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Posted: Monday, 11 May 2009 8:37AM
Study: diagnosing autism early makes big difference
Bob Roberts Reporting
WBBM Newsradio 780
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CHICAGO (WBBM) - Studies in recent years have shown consistently that the age of diagnosis and the services provided early on can make all the difference when treating children with autism.
A newly-released study ranks Illinois 16th in the nation.
The study's author, University of Pennsylvania researcher David Mandell, said diagnosing and treating a child with autism even a few months earlier can make a big difference later in life.
"At the most severe end of the spectrum, in Rhode Island, the median range of diagnosis is 55 months. In (Washington) D.C. it's 74 months," Mandell said.
The median age of diagnosis in Illinois is 62 months, although there is a wide fluctuation in terms of counties. The Medicaid data from 2001 through 2005, which formed the basis for the study, showed Illinois counties in which diagnosis was made on average as early as 32 months and as late as 95 months.
Cook County's median was 64.1 months.
Mandell says proximity to major medical centers is not necessarily a guarantee of early diagnosis.
"You go down the list and you can see states that are geographically close to each other, but have very different ages of diagnosis," he said. "It lets you know it's nothing in the drinking water."
By contrast, Indiana ranks 45th in the nation and Wisconsin fifth. Mandell said one reason Wisconsin does so well is because, for the past decade, its Medicaid program has picked up more of the costs of diagnosis and treatment.
Mandell said the numbers may soon change. He said a number of state legislatures, in the past couple of years, have passed measures requiring insurance companies to pay for autism diagnoses and care.
He said providing assistance to families of children with autism early on is crucial.
"Children with autism have three times the health care costs of children with intellectual disabilities and 10 times the health care costs of typically-developing children," he said.
Mandell said a big reason for the disparity is the high costs of early intervention, but argued in favor of aggressive treatment, saying it's a "pay now or pay more later" scenario.
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