The great autism rip-off ... How a huge industry feeds on parents desperate to cure their children

By Barney Calman

There is little hope given to parents of children with autism. Mainstream medicine offers no explanation for the cause of this life-long learning disability, thought to affect one in 100, and there are no effective treatments.


Perhaps the most cruel characteristic of the condition, which impairs communication development and ability to relate to others, is that children often develop normally until about two years of age, when they suddenly 'regress', becoming mute, withdrawn, refusing to make eye contact and prone to tantrums.


Many never take part in mainstream education and some require full-time care, even as adults.



In the absence of solutions, desperate parents are increasingly turning to the world of alternative medicine in their search for a cure.

In this burgeoning market, private doctors and clinics have sprung up across the UK claiming they can treat or even 'reverse' the disorder.


Recent research published in the Journal Of Developmental And Behavioural
Paediatrics found that a third of parents of autistic children have tried unproven 'alternative' treatments.


Worryingly, the study claims one in ten has used what the experts class as 'a potentially harmful approach'.


Jacqui Jackson, 43, lectures around the country on Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD).


The Blackpool-based mother of seven, five of whom suffer from ASD, knows all too well the powerful allure of the promised 'cure'.


After the Jackson family - including Matthew, 24, Rachel, 22, Sarah, 20, Luke, 19, Anna, 18, Joe, 15, and Ben, 11 - appeared in the 2003 BBC documentary My Family And Autism - dramatised in the film Magnificent 7, in which actress Helena Bonham Carter played a character based on Jacqui - they were inundated with calls from alternative practitioners.


'You are so desperate in the early stages, you'll try anything,' says Jacqui.


'I bought enzymes and supplements from America, which cost a fortune. I even paid thousands for a special mattress, blankets and pillows with magnets sewn into them that the sales people promised would do wonders but, of course, didn't work.


'Autism is seen by some people as big business.


'I meet parents who want a cure and spend money in the hope they'll have a normal child. I try to warn them that there is no evidence any of these things work, but they'll often go ahead.'

Jacqui with her four sons who all suffer from autism - from left, Matthew, Luke, Ben and Joe

To investigate Jacqui's claims and to discover exactly what is being offered to parents, I visited five practitioners of 'biomedical' autism therapies posing as a parent of a three-year-old boy diagnosed with ASD.


In each case my story - a 'typical' case of an autistic child, developed with the help of medical experts - was the same: My 'son' Archie was born on September 15, 2004, after an uncomplicated pregnancy and birth.


He had all the usual baby vaccines, including the MMR at 14 months, and developed normally until around 18 months old when he became withdrawn and stopped speaking, refusing to make eye contact. Our GP referred us to a specialist who diagnosed him with ASD.

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I claimed to be seeking help from more 'forward-thinking' doctors.


During my investigation, I was recommended expensive tests, vitamin supplements and special diets, ointments, suppositories and injections to 'flush out toxic heavy metals', bizarre-sounding high-pressure oxygen chambers and intravenous infusions of hormones - and told in each case that they could bring about a complete recovery from autism.


Yet medical experts say there is no evidence to support their claims, and in fact many of the treatments I was offered were potentially harmful, and even possibly fatal.


The experience left me disturbed at the lack of regulation surrounding these practices.

The cost of some treatment programmes ran into thousands. Yet some clinics claimed to have six-month waiting lists.


This week, new legislation aimed at protecting consumers from 'rogue traders' came into force, prohibiting businesses from making 'false claims' that a product is able to cure illness.

Although the practitioners stopped short of saying they could 'cure' autism, each described to me instances of young patients who had been transformed by their treatments and were able to lead totally normal lives and participate fully in mainstream education.


The doctors I visited are all linked to the highly controversial US-based Defeat Autism Now! (DAN!) group - a collection of fringe academics and doctors.


DAN! practitioners often recommend chelation therapy - injections intended to detoxify the blood of heavy metals, the treatment that led to the death of autistic five-year-old Abubakar Nadama, a doctor's son from Batheaston, Somerset, in 2005.


By speaking to autism experts and GPs, I was able to identify five key players in the DAN! movement in the UK and Ireland.


My first encounter was with Dr David O'Connell, a former GP. His clinic is promoted by the Autism File, a magazine that supports the DAN! approach.


Within moments of our first telephone conversation he tells me what, no doubt, every parent of a child with autism longs to hear: 'Your son could recover.'


