according to the Center for Disease
Control autism who can reliably be
diagnosed as early as 18 months and the
average of average age of diagnosis
within the general public though is four
years old
but children from low-income families
are often diagnosed at eight years old
and this missed window of intervention
can have a profound impact on future
outcome so on this world autism
awareness day and throughout the month
of April Autism Speaks in partnership
with the Ad Council is encouraging
parents to learn the signs of autism
joining us now angela geiger president
and CEO of Autism Speaks and Kristie
George who is the mother of a child with
autism thank you both so much for being
here this morning thank you for having
us why is this partnership a necessity
well as you said leading into this that
lowering that age of diagnosis is so
important because it gives children the
chance to live their best lives so
that's why we created this campaign
parents can go to screen for autism org
and find out what those signs and
symptoms are and get connected to the
resources they need and what are those
signs and symptoms that we need to be
looking for well they vary by person and
that's the important thing to know about
autism that it is a spectrum and that
different people present in different
ways but a few of those early signs are
at six months no smiles I contact as you
progress later not responding to your
name not going back and forth with words
and at any age a loss of words or loss
of social skills or something to look
look for and we know as you said that a
diagnosis can be reliably given as early
as 18 months but what are some of those
challenges that may delay that diagnosis
especially when we're talking about
lower socioeconomic groups you know one
of the things we found in our research
to get ready for this campaign was that
sometimes parents looked at autism as
the end and instead that diagnosis is
really the beginning it's the beginning
of your child getting intervention to
live their very best life and Kristie
what do you want to say about that
people diagnosis is the beginning here I
love that sentiment a diagnosis can be
very isolating and it can be very scary
and it could be seen as a tragedy but it
absolutely isn't a diagnosis is the
beginning of you getting your support
team together and helping your child
give your child the tools to exactly
what Angela said live their best life
and Krissy is there some relief when you
get that diagnosis and then you have
those tools and get your team together I
mean I imagine that that's really
positive and life-changing in a good way
yes at first you know it's it hits you
like a ton of bricks it's not exactly
optimism and positivity is not exactly
the first thing you think of when you
get that diagnosis but up knowing that
there are people around you that Autism
Speaks exists with so many different
resources it really helps you mobilize
your team for your children and for your
family too because it's it's a team
effort and it's a group effort and what
are some events coming up both
nationally and locally that we can look
for well you can go to Autism Speaks org
and find out events both sensory
friendly events for children and adult
on the spectrum as well as our walk
program and also lots of town halls and
information events that are available as
well and real quickly parents who are
looking for resources they can go to
your website tell us that one more time
the screen for autism org if you're
looking for those early signs and then
Autism Speaks org year-round all right
thank you so much both of you for being
here this morning we appreciate it thank
you
it's so important through college I will
I worked through a couple different
organizations that worked with autism
speak and let it a blue and you just
really need to start that conversation
because at the end of the day of what
they were talking about as diagnosis is
just the first step and there's so much
support out there between the different
groups that are organizing different
events and you know making those
connections with other families
going through the same things and there
are so many opportunities out here to
get out and enjoy with your kids now
with you know different types of sensory
events at the movies in the theme parks
right it's all available
yeah SeaWorld and Aquatica have recently
become autism certified and your a lot
of people been talking about Amy Schumer
I don't know if you've seen her latest
special but she talks about her husband
being on the spectrum and so many people
are reaching out to her saying that
she's such a great advocate and that
she's bringing so much positivity to an
awareness so that's something to look
into as well and what I really loved
about is she was all the things that I
loved about him I didn't realize that it
was you know what made her it's what
made her with him exactly so so that's I
mean it's a great month to really pay
attention and raise awareness