KANSAS CITY, Mo. The number of children diagnosed with autism keeps rising. One in 68 has an autism spectrum disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Its unclear whether its becoming more common or is simply more recognized.
The higher numbers are creating a need for more treatment programs. Childrens TLC has helped little ones in Kansas City with disabilities since the 1940s. Recently, it added an autism program for children as young as one-year-old.
When Gabriel Rosario was about two, he stopped using words.
He made only one sound eeeee and he would use it all day for everything, said his mother, Charity Goodwin Rosario.
Gabriel wouldnt turn around and respond to his name being called.
Hes my first child, my first-born child. So some things you think well, you dont want to get overreactive, said Rosario.
But their pediatrician encourage testing, and that led to the diagnosis of autism, and treatment for it starting last fall at Childrens TLC in midtown Kansas City. Gabriel, now three, is one of the first kids in the autism program there.
We work with 12 months on up to 5-years-old because if we can get that earlier detection as well as early intervention, we can be more successful with them, said Amy Bruscato.
Bruscato uses ABA, Applied Behavior Analysis, which is the gold standard in autism therapy.
What do you want to do? she asks Gabriel.
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Higher autism numbers create need for more treatment programs