O'Connell claims education programmes for autistic children are like 'teaching a dog tricks' and instead offers injections of 'a harmless, naturally produced hormone' called 'secretin' which he claims can bring about a 'reversal' of autistic symptoms.


'Two thirds will improve by more than 30 per cent,' he states. 'Any gains will be permanent.'


So, why have I never been told about this treatment? 'Because doctors in this country are in the dark ages,' comes the reply.


During our appointment, Dr O'Connell - tall, balding and tanned, who I guess to be in his early 60s - says: 'Nine years ago, I gave the first injection of secretin to a child. There was a 76 per cent improvement after just one treatment.'


He shows me a single sheet of paper covered with columns of numbers written in biro. 'Each number represents a child I've treated. Parents fill out a form measuring their child's behaviour before and after treatment.


'After a single treatment one child, who had never talked, went into his parents' bedroom and started asking questions.'


To be absolutely sure, I ask him again if this treatment can cause children with autism to recover completely.


'Yes,' he replies. 'But we don't know why and a few children don't improve.'


It sounds incredible but I'm worried, I say, about my child having injections of a hormone that isn't offered by mainstream medics.


'It's totally safe. I've treated more children with autism than any other doctor in Britain,' he replies. 'The only limiting factor is money.'


Treatment is expensive. The telephone consultation cost £240, with the second at the office a further £200. He recommends a battery of blood, urine and stool tests available only from private clinics, at a cost of £1,546.


Subsequent consultations cost £150, and each monthly secretin injection is £450. There is also mention of infusions of 'immune globulin' to bolster the immune system at £550.


'The more injections a child has, the better the result,' he says.


'Autism can be a life sentence if you do nothing about it. And the sooner you start treatment, the more chance it will work.'


At no point during our conversations does he ask to see any medical records.


A more sympathetic character is Dr Asha Rekha Chagarlamudi, a locum GP who runs 'The Autism Clinic' one day a week from her home, a semi-detached house on a private estate in Bromley, South-East London.


She's a parent of a child with autism, so it would be hard to believe her motivations are anything but genuine.


Yet she recommends Archie should have intravenous chelation therapy and 40 sessions of Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), which would involve my 'son' sitting in a decompression chamber similar to those used by divers suffering the bends.


She takes a medical history and says: 'Archie's symptoms are caused by inflammation of the brain. Chelation therapy will help eliminate the poisons from the blood which cause this - and HBOT will reduce the swelling.


'Chelation is most effective given by intravenous infusion, which you can only get in America because doctors here won't do it.'


She does not mention the recent death caused by this treatment.


Harley Street-based Dr Damien Downing, who claims to be a 'leading figure in the field of nutritional health', is also keen on chelation.




During our consultation I'm asked to fill in a questionnaire to assess the severity of Archie's condition.


'Toxins are everywhere, rubbish dumps, incinerators, mobile phone masts, microwaves, vaccines - this caused your son's autism,' says Downing, who charges £250 per consultation.


'Chelation in the form of an oil that is rubbed on to the skin will rid him of the toxins, and many children are completely normal after.


'But you must be committed to at least a year of treatment, if not more, before you see results.'


The treatment is a cause for debate even among committed DAN! practitioners.


In Dublin I meet Dr Gabriel Stewart, a specialist in chelation therapy for adults, who tells me he tries to dissuade parents from giving their autistic children intravenous infusions 'not because it's dangerous, but because it isn't effective in clearing mercury from the blood'. Consequently, Archie was not suitable for treatment.


He also warns that some 'DAN! doctors' are less than reputable.


'All you need to do is attend one conference in the US and you can say you're a DAN! doctor - and many of them aren't medically trained.'


Dr Lorene Amet, of the Autism Treatment Trust in Edinburgh, is one such non-medic.
Her doctorate is in HIV biology although she doesn't clarify this during the £120 consultation.


Amet takes a medical history, asks about behaviour and diet, and recommends a series of blood and urine tests that she says are not available on the NHS because 'doctors don't know about them'.


She continues: 'The tests give us a complete picture of your child's health and what has caused his autism.


'From the results we will design a diet and supplements plan. He could recover completely but early intervention is the key - you must act now or you'll regret it.'
I've been offered a bewildering number of treatments, but could any of them be right? Could any really work?


At the end of the investigation I speak to Richard Mills, a director of Research Autism, a coalition of parents, those with autism, academics and medical experts, set up by the National Autistic Society (NAS) and the Institute of Child Health to study new treatments for autism.


