April is Autism Awareness Month, and there are a number of projects underway that will bring awareness and understanding of the disorder to a new level. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. Children with ASD have different ways of learning, paying attention or reacting to things. They may not make eye contact or want to be held. They may perform repetitive motions or not be interested in exploring their environment.
Research shows that early intervention treatment services at that time can improve a child’s development. However, that can be difficult because there are so many children in need of a screening for autism, it currently takes several months to get a diagnosis anywhere in the state. That’s why Dayton Children’s is building the autism diagnostic center with medical director, Craig Boreman, MD, at the helm.
Under his direction, the autism diagnostic center at Dayton Children’s is taking shape. The goal will be to provide quicker answers for parents of children younger than the age of 5 who have concerns about austim, as well as provide a centralized location for them to access information. Dr. Boreman is building the staff that will be able to realize this vision.
“The new autism diagnostic center will meet a growing need for timely and appropriate diagnosis, treatment and service provision for autism and other developmental issues,” says Dr. Boreman. “Our vision is not restricted by the relative size of our city, rather we seek to be a leader in providing excellent care for children and families affected by autism as we work alongside our outstanding community partners.”
Dr. Boreman is one of many doctors who have been trying to solve the puzzle of autism. While he was a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, he teamed with Dayton Children’s and Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus to track genes in patients across Ohio with autism. That research is making remarkable discoveries about what genes are involved and helping to find better treatment options.
In a similar effort on a national scale, Autism Speaks partnered with Google with a goal to create the world’s largest genomic database on autism. It’s called MSSING, and it uses the Cloud to store the massive amounts of genetic and DNA data that researchers across the country are collecting and sharing. The pilot project that collected 1,000 genomes has already yielded new discoveries.
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