The Kaleidoscope Online

Alabama Autism task force cares

Michelle Amaral , Staff Writer
Published On: 02/11/2008

It is estimated that 30,000 people in the state of Alabama have an Autism Spectrum Disorder. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every 150 individuals in the United States has an ASD. In a statewide effort to investigate the services and care currently offered to these individuals and their families, the Alabama Autism Task Force paid a visit to UAB on Jan. 23.

“The Alabama Autism Task Force was created by the state legislature in the spring of 2007,” said Russell Kirby, Ph.D., a professor in the UAB school of public health. “Its charge is to examine the issues and challenges facing families affected by autism spectrum disorders and the systems of care they need and to make recommendations to the state legislature to improve existing services and care.”

Individuals from around the state are also conducting a needs assessment in order to determine the areas of care and support that should be improved or expanded for people who have an ASD, and also for their families.

“In the summer of 2007, the Alabama Developmental Disabilities Council announced funding to support a comprehensive statewide needs assessment,” said Beverly Mulvihill, M.Ed., Ph.D., associate professor of public health in the maternal and child health department, and the principal investigator for the needs assessment collaborative.

“Subsequently, a multidisciplinary collaborative comprised of UAB faculty from several schools and departments, together with colleagues at the University of Alabama and several organizations providing services to individuals and families with autism received the grant to conduct the needs assessment.”

The task force began their visit on Jan. 23, with a tour of the Civitan-Sparks Clinics, a site on campus that is dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of individuals who have mental retardation or a developmental disorder. In this setting, members of the task force were able to observe a child going through a diagnostic and intervention session. Following the tour, a public meeting was held at the Hill University Center to discuss their findings.

“The public meeting was held in order to hear the results of the needs assessment, the recommendations coming out of the various subcommittees and from the Birmingham community,” said Elizabeth Griffith, Ph.D., a research assistant professor in the UAB department of psychology. “They then had a closed-door meeting to vote on the recommendations to be sent to the legislature when it convenes in February.”

Autism is a developmental disability that affects a person's capacity to interact and communicate with others. Autism can affect behaviors to different degrees in different people, hence the term autism spectrum disorder. The three main forms of ASD include autism, Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. At UAB, much clinical and laboratory research is being conducted to learn more about this disability.

“There is a wide variety of work in ASD being done at UAB,” said Griffith, “including clinical diagnostics and intervention services; research into the genetics, brain development, syndrome profile and effective interventions in ASD; also training, education and outreach. There are a number of faculty who are experts in this area at UAB across different departments and disciplines.”

According to Griffith, UAB also has outstanding clinicians who do state of the art diagnostics and empirically based interventions, which happen primarily at the Civitan-Sparks Clinics, but also in the department of psychiatry and the school of education.

The recently formed UAB Collaboration for Autism Research, Education and Service has made it their mission to ensure that a difference will indeed be made in the lives of people with an ASD and their families.

“The UAB CARES group is collaborative and works together to ensure that these different aspects are coordinated,” said Kirby. “We are collaborating not just among ourselves at UAB, but also with the other universities in the state to provide the support necessary to allow the State of Alabama to be effective in its efforts to properly evaluate, diagnose, treat and aggressively pursue funded cutting edge research that is needed to make a difference in our state.”

Overall, Griffith believes that the recent task force visit to UAB is a step in the right direction.

“The recommendations coming out of the task force were in line with what the people of Alabama who have a family member with an ASD relayed as concerns during the needs assessment process,” said Griffith. “It is a good first step in attempting to increase the services for ASD in the state. We are hopeful that progress in this area will continue.”

Griffith maintains that there is hope for the future in understanding this disability.

“Our group feels that, when this level of expertise comes together, great breakthroughs happen.”

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