'Your experiences are not uncommon,' he says. 'There is no evidence that any of these treatments work. There is evidence that some do not work, and even could do harm.'



Mills, who has worked in the field of autism research for the past 30 years, describes the helplessness and despair parents feel when trying one unsuccessful treatment after another.


'Parents often tell us they weren't made aware of possible negative effects and many spend thousands, running up bills on credit cards, on treatments that don't work.


'Many of the practitioners who sell these treatments are no better than snake-oil salesmen. This kind of hard-sell approach is completely immoral.


'Lack of regulation means anyone can set themselves up and claim to be able to successfully treat autism, without any proof that it's actually possible,' he says.


Still, I can't help but think that if Archie were real, I'd be willing to try anything, and pay anything for a chance to help him live a normal life.


Dr Gillian Baird, consultant paediatrician at Guy's Hospital, London, and a leading expert on autism, explains that although autism is incurable, some children can improve.


'We know that there is something biologically different about the brain function of children and adults with autism, but we don't know what that is or what causes it,' she says.


'There are accounts of treatments that have helped but this is not the same as evidence.


'The reason some parents believe they see improvements is because autism is a condition that changes over time. And behaviour in all of us can be altered by environment and what we put into our bodies.'


She warns parents that invasive treatments, such as injections, carry a risk of infection.


Mills advises parents to ask to see research to back up any claims and ask for copies of any published studies to discuss with a GP or consultant.


'These practitioners often claim mainstream doctors aren't interested in helping children get better. This is not only completely untrue but hurtful.


'Doctors who devote their lives to working with them every day would like there to be a successful treatment for autism as much as anyone - they know just how desperate parents are for an answer.'


Jacqui Jackson urges parents of children with autism to think again before subjecting them to unproven treatments. 'Perhaps we should begin to look at autism as another way of being, instead of hoping to find a cure,' she says. 'These doctors promise they can make autistic children "normal". But who is to say what normal is?'


• For information about autism treatments, visit www.researchautism.net.





Daily Mail - UK Last updated at 11:00 PM on 31st May 2008

Billboards put spotlight on autism

By Carl Chancellor/Beacon Journal staff writer

The Greater Akron Chapter of the Autism Society has decided to put a face -- make that faces -- on the brain disorder that affects 1.5 million people in the United States, including about one of every 150 children.

During April, which is National Autism Awareness Month, the Akron area's skyline will be dotted with 10 billboards featuring the faces of local children who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a complex developmental disability.

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In addition to the photographs, the outdoor advertisements will feature an educational message about this common, yet little understood, disorder.

''All 10 billboards prominently feature the tagline: ''Intelligent. Unique. Autism.'' Each billboard also has it own secondary message, such as: ''Speech can be harder with autism -- Be patient;'' ''Making friends is harder with autism -- Be a friend;'' and ''People with autism see the world differently -- Don't we all?''

Lisa Weaver, president of the Greater Akron Chapter of the Autism Society of America, said the billboards are on display in Summit, Medina and Portage counties. The chapter also serves Stark and Wayne counties.

''We hope the billboards will help raise awareness and understanding of what autism is,'' Weaver said.

A collaboration of the Autism Society and Clear Channel Outdoor advertising made the billboards possible, she said.

Weaver, a Barberton resident, is the mother of two children. Her 13-year-old son Andrew has autism and is featured on one of the billboards.

''The message on his billboard -- 'Seeing the world differently' -- is so perfect for him,'' she said, explaining that her son has difficulty with ''communication skills.''

Autism can be mild to severe and not all autistic people are affected in the same way or have the same symptoms.



In rare cases, autistic people display extraordinary abilities, like amazing memorization powers or playing an instrument without ever being taught.

Weaver said her son began reading when he was 18 months old.

According to the Autism Society, the cause of the disorder is unknown and there is no cure.

The thrust of Autism Awareness Month and of the billboard effort is to encourage the public to educate themselves about the disorder and the challenges autistic people face. The hope is that understanding will foster respect and the realization that with help, kindness, patience and encouragement people with autism can show improvement.

More information about the Greater Akron Chapter of the Autism Society of America is available at www.asagreaterakron.com or by calling, 330-543-3955.

The Greater Akron Chapter of the Autism Society has decided to put a face -- make that faces -- on the brain disorder that affects 1.5 million people in the United States, including about one of every 150 children.

