so what are the numbers these days? one in every 150 to one in every 95 children born today are diagnosed with autism. when i think about it at first, that may not seem like that many. in theory i would have to meet anywhere from 95 to 150 people a day to meet just one that was autistic. when do i meet that many people in a day? not very often, perhaps i have never met that many people in one day.

but within the last 24 hours i have met three new people who all have a loved one in their life with autism.

first was the lady at publix last night.

Follow up:

lately esmond has become fixated on thomas the tank engine. he loves it and a couple of months ago we bought him a starter set at target. it really didn't come with much so i went back the next payday and bought two more pieces. they are very expensive, at least to us. each car cost on average $15.00. that doesn't include more track, which you will need if you are going to buy more cars. and then off course, you need some of the other items, like the coal shed. so my husband found a lady on craig's list selling a lot of thomas toys. we agreed to meet her at publix for the exchange. publix is a grocery store for those of you that may not have this store in your area. anyway, after talking to her for a few minutes it was revealed that her nephew is autistic. his thing right now is sponge bob.

today at work, one of the resident's daughter (who is about 12) came by the office to sell candy bars for her school. we talked a moment and her little brother is autistic. they just moved from out-of-state and her brother, who is only seven, is having a difficult time with the change.

then today, i met another lady at her house to buy some more thomas the tank engine toys and other sensory related toys because her son, who is also autistic, had outgrown the toys.

now, i know except for the one child, i only really met one person with autism. but to meet three people within a 24 hour period all effected by autism kinda defied the odds of my having to meet all of those people to just meet one autistic person. and besides them i really didn't meet that many new people. i met maybe 15 in that same time period.

when i have mentioned to old friends on social networks that my son is autistic, well...the same type of thing. either they have an autistic family member or know very well a person who has an autistic family member. these autistic people are everywhere! i really wonder if the numbers are accurate. seems to me that the number is higher than that.

with all of these autistic people out there you would think that there would be more resources and help available. here in tennessee we have early intervention, but a child is no longer eligible after the age of three. your are pretty much left up to your own resources. there is the public education pre-schools which are overwhelmed with people needing assistance. we have been waiting for nearly five weeks just to hear from the one lady in the entire county assigned to start the transition from the early intervention program to the public school system. i think she could use some help.

the public school system is short on trained teachers. from the professionals we have personally spoken to they have to use a "one size fits all" approach to therapy. to many students with disabilities, not enough teachers, not enough money, not enough time.

so, you are kinda left hanging there with a "what do we do now" feeling. private insurance, in general, does not cover autism because it is a pre-exisiting condition. and the ones that do cover maybe 80% of the cost, but there is a cap on how many lifetime hours of therapy a child can have. and it doesn't normally cover the cost of anything like service animals.

it just seems to me, especially since the expense of caring for an autistic person only gets larger the older they get, that with so many children being born with this condition that someone with power would finally do something with some real benefits for the parents caring for these children without having to jump through hoops to get it done.

anyway, thanks for letting me rant and take care everybody.
sherri