a wealth of insights and eclectica in my own practice with children and their families that I believe can be helpful in the day-to-day lives of so many.

This initial lens will eventually be broken up into related lenses on various aspects and levels of interest concerning Autism. Future lenses associated with this lens will focus on aspects of socialization, communication, education, parent and sibling support, community present and future, health and medical, and a variety of other topics.

My long range plan is to create a space where family, friends, professionals, community planners, local, state, and federal representatives, corporations, and the general public can begin a dialogue to create friendly, supportive communities and services for these children as they mature and enter mainstream society. Moreover, I envision this space to be most open to those with autism who could contribute the most in providing the insights, recommendations, and guidance for this envisioned community to emerge as one that truly does serve the population with autism in the manner which those who have autism spectrum conditions would prefer to be assisted.

With the daily media bombardment of sound bites about Autism, many parents, especially new parents are constantly asking me, "Does My Child Have Autism?"While my professional scope of practice does not allow for me to provide a medical diagnosis such as Autism, I am able to direct parents to professionals who can.

Diagnosis aside, as a Speech-Language Practitioner I have encountered and provided therapy services for many children who have been diagnosed with Autism and countless others who I have referred for further diagnostic evaluation. There are patterns and traits that can strongly suggest that a child has Autism.

While my clinical orientation is more focused on communication and language acquisition, I as well as many Speech-Language Pathologists are often the first clinicians to identify a child suspected of having Autism. In general, this is because children with a delay in speech and/or language are often first referred for a speech and language evaluation.

An estimated 700 searches are made everyday for the signs and symptoms of Autism. Parents, family, and friends are searching for clear, concise, clinically informed, and user friendly (i.e., in layman's terms) basic information about Autism. For the reader who is just beginning their education about Autism or who is concerned about a child they know, I would highly recommend the following books:

Does My Child Have Autism?

Could It Be Autism?

For those who have a child who has just received a diagnosis of Autism, I would recommend the following book list:

The Autism Answer Book

Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Complete Guide to Understanding Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Other ASDs

Essential Guide To Autism (Instant Downloadable eBook)

The OASIS Guide to Asperger Syndrome: Advice, Support, Insight, and Inspiration

On Sunday, April 13, 2008, Comedy Central aired its second live benefit for Autism. This year, the benefit organizers' goal was to raise funds to support better Autism education programs for children with Autism in the U.S., and to increase awareness of the shortage of quality education programs in the nation's schools. The benefit aired on Comedy Central.

Celebrities included: Kelsey Grammar, Ben Stiller, Maroon 5, Fred Armisen, Will Arnett, Matthew Broderick, Tom Brokaw, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Susie Essman, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Will Forte, Jonah Hill, Kevin James, Conan O'Brien, Rosie O'Donnell, Amy Poehler, Adam Sandler, Susan Sarandon, and Triumph The Insult Comic Dog among others. Jon Stewart hosted the concert. The band for the evening was The Roots.

According to the Associated Press, on April 15th iTunes and xBox Live Marketplace will carry the live recording of the concert for $1.99 per download. All proceeds will be donated towards the total dollar amount that the live concert raises. According to CinemaBlend.com the 2006 concert raised $2.6 million.

To donate to the concert directly, or to view clips from the 2008 and 2006 concerts click here: Night of Too Many Stars.

The following clock and graph reflect the dramatic increase of autism in children.

Hi, my name is Cris Delgado. Yes, I know that each lens has a profile, but I wanted to introduce myself to each reader and greet each one with a heartfelt, and warm welcome to a topic that is often difficult for parents and families to think about or discuss.

For 30+ years I have worked with people with severe communication challenges. Over the past 15 years I have been more focused on helping children with communication challenges--specifically children with Autism, Down's Syndrome, or other language and developmental delays and disorders.

In addition, to my clinical experience, I have a brother who was born with a developmental disability. Much of my interest in the field is driven by my personal experiences related to my brother's life.

I have been certified for over 18 years to practice Speech-Language Pathology by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). I am currently in private practice, working daily with children and families who are in need of support and training to address their communication challenges related to autism.

The main reason I started this lens was to provide a resource center on the internet where others could communicate with a specialist in the field. This is a place for parents, grandparents, other family and friends, teachers, clinicians, community planners, --anyone really--to gain clinically informed and practical knowledge, information, support, guidance, insights, and more about effectively communicating with children with Autism.

It was also created to provide a platform for people with autism to share their own informed knowledge and information to support others. My end goal is to create a space where everyone can freely share and exchange a variety of ideas and thoughts about autism that can be used to establish a healthy dialog between those who experience Autism firsthand and the rest of the global community.

My vision for this lens (and subsequently an entire website dedicated to this goal)is to create a place on the internet that gives a human, practical, autism friendly atmosphere. My expectation is that it will be a leader site in innovation and inspiration for anyone trying to better accommodate a compassionate and accessible world for people with Autism.

Click Here To Get Your Downloadable Essential Guide To Autism

Here is just some of what you'll learn:

The history of autism - including when it was first discovered, initial treatments, myths surrounding the disorder and more .