During April, which is National Autism Awareness Month, the Akron area's skyline will be dotted with 10 billboards featuring the faces of local children who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a complex developmental disability.

In addition to the photographs, the outdoor advertisements will feature an educational message about this common, yet little understood, disorder.

''All 10 billboards prominently feature the tagline: ''Intelligent. Unique. Autism.'' Each billboard also has it own secondary message, such as: ''Speech can be harder with autism -- Be patient;'' ''Making friends is harder with autism -- Be a friend;'' and ''People with autism see the world differently -- Don't we all?''

Lisa Weaver, president of the Greater Akron Chapter of the Autism Society of America, said the billboards are on display in Summit, Medina and Portage counties. The chapter also serves Stark and Wayne counties.

''We hope the billboards will help raise awareness and understanding of what autism is,'' Weaver said.

A collaboration of the Autism Society and Clear Channel Outdoor advertising made the billboards possible, she said.

Weaver, a Barberton resident, is the mother of two children. Her 13-year-old son Andrew has autism and is featured on one of the billboards.

''The message on his billboard -- 'Seeing the world differently' -- is so perfect for him,'' she said, explaining that her son has difficulty with ''communication skills.''

Autism can be mild to severe and not all autistic people are affected in the same way or have the same symptoms.

In rare cases, autistic people display extraordinary abilities, like amazing memorization powers or playing an instrument without ever being taught.

Weaver said her son began reading when he was 18 months old.




According to the Autism Society, the cause of the disorder is unknown and there is no cure.

The thrust of Autism Awareness Month and of the billboard effort is to encourage the public to educate themselves about the disorder and the challenges autistic people face. The hope is that understanding will foster respect and the realization that with help, kindness, patience and encouragement people with autism can show improvement.

More information about the Greater Akron Chapter of the Autism Society of America is available at www.asagreaterakron.com or by calling, 330-543-3955

Published Apr 03, 2008 Akron Beacon Journal

Preparing for Autistic Children's Teen Years

North Jersey's autistic population is growing up, and school districts that have scrambled to start classes for the youngest students are turning their attention to the teenage years.

"This is the generation of parents that fought for high-quality programs starting at age 3," said Gary Molenaar, director of instruction at the Bergen County Special Services District. "Now these kids are aging up through the middle and high school years, and they want the same quality of service."

New classrooms for high school students are opening in Dumont and Rockleigh. In Ridgewood, a middle school dedicated to providing autism services opened this year with 24 students from Bergen, Passaic and Essex counties. Administrators expect it will grow eventually to serve 78 children. In Franklin Lakes, a new class for middle school students will open in September and it already has a waiting list.

Expanding services for older students is a pressing need.

In Bergen County, nearly two-thirds of students with autism were found to be between the ages of 6 and 13 in a 2006 survey of 73 school districts. More than one-third of administrators said they were concerned about having adequate secondary school classes in the future.

"The input is that this is going to be a graph that looks like this," said county Special Services Superintendent Robert Aloia, pointing skyward.

Throughout North Jersey, autism programs have long waiting lists at public and private schools alike. The state has the highest rate of autism recorded in the United States, at one in 94 children, according to a 2006 federal report. There is no clear-cut cause for the increase, though growing awareness is a factor.

The disorder is associated with repetitive, socially inappropriate behaviors and impairs the communication and sensory input skills children need to learn. Individuals with autism are diagnosed by their behavior and usually are described as being "on the spectrum," a reference to their wide range of abilities. Some may never speak. Others may learn to function normally as adults.

As students enter their teenage years, they pose a double challenge for educators.

Schools must continue the rigorous, data-driven behavior modification lessons that have become the gold standard in well- regarded North Jersey programs. But they must do so outside of the controlled classroom environment in order to teach students to use their hard-earned social skills in unpredictable settings.

"You might learn something in school, but have difficulty generalizing that in the community," said Roberta Wohle, director of the Office of Special Education at the state Department of Education. "You want students to have opportunities within the community, in a structured way, to help practice those skills."

At the Washington@Ridgewood program for middle school students run by the county special services district, each day's schedule includes lessons and "errands." One frequent assignment: Place lunch orders for the staff and pick up the food. Students earn a tip for their efforts, and then head to the local drugstore or supermarket to spend the money.

"They practice how to find products, how to ask people questions and how to talk to people who they don't know," said teacher Karen Piasecki. "It's also practice in counting money, and learning to wait for your change."

