Expert: James Michael Roan - 3/9/2006

Question
I am doing a position paper on the growing rate of autism and the government's actions in response to it and I was wondering if you believe the government is doing enough to fund research, help families with autistic children etc? What more do you think they can do to better help cope with the autism problem?  

Answer
Hi Chris;

The prevalence of autism for 2005 was around one child in 166. Considering the expense and difficulty of assessment and the poverty of truly successful interventions, I would have to say the government is NOT doing enough. There should be more funds available researching possible environmental sources of genetic damage. There should be more research money available for researching better interventions, and more money available to schools for serving children on the spectrum.

I hope this helps.

Kind Regards,
James