Earlier today, I wrote briefly about an article I read on CNN.com that detailed the struggles of a family with a child with autism. As a followup to that article, Linda Saether of CNN has written a followup detailing how intervention has made a difference for the Bilson family, who were struggling to deal with their thirteen-year-old daughter Marissa, who has autism:
The family couldn’t go out in public because of Marissa’s tantrums, and they couldn’t take her into stores because she’d shoplift what she wanted, or just scream until she got it.
But that was before.
Today, the Bilsons’ family life is a lot calmer and quieter. That’s because Marissa and her parents, John and Mary, are following the rules that were made during a five-day intervention. The intervention was provided to them free by the group Autism Partnership, or AP. Usually this type of treatment costs about $20,000 a week, and it’s not covered by insurance, but because CNN was allowed to videotape the entire process, AP waived the fee for the Bilsons.
The results the Bilson family has seen with Marissa are definitely wonderful, but what the CNN article didn’t mention is how effective applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy is if started early. Marissa Bilson was a teenager when she finally started ABA therapy, but the results of the therapy can be even more dramatic when started in younger children.
We’ve seen the impact ABA therapy can have here in our family; our son Nick has improved dramatically in the months that he’s been receiving therapy, and that’s why I think it’s so vitally critical that autistic children begin receiving therapy as early as possible. Wisconsin can take a big step towards ensuring our state’s autistic children have the opportunity to receive early intervention and treatment by following the lead of other states and passing Senate Bill 3 into law.
Autism, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Disorder are all potential pitfalls when a child doesn’t have proper child development. I think all families should be wary of this.