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Time is of the essence as children approach the end of their elementary school years. Learning is labor- and time-intensive for many students with autism, who lose their entitlements to school and therapy when they turn 21.

"Ten or 11 years might seem like a long time, but truly, it might not be for the individual with autism who requires a lot of repetition to learn skills," said Linda Meyer, executive director of NJ COSAC, an advocacy group. "Your goal in adolescence is to pick what's functional for the individual to learn, so they can be as independent as possible when they graduate."

Kathy Kienz's son Ryan, 13, attends the private Epic school in Paramus. In school, he is learning skills that hopefully will foster independence later in life, such as how to visit a gym. At home in Clifton, he has learned to make his own bed and load the dishwasher.

Kientz, who leads a local support group for parents of adolescents with autism, said she hopes that Ryan's years of schooling will prepare him for life after age 21. But she worries about a persistent dearth of services for a growing group of teenagers and adults with autism.

"We know it's coming," she said. "We know we've already got a population of adults that aren't being served, and we've got one in 94 children being diagnosed in New Jersey. We have some time now to prepare."

Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J. Tuesday, 27 May 2008, 15:00 CDT

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Living to learn, learning to live: A lifetime of dealing with autism

By RA’VAE EDWARDS/Jefferson City News-Tribune

May 26, 2008 | 5:26 p.m. CST

JEFFERSON CITY — All the small yet extremely celebrated successes in Chad Winkler’s 22 years have led him to his biggest success yet: college graduation.

On May 18, Winkler graduated cum laude from the Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, with a bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering with minors in history and chemistry.

For the past 18 years, he has worked, pushed, struggled to earn each of his successes. From the first time he was able to do a forward roll until graduating college with honors, Winkler always strived for success.

His battles started at age 4 when he was diagnosed as being autistic.

Then, when he was in fourth grade, he was diagnosed as having Asperger’s Syndrome, which is just one part of the spectrum of autism, sometimes referred to as autistic spectrum disorders. It is characterized by difficulties in verbal and nonverbal communication.

“Now I’m ready to spread my wings and fly,” Winkler said.

And that he will do.

In a few weeks, he will drive his new car and his new puppy to his new apartment in Salem, Ill., where he starts his new job.



“He’s an amazing young man,” said his mother, Becky Winkler. “He has had to overcome so much in his life and he’s successful. I always knew he would be.”

Winkler’s success in life and college doesn’t come as a surprise to his mother. Although she felt a level of personal guilt when he was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, she knew he was still a child with potential, and she never let him forget it.

“Even though others told us he would be nothing more than employable in a sheltered workshop, we pushed him to do his best,” she said. “He did it, and look at him now. It’s just amazing to see the man he has grown to be.”

Becky Winkler said there were times when she made him do things he really didn’t want to do.

“We’ve always tried to treat him as a typical child,” Becky Winkler said. “If he didn’t understand something or he couldn’t do something, we would back up and try it a different way.”

She encouraged his involvement with 4-H, supported his efforts to raise public awareness of autism through public speaking and taught him to always reach for the stars.




Winkler is a 2004 graduate of Blair Oaks High School. Growing up with Asperger’s, and dealing with the disabilities that come with it, was not an easy task. Being made fun of by his peers, combined with having to deal with some adults who didn’t believe in him, helped push him to succeed.

“It only made me work harder,” he said.

“When they would say things like that, it just made me want to do better,” he said. “It was hard, but I knew I could do it and I did.”

Winkler is modest when he talks about the obstacles and hurdles he has overcome. A shoulder shrug and a smile are indicative of his level of pride.

Although he is proud of his accomplishments thus far, he thinks that no one should set limitations on themselves.

Read More....

A couple say visiting Disney World helps unlock their autistic son's closed world

Linda Shrieves | Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
May 4, 2008

When Sara Miles tells people that she moved from Seattle to Orlando so her son could be close to Disney World, she knows what they're thinking.

That she's crazy.

But most people don't understand what it's like to have an autistic child -- to watch a talking toddler lose his speech and melt into a quiet world that no one else can enter. Most people don't know what it's like to see the doors to all your dreams slam shut.

So when Sara and her ex-husband brought their autistic son, Ben, to Disney World for the first time back in 2002, they were astounded. The boy who threw temper tantrums at the grocery store suddenly seemed quiet, patient and observant. The boy who rarely talked began naming the rides they had been on.