13 common ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) misconceptions and the real truth for each - this information will greatly help put your mind at ease about this dreaded disorder.

The three main signs of autism - and how to quickly and easily recognize each.

The three broad categories of autism - and how to immediately tell in which category someone with autism belongs.

The 5 most recent, most accepted theories about the cause of ASDs - this information may surprise you.

13 questions all concerned parents should ask themselves if they think their child may have autism - your responses to these questions will ensure you know what step to take next .

28 additional signs of autism - you'll know exactly what behaviors to look for when assessing your child or loved one.

Common treatments for autism - and how to know if a treatment is right for your child or loved one .

18 questions you should always ask before submitting your child or loved one for a particular treatment - this information will help ensure your child receives the treatment that's right for him or her .

The six most common autism treatments used today - plus, whether or not it is good to combine treatments.

The positives and negatives of using Applied Behavioral Analysis to treat autism - and how to tell if your child is right for an ABA program.

How to choose an ABA provider - including four things that you should always look for before deciding upon a provider.

The five steps involved in a successful floor time program - if a program doesn't include all five of these steps then it is definitely not right for you child.

The effectiveness of the most common alternative autism treatments - plus, 14 things that you should always look for before selecting an alternative treatment program.

How to use the diet to help control autism naturally - proponents of dietary management of autism agree that many symptoms will decrease in severity.

Sites For Individuals With Asperger's, and Autism and For Parents
WrongPlanet.net
A web community designed for individuals (and parents of those) with Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, ADHD, and other PDDs.


Podcasts
AutismPodcast.org


Articles
I Am The Happy Mother of An Autistic Child

Health-Reports
I have read and carefully reviewed a lot of sites about autism. I have found that this site seems to present good alternative health information and approaches to helping improve the pervasive symptoms that often go undetected in children with autism. Click on the title of this paragraph to go to the site.

Umbrella-Autism.org.uk

These flashcards were created by a father (Jeffrey Sprecher) who has a child with Autism. The flashcards are an affordable way to enhance visual learning and are also very useful in helping your child to better understand what you may want to communicate to him or her. You will find videos and other great products at: Special-Kids.com

Here's another great product from Jeffrey Sprecher at: Special-Kids.com
These step-by-step skill modeling posters are brilliant! They can be used to help your child be able to complete a self grooming sequence (e.g., taking a bath/shower)using visual cues. Not every child can complete a long sequence of steps so this may be helpful for helping him or her remember or understand key steps to completing a task or to be able to understand what is going to happen next during an often challenging grooming task.

The Time Out Bear! Here's a great idea for helping with time out issues. The bear can be purchased at: InstantHelpBooks.com

The Miracle Belt is a new product but the concept has been around for a while. This weighted belt has been found to help children with Autism to overcome balance and sensory integration challenges.

This belt may be more desirable for a child with really high sensitivity than the weighted vest that many children will not tolerate. There is a product demo available and the belt can be purchased at: MiracleBelt.com

Autism and the God Connection

The Soul of Autism: Looking Beyond Labels to Unveil Spiritual Secrets of the Heart Savants

Some parents have reported that they began to notice unusual patterns of behavior in their child as early as a week or two after birth. These are generally, parents who have had one or more other children. Many grandparents or daycare providers are often the primary source of encouragement for the parent to seek help from their pediatrician.

Most parents, especially first time parents may not recognize signs and symptoms until well into the 2nd year. These children are often referred for early intervention evaluation and services by the family's pediatrician.

Unfortunately, while many children are identified by 18 months to 24 months, there are countless children who are not identified until after their third birthday. There are a number of reasons for this with the primary ones being:

* lack of parental awareness of developmental skills for the child's age
* parental resistance to the acknowledgment or denial of the child's challenges
* low prevalence of community information available to parents
* lack of physician awareness in current trends in early identification and services available (many pediatricians continue to advise the parent to wait and see how the child develops or informs the parent that the child will catch up or outgrow the problems).

For most regions of the country, there are active campaigns and projects to address and resolve many of these challenging issues. However, those children who do not currently receive evaluation prior to their third birthday may often not be identified or referred for evaluation until, perhaps 5-6 years of age.

When a child has not been referred prior to their third birthday it is often a much greater challenge to receive the necessary services and interventions for the child. Also, by the time the child has reached 3, 4, or 5 years without intervention there are a number of very difficult challenges to resolve for the child and the family.

The following are some examples of challenges that arise without early detection:

* Children with Autism often develop very rigid patterns and sets of rules or expectations/perceptions that cause many disruptions in family dynamics and routines.
* Children with Autism develop a significantly greater number of sensitivities, phobias, and fears as a result of sensory issues that are not addressed. These unresolved issues cause high internal anxiety levels.
* High anxiety levels in a child with Autism causes the child to function throughout the day in a "fight or flight" mode, causing further trauma and a desire to withdraw from people and situations that most children enjoy.
* This anxiety state is often the predominant underlying factor that prevents a child with Autism from learning in typical, natural incidents and situations that most children experience and use to acquire knowledge.
* High levels of anxiety and stress damage and destroy brain cells, thus contributing to even greater severity of challenges.