It was the first time that Ben had spoken words that his parents, teachers and speech therapists hadn't coaxed out of him.

"As soon as he set foot in the Magic Kingdom it was like someone turning on a light switch," says Ben's father, Ron Miles. "I know it sounds crazy to move across the country for this, but if it's the key that unlocks his potential, it's worth it."

For five years, Ben, now 14, has been a fixture at the Magic Kingdom. On weekends and school holidays, he can often be found zipping through the crowds at Fantasyland to get to his favorite place: Snow White's Scary Adventures.

Of all the rides at the Magic Kingdom, the Snow White ride captivates Ben the most. He has ridden it 2,084 times -- so many times that the cast members once took photos inside the ride and gave Ben a photo album when the ride temporarily shut down for renovations.

And when Disney cast members learned that Ben was approaching his 2,000th ride last month, they arranged for him to meet Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, an event that included a kiss from Snow White.

Ben's parents aren't entirely sure why Ben loves the Snow White ride so much.

That's one of the many puzzling pieces of autism. Parents don't know why their child becomes attached to a particular toy or activity.

Yet, as the number of children diagnosed with autism grows, researchers are focusing more attention on this complex developmental disability. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, one out of every 160 children has autism and more than 25,000 U.S. children will be diagnosed with autism this year.

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While autistic children and their abilities vary widely, there are some common traits. For instance, autistic children often develop a fixation on one topic or one interest -- and researchers have discovered autistic kids frequently obsess about animated characters. "Thomas the Tank Engine is a big show for kids on the autism spectrum," says Dr. Richmond Mancil, an associate education professor and autism specialist at the University of Central Florida. "These kids don't really have an interest in trains. They don't care about trains, but if it's Thomas, they're interested."

While other autistic kids became focused on things such as Legos and World War II tanks, Ben zeroed in on Disney movies.

Fantasia. Snow White. Beauty and the Beast.

By age 4, he knew how to operate the rewind and forward button on the VCR. He wore out videotapes, listening to sections of movies over and over, especially the section of Snow White in which the evil queen turns into a hag.

By the time Ben was 8, Sara and Ron -- by then divorced, but sharing custody -- decided to take Ben to Disney World. Privately, Sara worried that the vacation might end like most trips to the grocery store: with Ben screaming and crying and Sara uncertain what had set him off.

But when they walked into the Magic Kingdom, Ben's face spread into a huge grin. Then he ran up Main Street, through a sea of tourists, and headed straight for Cinderella Castle.

What astounded Ron and Sara, however, was Ben's speech.

To their surprise, Ben, who rarely spoke, began naming the rides. "The Haunted Mansion," "Snow White," "Pooh."

His behavior was strikingly different, too. He waited patiently in long lines. He was calm and happy. "We had never seen him like that out in public -- not ever," says Sara.

After the trip, Sara and Ron Miles decided that if Ben, their only child, needed to be near Disney World, they would pack up and move. As a teacher, Sara could relocate. Ron's a software developer, so his employer agreed to let him try working remotely from Florida.


Read more...

Specialist enhancing learning experience for county’s autistic students

Jennifer Raley
Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — As the autism specialist for the Allegany County Board of Education, Corrie Humbertson spends her days traveling from classroom to classroom helping teachers implement research-based strategies to enhance the learning experience for students with autism.

Recently, Humbertson, who has more than 30 years of teaching experience, completed the Professional Immersion Training Program at the Center of Autism and Related Disorders at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore.

“It confirmed that a lot of what we are doing is right on target,” said Humbertson, who is in her third year as the first autism specialist hired by the board.

On a daily basis, Humbertson assists with building communication strategies, social dynamics and visual strategies.

“Children with autism are visual learners, so it helps for teachers to include visuals, like showing a picture on the overhead,” said Humbertson. “They also like to have a sense of their day, so it’s good for them to have a schedule in front of them, maybe with some pictures on it.



“My favorite part is being in the classroom with the kids and when I see a teacher get it and take a strategy and build upon it,” said Humbertson. “The teaching staff is so accepting and eager to learn — it really takes a team.”

“With the significant increase of autism, we are very lucky to have someone like Corrie,” said Sheree Witt, special education and student services director for the board.

“The more specialized the autism services are at an early age, the more likely children will be to demonstrate age-appropriate skills later.”

In 1998, approximately four to five children out of 10,000 were diagnosed with autism, and now it is one out of 150 to 160, according to Humbertson.

Read more....